Anna's Recovery Journey

“I’m Anna Holtzman and I’m a licensed psychotherapist and chronic pain recovery coach. I got into this work through my own experience of healing from over a decade of chronic migraine attacks. When the migraine attacks were at their worst, I was getting up three debilitating headaches per week and it affected every aspect of my life.

I was in graduate school at the time, studying to become a psychotherapist, and I never knew when I’d have to miss a class or miss days of work at my clinical internship or cancel on friends or family due to a headache.

I felt hopeless. Some days I woke up in so much pain that I’d just cry into my pillow in despair, wondering if this would be my fate for the rest of my life. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to have the career that I was studying for, because you can’t have a career as a therapist if you’re always canceling on clients.

I was creatively frustrated too: I love to write, and at the time I was working on a writing project that I felt very passionate about. But I’d have to stop for days, weeks or even months at a time because working on my passion project would often trigger migraine headaches.

Flash forward to today and my entire life has turned around thanks to the mind-body healing resources that I eventually discovered.

These days, my life flows so much more smoothly: I no longer experience debilitating migraine headaches! I still get mild head tension and tight shoulders when I’m stressed, but I know how to navigate those symptoms with self-compassion and confidence. These days, I never have to cancel work or social plans because of headaches!

I was not only able to build a thriving practice as a therapist and coach, but I’m able to have an active creative life too. I write every single day, and instead of depleting me, it fills me up! I’m so thankful to have found the mind-body healing approach.”

Find out more about Anna’s journey towards healing in this video and if you would like to find out more about Anna’s work as a Chronic Pain Therapist and Coach, visit her website

After more than a decade of debilitating migraines that disrupted her studies, work, relationships, and creativity, Anna discovered mind–body healing, freeing herself from chronic attacks and ultimately building a thriving career as a psychotherapist and coach while returning to a joyful, consistent creative life.

Join people who have found relief through the SIRPA approach to chronic pain.