HI! I’M TACHA….

Educator. Therapist. Wounded Healer. Chronic Illness Patient. Cancer Survivor.

I’ve been between a rock and a hard place…

…actually a few times!!

and I’ve not only survived, I’ve captured that wisdom and now use it to help others so that they suffer less.

The poem from Emory Hall has a line that says, “I’ve been a thousand different women” and I relate to that so much, and I know I’ll be a thousand more. I’ve come to understand that I’m always evolving, whether I want to or not. Life with chronic pain/ illness and cancer has taken a LOT from me; but it’s also give many gifts.

I know what it’s like to be bed ridden. Because of illness I lost my 18 year career in corporate America that I loved. I know what it’s like to grieve what life used to be like and the dreams of how I though the future would look like. I’ve endured loads of medical gaslighting and trauma. All these things have led me to become the thing that I needed the most at the start of my journey.

I’m a licensed psychotherapist, author, and educator specializing in the emotional and psychological impact of chronic illness, medical trauma, and central sensitization. I’m also the developer of the Adaptive Healing Method™—a trauma-informed, interdisciplinary framework that helps both providers and patients navigate the complex terrain of invisible illness, identity shifts, and nervous system dysregulation.

But I don’t just teach this work. I’ve lived it. I still live it!

And I’ve helped so many clients and their families use this system to improve their quality of life.

Lived Experience + Clinical Expertise

Before I became a therapist, I was a patient navigating a healthcare system that routinely failed to understand my pain, dismissed my symptoms, and left me to piece together my own healing path.

• I’ve lived with Interstitial Cystitis (IC) since 2005—a chronic pain condition that took years to be properly diagnosed and left me enduring invasive, painful procedures without appropriate care or sedation (talk about medical trauma!). By 2010, I could no longer work and lost my entire corporate career.

• I’m a cancer survivor—diagnosed with Triple-Negative breast cancer in my forties, followed by chemotherapy, reconstruction complications, long hospital stays, and permanent physical pain layered on top of ongoing side effects of heart and lung damage.

• I’m also a survivor of childhood abuse, which shaped my early relationship to my body, trust, and safety. That’s where I learned to be “small and invisible” ; and have spent a lifetime trying to become more visible.

• I’m also widow — I became the primary caretaker for my husband when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma ( and lost him as being my caretaker). He endured countless treatments and set backs, and ultimately passed away within a year of diagnosis.

• For over 12 years now I have served as a mental health therapist serving the chronic illness and cancer community. I am so grateful for everything that my clients and their families have taught me about so many different illnesses and types of cancer: certainly more than any book or degree could teach.

This personal lens informs every aspect of my professional work. It allows me to teach with empathy, translate complex neurobiological concepts into real-life application, and speak directly to the emotional truths that so many patients and clinicians quietly carry.