Today’s Business Highlight: StableMind Wellness with Caitlin Kolba, LCSW
Updated: 17 hours ago
The next two editions of Business Highlight will continue to have conversations that are needed to be had. However, this time, I want to shine a light on local businesses and professionals who dedicate themselves and their life work to supporting individuals living with chronic illnesses and the many ways these conditions affect our everyday lives.
To begin this special series, I had the pleasure of connecting with the owner of StableMind Wellness, Caitlin Kolba, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who focuses on supporting the mental health of individuals navigating chronic illness. Caitlin also incorporates equine-assisted approaches into her work, offering a unique way for individuals to explore another calming presence to help them feel connected to their surroundings. Helping them find a connection beyond the traditional therapeutic setting.
During our conversation, Caitlin and I connected on a subject that is deeply personal: the emotional toll of living with chronic illness while still trying to navigate everything else life demands from us.
The fact of the matter is that many of us who live with chronic illness do not look sick. Many of us who live with chronic illness go through years looking for a diagnosis. Through the journey, we lose a part of ourselves and detach from as much as possible in order to not feel pain anymore.
For that reason, I wanted to bring this topic to the surface, to give a voice and an understanding, and most importantly, to show you that there is real help right here in the Lehigh Valley. There are professionals in our community who have resources that make a meaningful impact.
Whether you are living with chronic illness yourself, supporting someone living with chronic illness, or simply want to learn what the Lehigh Valley offers, I welcome you into this conversation.
Business Information:
StableMind Wellness
Caitlin Kolba, LCSW
Telehealth anywhere in PA
In-Office in Bethlehem, PA
Equine Assisted in Bangor, PA
Phone number: (484) 519-1805
Website: www.stablemindwellness.org
Listen to the entire interview on my Podcast Rosa Javier Sales: Business Highlights: (Podcast Link Will Go HERE)
Meet Caitlin Kolba: The Story Behind StableMind Wellness
Caitlin Kolba, LCSW: Hi, good morning!
Rosa: Good morning, how are you?
Caitlin: I'm well, how are you?
Rosa: Surviving.
Caitlin: That's good.
Rosa:: Can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do?
Caitlin: Sure. My name is Caitlin Kolba. I am a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Pennsylvania and Florida. I currently own StableMind Wellness, so we provide outpatient psychotherapy in various ways across the state of Pennsylvania, and particularly in the Lehigh Valley.
Rosa: Can you tell us what licenses, certifications, professional credentials you hold?
Caitlin: I am a licensed clinical social worker and a certified clinical trauma professional. I also have additional training as a substance abuse professional to do DOT evaluations to help get people back on the road after failing a drug test or something like that with a commercial driver's license. Most of my training and certifications are on trauma.
Rosa: How long have you been practicing?
Caitlin: I have been in the mental health field for 14 years at this point.
Rosa: When I first connected with you, it was in the realm of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases. I really love that you connected with me because that is a side of chronic illness that no one talks about.
I myself have something called ankylosing spondylitis, which is a spine condition that basically slowly deteriorates over time.
When I first started this world after I got diagnosed, I entered this world of a lot of different people. Everybody has a way of fixing something, but nobody talks about the mental load that chronic illness has.
What led you to work with individuals who have chronic illnesses of all sorts?
Caitlin: Working with chronic illness and autoimmune is actually a personal choice.
My mom contracted Lyme when I was in utero. So I was actually born with Lyme and have had some medical complications, some autoimmune complications of that throughout my own life.
As well as a relatively recent diagnosis of POTS. So I have over time, and continue to navigate, some of those symptoms, complications, and what at times feel like limitations.
But I also recognize that chronic pain and chronic illness invoke a lot of feelings of loss of control, and they can be very isolating and very invalidating.
I know you mentioned once you were diagnosed, which sounds like it was probably, like for many people, quite a journey to even get that diagnosis.
Rosa: Oh, yeah. I had symptoms since I was 8, and I got diagnosed at 32. There was a long issue since I was 16 that was constant, and nobody could diagnose it until it got extreme.
