Helping you get healthier, physically and emotionally.
Specialized mental health therapy for chronic pain, chronic illness, cancer, and medical trauma. We use evidence-based approaches to help reduce chronic symptoms and navigate the emotional ups and downs of living with a medical condition. Sessions are offered in-person in Richmond, VA and virtually across 43 PSYPACT participating states.
If you’re exhausted from trying to hold it all together with your health, you’re in the right place.
You know you can’t keep going the way things are. You’ve done everything you can possibly do to get better, but you’re still stuck and overwhelmed with your chronic illness or chronic pain. You may even feel like therapy or mental health support is a last resort because you’re so burnt out and emotionally drained from all the medical treatment you’ve undergone.
Whatever led you to Virginia Health and Medical Psychology, I’m glad you landed here. This mental health practice exists so you don’t have to manage everything on your own and to finally give you a chance to be honest about how you’re feeling. When you walk in our door, it’s okay not to always “stay positive,” “push through,” or any of the other advice that may have made you feel dismissed and invalidated.
It’s my hope that through our work together, as you start to feel safer and your system starts to recalibrate, you’ll be able to learn a new way to approach your health and symptoms - one that supports and partners with your body, even if that doesn’t feel possible right now.
Areas of Specialization
01 Therapy for Chronic Pain
Chronic pain doesn’t just affect the body, it impacts your sleep, mood, energy, and even relationships. Learn more about pain psychology and whether it may be helpful for you.
02 Therapy for Cancer and Cancer Survivors
A cancer diagnosis brings stress, fear, changes in relationships, and worries about the future. Even if you’re in survivorship, you may still struggle with fear of recurrence. Learn more about therapy for cancer
03 Therapy for Chronic Illness
Treatment for people with chronic illness focuses on the emotional and daily challenges that come with conditions like lupus, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, or crohn’s. Learn more below.
04 Therapy for IBS and disorders of the gut-brain interaction
By calming a sensitized nervous system and addressing the stress and emotional patterns that influence digestion, many people experience meaningful relief from symptoms.
05 Therapy for Unexplained Physical Symptoms
Symptoms that have been evaluated, often times over and over, with no identifiable explanation. These symptoms may have an origin in nervous system disruption rather than structural disease.
Meet Dr. Jessica Grove
Licensed Clinical Health Psychologist
As a health psychologist, I’ve seen firsthand the emotional toll chronic illness and chronic pain have on people’s lives. I created VAHMP to fill in gaps in healthcare and partner with you to create meaningful improvements in your life and health.
⟡ Licensed Clinical Psychologist
⟡ PSYPACT licensed
⟡ APA Accredited fellowship in clinical health psychology
⟡ Experience working with chronic conditions, cancer, neurological conditions, bariatric surgery candidates, transplant recipients, and chronic pain patients
A Different Approach to Chronic Pain and Illness
01 Calming the nervous system
Helping your body move out of constant high alert so it can respond to sensations with less intensity.
02Understanding how the brain and body influence symptoms
Learning how the brain interprets signals from the body, and how those patterns can be reshaped.
03Reducing fear and reactivity around physical sensations
Building confidence in your body so symptoms feel less threatening and less disruptive.
04 Processing the emotional toll of living with illness
Creating space to work through the grief, frustration, and uncertainty that often come with health challenges.
By working alongside your doctors and other providers, we can give you additional strategies, emotional support, and a sense of control over your health journey.
In a world that makes you feel out of place with your diagnosis, you belong here.
Living with a medical condition changes the way you see yourself and how others see you. The world is more difficult for you to navigate - from finding restaurants that cater to your dietary needs, to making sure you have supplies on hand to address any medical fallout, or needing more breaks on outings. Things take more energy and time for you. Here, we understand that. And we’re here to navigate those complexities with you.
