From Surviving to Thriving: A Lived Experience of IBD and Whole-Person Healing

This presentation was delivered at the 10th Anniversary of the Multidisciplinary Care for IBD Conference, in affiliation with Mount Sinai IBD Centre and University of Toronto Medicine.

It speaks to the integrative responsibility practitioners hold in caring for patients living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Particularly, the reality that this experience is not purely physical, but emotional, mental, relational and deeply intertwined.

Through honest reflections of lived experience, I explore what happens when the body becomes both the source of pain and the perceived enemy, and how that can lead to isolation, blame and chronic stress.

I highlight the need to expand care beyond symptom management to include stress reduction, nervous system regulation and approaches that support the whole person.

At its core, this talk reflects the importance of multidisciplinary and complementary care ~ where patients are supported not only to survive, but to thrive ~ by learning to engage with their bodies as communication rather than threat.