That's why I wanted to find out what resources are out there for people with autoimmune disorders, because now it's getting a little bit of attention from celebrities, but we don't know what resources are out there.
When Chronic Illness Affects More Than Your Body
Rosa: How does StableMind Wellness help somebody with accepting that they have this chronic illness? Because that's the biggest part.
Caitlin: Through talk therapy, but also through nervous system exploration. We have a pretty big focus on trauma and the nervous system, and understanding that when there are things like chronic illness or autoimmune complications, our threat detector part of our nervous system is not always functioning exactly how we would like it to.
Which can mean staying stuck in fight or flight for way longer than what we would like to be, or dealing with that feeling of emotional distress and ongoing anxiety.
So we start with a lot of education on the different parts of the brain, what the brain does, helping people to understand, as your body reacts in this way, this is what's going on.
Because it can feel very much like your body's kind of been hijacked in other ways. So I think moving toward that acceptance of, all right, this is the particular part of my brain doing the thing it's actually designed to do, can be really empowering and help people understand.
The way that your body's responding isn't doing something wrong. The threat detector may just be misclassifying some things.
Rosa: Did your chronic illness inspire you to open StableMind Wellness, or what led you to connect horses with mental health?
Caitlin: Horses were a big part of my life growing up, but then dealing with my own mental health struggles as a teenager and as a young adult, even sometimes going into the therapy space, the horses were honestly more regulating and more affirming for me in my life.
As I moved into mental health, I knew I wanted to somehow blend the two together. That was the avenue that I started to pursue and educate myself on.
Once I really learned how those two can blend together, that's when I realized what a great, expansive program it can be and how helpful it can be for so many different populations, but especially for trauma and for people who are just kind of stuck in that state of fight or flight overall.
Rosa: What inspired you to found it, though? What made you say, I have to start this clinic for people?
Caitlin: In the middle to end of 2023, I was dealing with significant health complications, some of which were likely stemming from some earlier diagnoses, some of which were lifestyle-related, and some I never honestly got an answer for as to why those symptoms were happening.
I felt like I needed to move in a direction that was going to be more fulfilling and balanced for myself, as opposed to the workplaces that I was juggling at the time.
But I also wanted to make sure that we created an affirming space, and that has shown up across the board. The way that we structure pay for employees, all the way through our engagement with clients that come and see us, where it is more human-centered, individual, and we meet people where they are.
We do approach and treat people like they have value and are not just dollar signs for the business.
I wanted to make sure that we had a couple different avenues to try to reach people in a different way.
Rosa: How would you describe your overall approach to therapy in regards to chronic illness specifically?
Caitlin: My overall approach to therapy is very human. I think my clients that work with me know we tend to have conversations like this. It feels very much like flowing human interaction. It is not very structured, clinical, and dry.
And I think that can help tear down some walls. I think the lack of validation and the difficulty of trying to advocate for yourself over time when you do have chronic illness, thinking that you're going into a therapist's office again to have to advocate and argue and assert your needs.
We are very much like, tell us where you are and we're going to meet you where you are.
We try to tear down a lot of those barriers, too. We have people who may alternate between in-person and telehealth, just based off of, hey, it's not a great day, can we do virtual? And it's like, absolutely, we don't question it, we just make that switch.
Rosa: For many people, it becomes a life-changing diagnosis, no matter what kind of chronic illness you have.
How do you help clients grieve? Because there is a grief when it comes to, this is not something I can fix. It's just, it is what it is. So how do you help them grieve that?
Caitlin: Again, meeting people where they are. We'll assess what thoughts and feelings are already there, hold space for those feelings, and encourage people to actually feel those feelings, which none of us like to do.
Rosa: It's a heavy place to be.
Caitlin: Yeah, actually acknowledge that the feelings are there, and then we do provide psychoeducation on grief.
Grief is not linear. Grief is not always rational. You can feel like you have moved past an element of grief, and then it sneaks back up on you again.
And then, as we move through that process, continuing to help people understand, what is in your control?
When 99% of the things feel out of
our control, what is the 1% that we can focus on that does help us feel like we do have a little bit of a say in what's going on in our lives?
