2024 Massachusetts ME/CFS & FM Annual Event

A Powerful Paradigm for Living with Chronic Illness

October 26, 2024, 1:00 pm ET

Guest speaker: Patricia Fennell, MSW, LCSW-R, clinician, researcher, educator, and author

Facing a diagnosis of ME/CFS or any infection-associated chronic condition or illness (IACCI) is fraught with fear, confusion, and uncertainty.  After decades of advocacy and research, we still face a dearth of medical awareness. Still, things are better now than they were in 2001 when Patricia A. Fennell, MSW, LCSW-R wrote her pioneering book: The Chronic Illness Workbook.  Living with what was then commonly referred to as Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (or its popular pseudonym, “Yuppie Flu”), Patricia had experienced the disbelief, dismissal, fear, and isolation familiar to many of us. Drawing from her professional experience, she developed strategies and solutions for “taking back her life,” and then shared them.

What’s remarkable about the book, and what makes it as relevant and helpful today as it was during its first printing, is its treatment of ME/CFS as a disability, one of many chronic illnesses that pose identical challenges to the individuals living with them. In the book, and in her work as research scientist, clinician, and educator, Patricia describes a powerful paradigm for understanding how ME/CFS challenges one’s very sense of self and role in society and, more importantly, how to go about accepting and managing those challenges.

At this year’s Annual Meeting we will be talking with Patricia about her experience applying her methods to her clients, her experience teaching other health professionals in a variety of disciplines to use these methods, and how things have changed in the last three decades for those living with ME/CFS.

This event will be recorded for later viewing. 

We have a separate registration for our members. Not a member yet? Click here!