Chronic Illness & Pain Counselling in Cardiff

What Living With a Long-Term Condition Can Feel Like

Living with ongoing illness or pain affects far more than your body. Perhaps some of this sounds familiar:

• You're exhausted from managing symptoms, appointments and medication
• You grieve the life, plans or body you had before
• People don't see how much you're struggling, or don't believe you
• You feel guilty for cancelling plans, or for needing help
• Good days and bad days make it hard to plan anything
• You're frustrated, angry or low, and don't know where to put those feelings

These are understandable responses to something genuinely hard. They aren't a sign that you're not coping well enough.

Living With a Long-Term Condition

Whether it's diabetes, arthritis, fatigue, a heart or lung condition, an autoimmune illness, or something still undiagnosed, a long-term condition can change the shape of your days. There's the practical work of managing it, and the emotional work that often goes unacknowledged: uncertainty about the future, fear when symptoms flare, and loneliness when others don't understand.

Counselling offers a space to talk about all of this honestly, without having to stay positive for anyone else.

Chronic Pain and Emotional Wellbeing

Pain that doesn't go away can wear you down. It can disturb sleep, shorten your temper, limit what you can do, and make it hard to concentrate or enjoy things. Over time, it's common to feel anxious, low or hopeless, and those feelings can in turn make pain harder to bear.

Your pain is real. Counselling doesn't try to explain it away; it offers support with how it's affecting you, so you're not carrying that alone.

Changes to Identity, Work and Independence

Illness can change how you see yourself. You might have had to reduce your hours, stop work, give up activities you loved, or rely on others in ways you never expected. Roles within your family or relationship may have shifted too.

These changes often bring a kind of grief, for who you were and the future you'd imagined. Counselling can help you make room for that grief, and gradually explore who you are now and what still matters to you.

Counselling Alongside Medical Care, Not Instead of It

I'm a counsellor, not a medical professional. I don't diagnose, treat conditions or give advice about medication or pain management. Counselling works best alongside the care you receive from your GP, consultant, pain clinic or specialist nurse.

If your symptoms change, get worse, or you have new concerns about your health, please always speak to your GP or healthcare team.

How Illness and Pain Can Affect Your Life

Culture and faith can shape how illness is understood and talked about. I work with real sensitivity to both, so you won't need to explain your background from scratch. Read more about culturally and faith-sensitive counselling.

Is It Coping or Accepting?

Acceptance isn't the same as giving up. For many people, it's a gradual process, and counselling can be a place to work through it at your own pace. If you've been feeling persistently low, see depression and low mood counselling.

How Person-Centred Counselling Can Help

I work in a person-centred way. I won't tell you to think positively or suggest your pain is psychological. Instead, I offer a steady, believing and non-judgemental space where you can say how things really are.

In that space, people often begin to:

• express frustration, grief or fear without having to protect others
• feel less alone and less misunderstood
• be gentler with themselves on bad days
• rediscover what still matters, and what's still possible

Counselling isn't a quick fix, and I can't promise outcomes, but many people find it eases the emotional load of living with a condition.

Working With Me

I'm Asma Shariff, a BACP-registered counsellor. I've worked with clients aged 17 to 70, from diverse cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Alongside private practice, I counsel at CCAWS, a Cardiff mental health charity, supporting people with a wide range of mild-to-moderate mental health concerns.

I work within the BACP Ethical Framework, attend regular clinical supervision, and hold professional indemnity insurance. More about me.

Your First Session

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can counselling help with chronic illness or chronic pain?

Counselling doesn't treat the illness or the pain itself, but it can help with the emotional weight that comes with them, such as frustration, grief, anxiety, low mood, and changes to your sense of who you are. Many people find that having space to talk makes living with a condition feel more manageable.

Does going to counselling mean my pain is "all in my head"?

No. Your pain and symptoms are real. Counselling simply recognises that living with them affects your emotions, relationships and daily life too, and that those effects deserve support.

Can I have sessions online if getting out is difficult?

Yes. Online sessions can be done from home, which many people find easier on bad days or when travel is tiring. Face-to-face sessions in Whitchurch, Cardiff, are also available.

What if I'm too unwell to attend a session?

Please let me know as early as you can. The cancellation policy is set out in the counselling agreement, and we can talk in the initial consultation about how to make sessions work around a fluctuating condition.

Do I need a diagnosis to come?

No. Many people live with symptoms for a long time before getting a diagnosis, or never get a clear one. That uncertainty can be hard in itself, and you're welcome to talk about it.

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