Learning to Advocate for Yourself and Set Boundaries
Rosa: Having a little bit of a say goes a long way also with talking to medical professionals. Do you role play how to advocate for yourself with your clients?
Caitlin: Yep, we've absolutely role played for advocating with professionals. We also role play boundary-setting statements sometimes with family members or partners or coworkers.
We've even supported with calling doctors' offices during the session to help with anxiety management and emotional regulation during those calls.
Rosa: Really? So, you put it to the test right then and there. That's awesome. I love it.
When it comes to chronic illness specifically, sometimes you can't see that a person has a disability of any kind. They look normal because it's super internal.
Other people can't see what you're going through. You look fine. How do you become okay with people judging you when you can't do certain things because of your limitations?
Do you role play how to advocate for yourself in a sense of not feeling bad that you can't do certain things? Or do you just talk it through and help them meet themselves where they are so they can accept it?
Caitlin: I think you're right. First of all, any kind of autoimmune, a lot of chronic illness, along with mental illness, those are considered the invisible illnesses where people don't see them.
But it makes things more complicated. We will have a thorough discussion of what's going on. The responses can be different for a lot of people.
If someone is facing their own symptoms, and people in their lives are not understanding, and that's being invalidated, or they're pushing them past their limits, we all respond to that differently.
Sometimes people are trying to push themselves out of their comfort zone and mask to cover it up to try to keep the peace. Sometimes people are withdrawing themselves entirely. Sometimes people are over-exaggerating symptoms just to try to be seen, to try to be understood.
So we'll try to get a sense of what is happening and how we can support in a way that feels best for that person, as well as talking about what's in their control.
If we, in our circle of control, only have ourselves, other people are showing us their limits, as well as where they're willing to help and where they're willing to show up, and we can only adjust ourselves accordingly.
We may empower someone to educate the people around them and then set some boundaries based off of those expectations if the people around them are not willing to make some changes.
I would say very person-specific, but we do try and look at the root and figure out a plan from there.
Rosa: With that in mind, when you're trying to set boundaries, for example, you're in pain, setting boundaries is a lot of mental work. It's not easy, right?
Is there a specific skill set that comes with dealing with your medical issue, because that takes a lot of mental load on you?
How do you deal with two mental loads of having the medical problem but also trying to set boundaries? That sounds like so much work.
Caitlin: It definitely can be. A lot of what we'll do in the session is role play boundary statements in the same way that if someone walks past you on the street and says, "Oh, good morning, how are you?" it's a reflex to just say, "Oh, fine, and you?"
So we will role play that boundary statement until it becomes more automatic of, "I'm sorry, I'm not able to do this right now. We can talk about it again later."
And those things just kind of fly out once you've practiced it enough.
Then it does create enough space to be able to revisit the conversation. That's just one example. There can be a lot of different boundary statements of ways that people interact with other people around them, but we'll role play the statement so that it's not quite such an emotional burden of, "What am I supposed to say, and how do I even respond?"
We've already prepared for that a little bit.
Rosa: Since chronic illness is a lot of times invisible, whoever listens to this is going to say, "Okay, that makes sense," because you never think about it that way.
Having a mental health clinic that focuses on people who have these conditions is super important because you don't hear it. You don't see anything that concentrates on chronic illnesses at all.
The loudest voices in the chronic illness world are those people who have a magical cure.
Having you as somebody who's educated and giving people tools with something that is invisible, that you can't see, is a very amazing resource.
Thank you again for allowing me to take part of your time.
You Are Not Your Illness: Finding Yourself Again
Rosa: How do you help them balance their diagnosis and pursuing meaningful life goals and fulfillment outside of the chronic illness? How do you help them separate themselves, or intertwine themselves where it becomes part of who they are?
Caitlin: Depending on the diagnosis, but oftentimes I would say most of them, it can feel very all-consuming. It can feel more like "I am the diagnosis" versus "I am a person with a diagnosis."
So I would say first and foremost, we are working to separate that.
