For Children, Teens, and Parents
Chronic Illness Therapy & Medical Coping Support
Feel more in control, reduce anxiety, and navigate the emotional impact of chronic health conditions with expert support — serving Cupertino, CA, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sarasota, FL & Online.
Are you—or is your child or teen—struggling to cope with a chronic illness?
Are you trying to figure out the best way to support your chronically ill child?
Do all of your efforts to help lead to conflict and misunderstanding?
Are they having difficulty following their doctor’s orders and staying on track with their medications or insulin?
Maybe your child or teen is dealing with diabetes, GI issues, epilepsy, or another chronic condition. As stressful as it is for them, it may be equally stressful for you as the parent. Although you want to help them manage their pain and stick to a treatment routine, you also don’t want to micromanage them or be a helicopter parent. It might be hard to strike a balance because of how worried you are about them.
As an experienced chronic illness therapist and pediatric psychologist, Dr. Anna provides a warm, understanding space where children, teens, and parents feel genuinely seen — not just clinically assessed.
Because Of Their Illness, Your Child Could Feel Left Out And Embarrassed
Chronic illness is tough at any age, but it’s especially tough for kids and teens. Your child may feel very alone among their peers since most kids can’t relate to them. While everyone else is off having fun, they’re probably worrying about how they’ll manage their next flareup and whether or not they’ll be judged for it.
Over time, this could lead to shame and embarrassment. Your child might neglect their own needs, especially in public (e.g., refusing to follow a special diet or take their medication) rather than risk standing out and being perceived as different. Their anxiety could cause adherence issues and prevent them from sticking to a treatment regimen.
While therapy cannot take away a child’s chronic illness, it can help children and teens build coping skills, strengthen resilience, and continue to grow and thrive alongside the challenges they face. Dr. Anna is a pediatric psychologist with specialized training in supporting children and adolescents with medical conditions. As a parent of a child with a chronic illness herself, she brings not only professional expertise, but also a deep personal understanding of the emotional impact these experiences can have on the entire family.
Online chronic illness therapy can be especially helpful for families navigating unpredictable health days, frequent medical appointments, hospital visits, and energy limitations that can make attending in-person sessions difficult. Virtual therapy offers greater flexibility and accessibility, allowing children, teens, and parents to receive support from the comfort of home.
A Note From Dr. Anna
As the parent of a child with a chronic illness, I know firsthand what it feels like to lose sleep worrying about your child, asking “why mine?”, to navigate the guilt of wondering what you could have done differently, and to experience the unique exhaustion of caregiver burnout. This work isn't just professional for me — it's deeply personal. I've sat in the same chair you're sitting in right now, and I know how isolating and overwhelming it can feel. That's why I'm committed to showing up for your family with not just clinical expertise, but genuine understanding and compassion. You don't have to figure this out alone.
Children and teens with chronic conditions often feel misunderstood, isolated, or different from their peers.
Anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues are very common in kids who struggle with chronic illness. They have to face challenges that most of their peers can’t even fathom. What’s more, they also struggle with isolation, shame, and misunderstanding far more than their peers.
Many children simply haven’t been exposed to different medical needs. When they encounter a peer with a visible condition—such as a wheelchair or an insulin pump—they may stare or ask questions out of curiosity. For children living with chronic illness, these moments can feel uncomfortable and may lead to feelings of self-consciousness or overwhelm.
Even in the teen years, things don’t exactly get easier. Most teens with chronic illnesses feel left out socially. They see everyone’s “highlight reels” all over social media and feel like they’re the odd ones out. Discussing vulnerabilities isn’t normalized, so many teens feel like they have no outlet for their emotions.
The right support can make a meaningful difference. Therapy helps your child feel understood, build coping skills, and grow in confidence while living with a chronic condition.
Therapy Can Help You And Your Child Work Together To Manage Their Chronic Illness
Chronic illness therapy and medical coping support can help you and your child figure out their new normal, develop a plan for treating symptoms, and improve your relationship in the process.
Dr. Anna's approach is highly individualized and varies from client to client — sometimes working with the child directly, sometimes with parents individually, and sometimes with the whole family together. It all depends on you and your child's situation.
How Dr. Anna Helps Kids Navigate Chronic Illness
Chronic illness therapy sessions at Wildflower Psych are conducted primarily via telehealth on a secure, HIPAA-compliant Zoom platform, with limited in-person appointments available in Cupertino, CA, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sarasota, FL — making care accessible even on difficult health days. Limited in-person appointments are available in Cupertino, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sarasota, FL for families who prefer to meet face-to-face.
