Hi I’m Sally, a psychologist, coach, and COVID Long-Hauler (acute infection March 2020).

I help other COVID Long Haulers who find themselves struggling alone in the dark to find some light and hope.

I’m here to help you move out of extreme chronic fatigue by positively and permanently changing your nervous system—so you can find joy and meaningful activity again.

I know it’s possible because I was once there too.

This was me in December 2020 – you can see I have super flat affect and low energy (I was just going into the 9 months of awful chronic fatigue):

This is the worst club in the world that none of us wanted to join, but it turns out that there are some super awesome people here!

I believe I contracted long covid because I can handle it and I’m qualified to take this information and impact the world for the better because of it.

Now that doesn’t mean it was an easy ride for me.

As a highly sensitive person with a trauma history, I feel emotions intensely. I have experienced all the heightened symptoms of an overactive nervous system and overwhelming emotions that you have!

And now that I’ve solved the nervous system part of the puzzle, I’m excited to be called to share this with you.

I support people with Long COVID through:

I was raised in the UK, where I completed both my undergraduate (University of Oxford, 1999) and graduate degrees (Royal Holloway, University of London, 2005). But my true home is New York City.

I made my way to the US in 2008 and to NYC in 2011.

Last year I celebrated my “10 Year” which is unofficially regarded when you become a true New Yorker. Although in all the years I dreamt of that day—never did I imagine I would celebrate it with Long COVID.

In that former glorious life, I was also a marathon and ultra-marathon runner. And a proud member of the Dashing Whippets Running Team here in NYC.

But then COVID happened.

I’m sure you’re interested in how I recovered. And most importantly—how I can help you recover.

So, here’s a little bit of my Long COVID story.

My Long COVID journey started with an acute infection on Friday March 13, 2020. I suspect I contracted it in-office as my practice was still seeing patients in person through Wednesday. I made the executive decision to move to telemedicine starting Thursday. I knew I wanted to protect my patients and staff, and do my part in flattening the curve.

Little did I know it was already too late for me.

Friday night I was incredibly fatigued, and by Saturday afternoon I started having chest pain. I spent Sunday resting and took myself to urgent care on Monday to get a COVID test.

Much to my surprise, my results came back negative.

Thus began all the confusion, fears, and stress.

“Is it really COVID?”

“Is this just in my head?”

“Maybe I’m just tired.”

And that was just the beginning of my testing journey.

When antibody testing came out, I went and got that: Negative.

My doctor told me that the initial antibody tests were unreliable and that I should wait for a more accurate test coming to his clinic. So then I waited another month for it to be available.

Then I went and got that: Negative again.

And by now I was already well into Long COVID symptoms. At that point, my doctor tried to tell me that my Long COVID symptoms were simply anxiety.

My defining moment of medical gaslighting was receiving an email from my doctor saying that all they could do is assume that I never had COVID.

In July 2020 I managed to get into the Mount Sinai Long COVID clinic. Finally a diagnosis and some validation.

Of the 15 other doctors I have seen over the last two years I would say only three were truly helpful. The vast majority gaslit me in one way or another.

Still, throughout the year, and into the next my symptoms continued to worsen. My chest pain, fatigue, and shortness of breath were getting worse and worse.

January 2021 – August 2021 were probably some of the worst months of my entire life. Experiencing what I did, I truly believe that Long COVID is one of the worst things that any human can go through.

Like you, I tried so many things to feel better.

I went to physical therapy and stopped when my chest pain went through the roof. I tried acupuncture on three separate occasions and each time it just made me so much worse. I tried boat loads of supplements which didn’t really do anything. I tried Chinese herbs. I went to Craniosacral therapy, Reiki, lymphatic massage. But I kept feeling worse. People told me I should spend money on Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) or other expensive treatments but listening to my gut my body was telling me NO.

Finally, in September 2021, thanks to one superstar primary care physician, I discovered the Safe and Sound Protocol and Polyvagal Theory and my life took a nearly miraculous turn. As a psychologist, I have always been aware of the mind-body connection. But I didn’t truly understand what it meant and how to embrace it until I had lived it.

And I didn’t truly appreciate the brilliance of Polyvagal Theory, its relevance to trauma, the extent of my own trauma, and how that was impacting my ability to recover.

It was like a light switch finally turned on.

My body could not heal until I transitioned from fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest. But my trauma was keeping me in this chronic state, unable to access recovery. I needed to improve vagal tone and vagal flexibility to be able to move more frequently into a place of healing. And now I’m here to help you reach that place.

So that’s my story.

It’s not over yet. But since starting the Safe and Sound Protocol I have been recovering.

I have more energy. I can work full time (as long as I am careful about pacing). I am sleeping through the night.

I am running in short bursts on the treadmill and walking further and further. I even managed to fly to London for the holidays.

And in December 2021, I got certified to administer the Safe and Sound Protocol.

So most importantly, I now can bring what I have learned to you.