We're working to identify what elements of you are still in there and are present, and the things that maybe you at one point liked to do or still want to do.
Maybe they have to look different than what we were hoping for, and there may be some grief in that, but we're going to figure out what we can do.
We're going to figure out a way to accommodate. If we're not going out and running marathons, we're still sitting outside, and we're still getting movement in. We're still finding new experiences and seeing new sites in a way that feels meaningful.
And we are empowering what is in that person's control to do.
Rosa: What is the message you believe everybody with a chronic illness should hear?
Caitlin: You are not your illness, number one.
You also have more options and more control than you think you do.
A lot of the paired symptoms from a mental health standpoint are your body and your mind trying to keep you safe from what it perceives as a threat.
And we can separate your experiences from what it perceives as a threat, so that you can feel like you are still living your life with an illness versus the illness dragging you through the mud and you kicking and screaming and trying to fight your way out of it.
Healing Beyond the Office: Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy
Rosa: How do horses play into a therapy session? How does that work?
Caitlin: That's an awesome question. Horses are really cool to have in our therapy sessions.
They have an enormous electromagnetic field. They are able to sense our heartbeat from almost 10 feet away. So when we come into that space with them, their heartbeat is the stronger one, helping slow our heartbeat down, regulate our heart, and regulate our nervous system.
They help our bodies feel more relaxed and attuned, just by being near them, without even doing anything with them yet.
They also can be a really good mirror for us. Whether we, as clinicians, or a client coming into an equine session show up with a lot of tension, there's no masking that with the horses.
We can act like we're doing okay, but they're going to mirror that tenseness or agitation. We can see it and say, okay, obviously there's something going on inside that we probably need to talk about.
With the work on the ground with them, we have a lot of different options. We can sit with them, groom them, or walk with them.
That gentle movement, being in their presence, the emotional regulation, the anxiety reduction that comes out of that—so many people will say, "Wow, leaving here, I just feel way better than I did when I got here," and that's definitely the goal.
Rosa: So they get a little exercise with a walk and just be at peace. That's cool.
For someone who has never heard of this style of therapy, how would you encourage them if they're afraid to try it?
Caitlin: The number one thing that we clarify for people is that it is not therapeutic riding.
There is no scary part of getting on the horse and seeing what happens. We can meet people where they're at.
We can sit in the aisle with the horses in their own stalls, basically in their own little individual apartments, and we can just be near them, all the way up through interacting with them.
We've had people come out who are really nervous, and we're just in that space, in proximity, talking about how they're feeling and taking it one step at a time.
All of the horses also have different personalities. So when we have more hyperactive kids or teens, we might pair them with our more energetic younger horses.
Whereas someone who is a little bit nervous or really needs that peaceful reset, we have a couple of older and wiser horses that will be that really calming presence.
So we also try to personality match or needs match with the personalities of the horses as well.
Finding the Right Support: When and How to Begin Therapy
Rosa: Is there such a thing as too early to go to therapy after a diagnosis?
Caitlin: Not at all.
I think the symptoms alone set off that threat detector. So the sooner you can get in to help your nervous system differentiate between symptoms you're dealing with versus the metaphorical tiger that's chasing you down, and how your body is responding, the better.
When we can separate the two, we can do a whole lot more problem-solving and regulating, and I don't think it's ever too early to have those tools.
Especially because this process can be so long and daunting. There's a lot of advocacy, having to educate people around you, frustration, and different emotions in the process. Having support early on can definitely be helpful.
Rosa: How can somebody tell the difference between normal emotional challenges of living with a chronic illness and when they should definitely seek professional support?
Caitlin: I would say some of the markers may be noticing your general affect. Are you getting more short with the people around you, or having less patience or compassion for yourself or other people?
Are you noticing any digestive disruption, sleep disturbances, or other physiological symptoms that may be a response to stress, that weren't there before or are worsening over time?
As well as, where is your mind going? Are you attempting to complete tasks at home and finding your mind being pulled into things you can't break out of?
Or you're trying to focus on one thing, and the next thing you know, your mind's thinking about the doctor's appointment you have tomorrow.
