For years, I trusted that if a doctor wasn't concerned, I shouldn't be either.

That changed when a spot found on a brain MRI was dismissed as something I was "probably born with." Later, it was confirmed to be a silent stroke.

It was then that I realized doctors can be wrong—and that I needed to be an active participant in my healthcare rather than a passive recipient of it.

I would need that lesson again. It took relentless self-advocacy to get the debilitating symptoms I lived with taken seriously—and to finally reach a diagnosis of Stage 4 endometriosis and the surgery I needed.

My perspective is shaped by both professional training and lived experience. I'm a Master of Social Work (MSW) with additional training in Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management, Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), and Feminist Theory for Mental Health.

Much of that education was driven by my own experiences navigating chronic pain, unanswered health concerns, and the way the healthcare system is built to overlook women.

She's Resilient was created to help women develop the self-advocacy skills I wish I'd had sooner.