When working with children and teens, the main focus of therapy is often the connection between mental health and chronic illness. Dr. Anna helps them understand how anxiety and depression can worsen health outcomes and vice versa. Sessions also explore how they are coping and adjusting, how comfortable they feel sharing their struggles with others, and how their diagnosis has affected their plans and hopes for the future.
Dr. Anna draws heavily from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for chronic illness in sessions with children and teens. Because of its focus on identifying and shifting unhelpful thoughts and beliefs, CBT is especially effective for kids who struggle to stay on track with their medical regimen.
For instance, a child who needs insulin might think “My friends will think I’m weird if they see me take my insulin, so I’ll take it later.” In this way, their difficulty adhering to a regimen is likely tied to worries about what other people think of them. CBT can help kids identify their worries and replace negative thoughts with more balanced thinking, allowing them to feel better about themselves and their condition.
How Dr. Anna Helps Parents Support Their Children And Build Self-Compassion
Dr. Anna helps parents find new ways to support their child while also managing their own stress and caregiver burnout — exploring practical avenues for self-care and self-compassion together.
Oftentimes, this means working through feelings of guilt and regret. When you’re parenting a child with a chronic illness, it’s easy to blame yourself for your child’s struggles. You might ask yourself: What if I had just brought them to get evaluated sooner? What if I made the wrong dietary or lifestyle choices for them? These thoughts are normal. Therapy can help you be kind to yourself and understand that you’re doing the best you can.
Therapy can help your child realize they can live a full, meaningful life despite their chronic illness and empower you to support them along the way. Most importantly, it can help both of you deepen your loving connection and work together more effectively.
For parents looking for additional support beyond chronic illness, Dr. Anna also offers parenting counseling at Wildflower Psych.
Get In Touch
Hello, I'm Dr. Anna, a pediatric and clinical psychologist with advanced training in pediatric health psychology, specializing in chronic illness counseling for medical coping and wellness.
I have over a decade of experience supporting youth with chronic illnesses and medical conditions. My training and work experiences include the nation’s top children’s hospitals, academic medical centers, a large integrated healthcare system, a level 1 trauma center, an inpatient burn unit, an inpatient stem cell transplant unit, and a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
I've provided support to youth and families as a part of many interdisciplinary medical teams including Pediatric Neurology, Gastroenterology, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Hematology/Oncology, Nephrology, Cystic Fibrosis, Pulmonology, and Sleep Medicine. I’ve also supported youth with genetic and cleft lip/palate & craniofacial conditions as well as youth who have experienced a traumatic brain injury or undergone a transplant (kidney, liver, heart, lung, and stem cell).
Cystic Fibrosis
Epilepsy / Seizure Disorder
Headache / Migraine
Cancer
Muscular Dystrophy
Chronic Conditions Dr. Anna Has Expertise In
Dr. Anna has specialized training and clinical experience in medical coping and pediatric health psychology, supporting children, teens, and families navigating a wide range of chronic health conditions, including:
Kidney Disease
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Celiac Disease
Crohn’s Disease
Ulcerative Colitis
Diabetes Mellitus (DM; Types 1 and 2)
Encopresis
Craniofacial Conditions
Chronic Constipation
Pre- and Post-Solid Organ Transplant
Chronic Illness Therapy Can Help You And Your Family:
Improve adherence to medical treatment — helping children and teens understand why their treatment matters and building practical strategies to stay consistent with medications, diet, and medical routines — even when it's hard
Cope with medical procedures and hospital visits — reducing anxiety and fear around needles, tests, and treatments so your child feels calmer and more in control during medical appointments
Adjust to a new diagnosis — processing the grief, confusion, and uncertainty that often comes with learning that life will look different going forward, for both the child and the whole family
Reduce caregiver burnout and overwhelm — building sustainable self-care strategies so you can show up for your child without running on empty, and working through the guilt and worry that comes with being a caregiver
Address anxiety and depression — because mental health challenges are especially common in children and teens with chronic illness, and treating them can meaningfully improve physical health outcomes too
Build resilience and a positive sense of self — helping your child see themselves as more than their diagnosis, cultivating confidence, self-compassion, and a hopeful outlook on the future despite ongoing health challenges
Strengthen the parent-child relationship — developing communication strategies that reduce conflict around treatment, reduce helicopter parenting tendencies, and help your child feel supported rather than micromanaged
Prepare for the transition from pediatric to adult care — equipping teens and young adults with the self-advocacy skills, health knowledge, and emotional readiness to manage their own care confidently as they grow up
Navigate school and social challenges — addressing the isolation, embarrassment, and peer misunderstanding that children and teens with chronic illness often experience, and building tools to advocate for themselves at school and in friendships
Help Your Child Thrive While Living With Chronic Illness.