If you're noticing that your mind, your emotions, and your physical body are all starting to scatter in ways that you don't feel like you're able to have states of calm, it can be a good warning sign that you're getting stuck in that fight-or-flight response.
That can be a good opportunity to learn some tools to bring you back to yourself.
Rosa: Knowing some people who are much older than me with a type of chronic illness, I can see that some people never get out of that cycle. They just stay there.
So, to get out of that cycle, I guess professional help is needed.
For someone trying to find the correct therapist, if they're dealing with issues understanding their mentality around their diagnosis, what should they look for in their therapist?
Caitlin: If you're looking for a therapist, you have every right to ask your therapist questions. To a point, obviously. They should not be overtly self-disclosing a lot of information.
But asking, "Do you have a general knowledge of this diagnosis, or of working with individuals with chronic pain or chronic illness? If not, do you have a referral for me?"
And even if they do, and based on logistics it feels like a good fit, if you get into the sessions and feel like you're not getting what you need, it doesn't hurt to ask.
It doesn't hurt to let the person know, "Hey, I actually would like to be challenged more on this," or "I know we're talking about this topic, but I'd really like to focus on this other thing."
I also encourage people that after two, three, or four sessions, if that communication is happening and it's still not feeling like a good fit, continue to try to find one that does.
Because sometimes being stuck with a therapist that is not helping is more harmful than not going at all.
Rosa: So there is such a thing as a bad therapist. They exist.
Caitlin: I will say there can be bad therapists, I guess, but there can also be times where even a good therapist is just not always a good fit.
I always encourage people to give it a couple of sessions, because the very first session is always going to be medical history and background. You're not really getting to know someone.
But after three or four sessions, if it's feeling like everything you say this person is dismissing, or you don't feel like they're really understanding, or you're talking about something that doesn't feel like the best fit, try to address it.
And if that doesn't work, there are always other options out there.
Rosa: What can a new client expect during their first session with you?
Caitlin: The very first session, we would go over intake forms, informed consent, confidentiality, what therapy looks like, HIPAA protections, and the limits to confidentiality, as well as answer any questions they might have.
Usually, that first session is a biopsychosocial assessment.
That would be all of your medical diagnoses, symptoms that are present, any mental health symptoms, relationships with family, friends, loved ones, educational history, and current job situation.
Even down to, is your job fulfilling? Is it really stressful? Just trying to get as much of a comprehensive picture at the start.
Medication history, risk assessment, if there are any self-harm urges, suicidal ideation, or anything that's been going on. Those are the times when we want to put everything on the table.
Then we will talk about treatment goals and what that looks like together.
What change do you want to see in the next six months and twelve months? And what can we do to move together toward that goal to make sure you see the changes you're looking for?
Getting Started with StableMind Wellness
Rosa: How does insurance typically work with you? And what available options do you have for people without insurance or financial concerns?
Caitlin: Every practice is different. Ours in particular, we are in network with most commercial insurances, Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicare.
When we are not in network with someone's plan, we have some options to do out-of-network billing if they have out-of-network benefits.
So even if you look at the site and it doesn't list your insurance, sometimes you have out-of-network benefits that can still help pay part of that cost.
For people who are uninsured and without any kind of insurance coverage, we offer a reduced cash rate to try to help offset some of the cost.
We'll also try to work with people on scheduling. As much as we would love to start everyone weekly, be able to move to biweekly, and then once a month as someone discharges, if finances allow that they only are seen once a month, we do what we can with that once-a-month appointment.
We try to meet people where they are with that as well.
Rosa: And this covers working with the horses as well?
Caitlin: Yeah. The cool thing about the equine-assisted sessions is we are still doing talk therapy. We are still doing cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. We are still implementing all of those things.
Just like we would if there were a therapy dog in the office with us. It's an added benefit, but it is still very much a measurable, relatable way to do therapy.
Rosa: If someone isn't ready for therapy, for a lot of people therapy can be taboo. It's breaking that barrier slowly. What would be the first steps they can take to begin caring for their mental health?
