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Working with Chronically Ill Clients

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What is covered?

Do you want to feel confident and be effective when working with your chronically ill clients? Then this course is for you! It is reported that nearly half of people living in the UK are living with a long term chronic condition and that 1 in 4 of us have a disability. As we get older the likelihood of developing a chronic illness and/or disability increases. And yet Scopes disability perception report states that, "49% of working age adults feel excluded from society because of their condition or impairment and 41% working age disabled people do not feel valued by society" - https://business.scope.org.uk/accessibility-and-disability-facts-and-figures/ Having a chronic illness impacts every aspect of life as well as the people around them, and so it is important to have an understanding of this impact when working with your clients - whether chronically ill themselves or connected to someone who is chronically ill. The course will explore: - The basics of what chronic illness is - The impact going through the medical system can have - How intersectionality impacts the individual - The themes that can come up in the work - How you can work with your clients - Finally how to adjust your practice. I bring years of professional experience in counselling and supporting roles and with my lived experience of multiple chronic illnesses to this course with examples as well as statistics, book excerpts, and studies. This course is informal CPD of around 7 hours without doing all the extra reading. It is based on working in the UK. Pay what you can here - https://forms.gle/cdfwCF819JrDXNsz6 I look to update this course every 5 years - or as necessary - published June 2026 (last updated 2026)

About the author

Photo of Emily Duffy. A cis white woman with strawberry blonde hair.

I am Emily Duffy, a private practice therapist in the UK. I use an integrative pluralistic model to therapy, with the core conditions of person centered work at my core, and following Egan's Skilled Helper model in therapeutic relationship and structure. From here I then layer on tools, techniques, and learnings from other approaches to suit my clients preferences and what they bring to sessions.

 

I have a full practice offering one to one sessions via video or phone call. Majority of my work is around Identity, how we relate to ourself, and then how we relate to those around us. Generally speaking, my clients tend to be queer, trans, neurodivergent, chronically ill, and/or non-monogamous. I have both professional and lived experience in most of these areas and want to share what I have learned through my practice so far to help other therapists along their way and subsequently helping clients in these minorities to feel affirmed and supported.

 

Before Private Practice, I had practical experience delivering workshops from working in Education for nearly 10 years. These workshops ranged from Safeguarding training for tutors, to mindfulness & mental health drop in sessions, to time management workshops for sixth form students.

Please contact me at info@emilyduffytherapy.co.uk with any queries

Want to know more about how I work check out this page.

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