If you're looking for a chronic illness therapist and pediatric psychologist who truly understands what your family is going through, Dr. Anna would be glad to connect. Schedule a free 20-minute consultation directly here or reach out via the contact page.
Dr. Anna is here to help your family thrive and achieve the best possible outcomes on your child’s healthcare journey.
FAQS
Common Questions About Chronic Illness Therapy
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The mind and body are intimately connected — there is no health without mental health. If your child is struggling with anxiety or depression, daily routines can feel impossible and merely taking medication can seem overwhelming. As a pediatric psychologist, Dr. Anna is specially trained to support children with medical conditions and help their parents in the process. Therapy cannot get rid of your child's chronic illness, but it can help them adhere to a treatment plan, adjust to a new diagnosis, and address any underlying anxiety and depression.
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Yes — and telehealth is especially beneficial for families managing chronic illness. Children and teens with chronic health conditions often have unpredictable health days, frequent medical appointments, and energy limitations that make in-person therapy difficult to attend consistently. All chronic illness therapy sessions at Wildflower Psych are conducted primarily via telehealth on a secure, HIPAA-compliant Zoom platform, making care accessible wherever your family is located — in California, Florida, or across 40+ PSYPACT states. Limited in-person appointments are available in Cupertino, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sarasota, FL.
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Yes — this is actually one of the most common and important goals in chronic illness therapy. Many children and teens struggle to consistently follow their treatment regimen, often due to anxiety about what others think, denial about their diagnosis, or simply feeling overwhelmed. Dr. Anna uses research-backed CBT techniques to help children and teens identify the thoughts and feelings that interfere with adherence, and replace them with more balanced thinking and practical coping strategies — so they can feel better about their condition and stay on track with their health.
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Yes — working alongside parents is a core part of pediatric psychology training and practice. Dr. Anna helps parents regulate stress, improve mood, and communicate more effectively with their child or teen. With both clinical expertise and personal experience as a parent of a chronically ill child, Dr. Anna provides the comfort and understanding you're looking for. You don't have to navigate this alone.
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Parents are involved in each step of the therapy process and they are kept up to date on progress so they can coach therapy skills in between sessions. Therapy works best when children are supported as they apply newly learned skills in real-life settings, with the support and scaffolding of their parents and caregivers. Parents are always kept informed when important issues arise.
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Absolutely. If your child has a mental health condition on top of their chronic illness, Dr. Anna can provide a support letter to add accommodations to their IEP or Section 504 plan — so your child can get through the school day with fewer worries on their mind.
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Dr. Anna works with children, teens, and young adults as well as their parents. Learn more about child therapy and teen therapy at Wildflower Psych.
If you read through this page and felt like it described your child or your own experience, Wildflower Psych may be a good fit. Feel free to reach out with any questions.
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While Dr. Anna's primary focus is pediatric and adolescent chronic illness, she also works with young adults and parents navigating their own chronic health conditions. If you're an adult dealing with a chronic illness and the emotional weight that comes with it — including anxiety, depression, caregiver burnout, or adjustment challenges — reach out to discuss whether Wildflower Psych is the right fit for you.
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Yes — The conditions listed on this page are not exhaustive. If you read through this page and felt like it described your child or your own experience, Wildflower Psych may be a good fit. Dr. Anna has broad training across many medical specialties and welcomes families navigating a wide range of chronic health conditions. Reach out to discuss your specific situation.
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Schedule a free 20-minute phone or Zoom consultation directly here, or reach out via the contact page and Dr. Anna will follow up within one business day. Chronic illness therapy sessions are available primarily via telehealth, with limited in-person appointments available in Cupertino, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sarasota, FL.
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Dr. Anna Hung is a chronic illness therapist and pediatric psychologist serving children, teens, and families in Cupertino, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch, and across 40+ states via telehealth.