Caitlin: There are a couple things people can do if they're not ready to start therapy, just for self-care.
A lot of us check boxes. We race around from one activity to the next, we're checking boxes, we're doing all the things, we're trying to keep the peace, make this person happy, and meet appointments. The day can feel wild when you're trying to keep all of that in check.
Even building in mindfulness moments where, for 30 seconds in the morning, I'm going to do a body scan, see what emotions might be present, and what physical sensations I'm noticing.
Maybe in the middle of the day, I have a timer that goes off on my phone that reminds me to stop for a second and look around and go, "Wow, I like the way the sun is shining through the trees in my neighborhood," and go back to life.
Then at the end of the day, checking in as well, just to see, is there anything I need to pay attention to? Is there anything that needs to go on my to-do list tomorrow so I can sleep better tonight?
Can I check in with myself, maybe journal something at nighttime, whether it's voice notes or physically writing something down, to try to move some of that stress and anxiety out of the body?
It helps bring us out of the racing around and checking boxes and back into ourselves for a little bit.
Rosa: How do the logistics work with psychotherapy and the horses? If a horse doesn't feel good that day, how do you schedule around the horse's well-being?
Caitlin: That's a great question. The program that we partner with has 14 horses in it, so we tend to have access to about nine of those 14.
But there are times where the horses are not feeling their best selves, and we use that as a teachable moment.
There have been a few times that I have gone to pull one horse out of her stall, and when she sees me coming, she turns herself around and puts her butt to me at the door and puts her head in the corner.
That is very much a "No thank you, not right now."
That can be aches and pains, that can be "I haven't rested enough yet and I don't feel like it," or that can be "I just don't want to," and that's okay.
We have pulled that into the lesson to say, "Okay, she's setting a boundary with us."
So we have options. We're going to walk away, we can talk for a bit, and we can come back and ask again and see if she's changed her mind.
We can find someone else that we're going to work with, or we can pivot our activity entirely.
It depends on the circumstance, but they obviously can't speak to us, so their communication is nonverbal. We are all trained to see that and understand what they're communicating, how they are enthusiastic participants in the session, or maybe they need to not be a part of it today, and that's okay.
Rosa: Before starting the first session with a horse, does the client need prior experience with animals? And if not, is there a lesson on how to treat the horse?
Caitlin: No prior experience necessary.
Usually our first equine-assisted session, there's a little bit of additional paperwork, just given the nature of being on a farm and being with horses.
The very first session, we'll do a tour. We'll introduce people to the different horses, share a little bit about their age, background, and personality, and teach people how to safely put out their hand and how to safely interact.
Usually we will pull one of the horses for that first session, and that session is all about safety.
How to stand, where to walk, how to move around them in a safe way, what different elements of their movement and body language mean, and how to see that right off the bat, long before we ever get into walking with them or any kind of movement.
No experience needed. We'll start from the ground up.
Rosa: What should people expect the first time they reach out to StableMind Wellness?
Caitlin: The first time they reach out, within 24 business hours, they'll get a response from us.
We will give them the full breakdown of all three service types. We have the equine program, in-office sessions, and telehealth sessions.
We'll run through what their options are, availability, and get a general sense of what might be going on and what they're looking for, so that I have a good idea of which clinician to pair them with.
Then, if all of that sounds good and they want to move forward, we get into the logistics of insurance coverage, scheduling, and things like that.
We reach out within 24 hours, answer any questions they have, and get them set up to take care of the intake paperwork.
Rosa: How can they reach out to you? What are all the ways of contact?
Caitlin: We have a contact form on our website. We also have an Instagram and Facebook presence that people can contact us through, as well as a direct email address and phone number.
Rosa: Can you state the actual website? I will put it on the blog, but for people who are just listening, they can find all the contact information there.
Caitlin: The website is stablemindwellness.org. There's a contact form, our email address, and our phone number all listed on the site.
They can contact us through there or through social media, and we'll get back to them.
Rosa: Last question. If you're not the right fit, or the clinic is not the right fit, do you help people connect with other appropriate resources? And if so, what kind of resources are there for this specific type of therapy?
Caitlin: One hundred percent.
If we ever have someone, based on scheduling, location, availability, or even if they started meeting with someone and it doesn't feel like a good fit, we provide them with referrals.
I've had a few people tentatively start with me personally who have said, "I'm not sure. I was really looking for this," or "I had a bad experience with therapy before."
And I will say, "Give me two or three appointments, and if it doesn't feel like a good fit, you're not going to hurt my feelings. I'm going to give you referrals to try to help you find someone that does."
There are a lot of options within the Lehigh Valley area for in-office and telehealth appointments.
Right now, we are blessed to be the only active equine-assisted psychotherapy program, especially one that is connected with insurance companies, within this immediate area.
But we also partner with certain therapeutic riding programs. So if someone feels like equine-assisted therapy isn't a good fit, but they still want the opportunity to work with animals, we can pair them with a therapeutic riding program and an alternative therapist.
We keep a pretty big resource book, and we try to help refer people to meet their needs.
A Final Thought: You Are More Than Your Diagnoses
Rosa: There's just so many ways of getting help.
This will be my Season 4. For Season 2, I focused on postpartum therapy, and that's its own world, literally.
And now, with chronic illness and calming the nervous system, that's its own world, too.
It's so cool to me how it connects us to the rest of Earth, to the animals. It connects us and makes us feel less alone, which, with chronic illness, you feel so alone.
I thank you so much for the opportunity to interview you because this is going to help a lot of people.
Even if it just helps the 300 people who follow me, that's a huge chunk of people, and they're going to tell other people.
I don't need this for my own notoriety, but just knowing that you exist is such a cool thing because I didn't know before you reconnected.
Thank you so much.
Caitlin: Absolutely. I really appreciate the opportunity to get to share and get to know you, and talk about what we're offering, but also just get to meet you as a person. So it was great.
Supporting StableMind Wellness Means Supporting Individuals Through...
One of the most challenging, isolating, and emotionally overwhelming experiences of their lives: living with chronic illness, navigating a diagnosis, and learning how to move forward when life no longer looks the way it once did.
As part of Season Four of Business Highlight, I had the opportunity to speak with Caitlin Kolba, LCSW, founder of StableMind Wellness, about the emotional toll of chronic illness, the grief that comes with a life-changing diagnosis, invisible disabilities, learning to advocate for yourself, setting boundaries, and the importance of finding mental health support that understands these experiences.
One of the most powerful parts of this conversation was hearing Caitlin speak not only from professional experience, but also from her own experiences living with chronic illness. Through her work, she helps individuals navigate feelings of isolation, anxiety, loss of control, and the challenge of separating their identity from their diagnosis. She also incorporates equine-assisted psychotherapy, offering individuals an opportunity to connect with horses while working through their mental health challenges in a different therapeutic setting.
This season focuses on resources that are often overlooked but deeply needed within our communities. Many people living with chronic illness spend years searching for answers, only to discover that receiving a diagnosis is just the beginning of another journey. While so much attention is placed on treating physical symptoms, the emotional impact is often left out of the conversation.
These conversations are about making those resources more visible, bringing attention to the mental health challenges that accompany chronic illness, and reminding individuals that they are more than their diagnosis and do not have to navigate this journey alone.
And this is only the beginning. Season Four will continue highlighting local professionals, organizations, and resources that are making a meaningful difference for individuals living with chronic illness throughout the Lehigh Valley.
Business Information:
StableMind Wellness
Caitlin Kolba, LCSW
Telehealth anywhere in PA
In-Office in Bethlehem, PA
Equine Assisted in Bangor, PA
Phone number: (484) 519-1805
Website: www.stablemindwellness.org
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Fox & Roach Realtors
Pennsylvania
3465 Nazareth Rd., Suite 103, Easton, PA 18045
484-274-8696 - Cell
610-258-0808 - Phone
610-258-7699 - Fax
Fox & Roach Realtors
New Jersey
54 Old Hwy 22, Clinton, NJ 088089
484-274-8696 - Cell
908-735-9700 - Phone
Comments