I’m a therapist, a health psychologist, and also a real person who understands how overwhelming it can feel to live with a medical condition or the aftermath of medical trauma. I love spending time with my family and friends, staying active in my hometown of Chicago, and most of all, sitting with people who are facing some of the hardest moments of their lives and helping them find a way forward that feels calmer, safer, and more hopeful.
In graduate school, I was able to bring together my passions for health, psychology, and psychotherapy. I focused on one central question: how can we support both your emotional well‑being and your physical health, especially when you’re living with chronic illness, frightening diagnoses, or painful medical experiences?
Over time, I noticed many clients were not only struggling with anxiety, depression, or traumatic medical memories, but were also feeling stuck in their bodies—exhausted, in pain, or discouraged by changes in their health. Many wondered:
- How do I cope with fear about my diagnosis or the future?
- How do I live with symptoms that don’t go away?
- How do I rebuild trust in my body and in medical providers after scary or invalidating experiences?
When we talked, I discovered that people were eager for a more integrated approach—one that honors their medical realities while also helping them feel more in control, more informed, and more at peace in their daily lives.
My research confirmed what I was seeing in the therapy room: there is strong evidence that lifestyle factors like movement, sleep, and nutrition can support mental health and long‑term health outcomes. But there is also something just as important—compassionate, trauma‑informed care that helps you process fear, grief, anger, and medical trauma, and that validates how hard it is to live in a body that doesn’t always cooperate.
I created Healthy Life to offer this kind of care. My practice is designed for individuals and caregivers who are:
- Coping with new or chronic medical diagnoses
- Living with ongoing symptoms, pain, or physical limitations
- Recovering from frightening or invalidating medical experiences
- Struggling with anxiety, depression, or PTSD related to illness or treatment
Together, we work to help you:
- Make sense of what you’ve been through medically
- Reduce anxiety, panic, and health‑related worry
- Process medical trauma at a pace that feels safe
- Navigate difficult decisions about treatment and care
- Strengthen coping skills for pain, fatigue, and uncertainty
- Explore realistic, sustainable lifestyle changes that support your health
- Reconnect with meaning, joy, and a sense of control in your life
You don’t have to “be positive” all the time or pretend you’re not scared. Therapy with me is a space where all of your feelings about your health and your care are welcome—where we can honor what you’ve been through, and at the same time, begin to build a life that feels more manageable and more hopeful.
Background
I’m Dr. Cassandra Kandah, founder of Healthy Life. I am a licensed clinical psychologist in Illinois with a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Rosalind Franklin University, where I specialized in health psychology and neuropsychology. I completed my postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral medicine at Loyola University Medical Center.
As a health psychologist, I focus on the intersection of emotional well‑being, medical conditions, and the nervous system’s response to stress and trauma. I help individuals and caregivers manage the emotional impact of conditions such as:
- Mild cognitive impairment and dementia
- Traumatic brain injury and stroke
- Cancer
- Kidney, heart, and lung failure
- Pregnancy and fertility concerns
- Parkinson’s disease
- Cystic fibrosis
- Diabetes and other chronic conditions
- Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)
- Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS)
My approach is collaborative, evidence‑based, and trauma‑informed. I will meet you exactly where you are—whether you feel overwhelmed, numb, angry, discouraged, or simply tired of doing this alone.
In addition to my work at Healthy Life, I am a professor at Roosevelt University and helped pioneer a mental health clinic in Uganda, Africa, serving African refugees and Ugandan nationals living with posttraumatic stress disorder. This work has deepened my commitment to providing accessible, culturally sensitive, and trauma‑aware care to people facing profound stress and loss.
If you’re ready to explore support
If you are living with a chronic health condition, navigating a recent diagnosis, or coping with medical trauma, you are not alone—and it is possible to feel more grounded, more informed, and more hopeful than you might feel today.
You’re welcome to request an appointment to see if Healthy Life’s services feel like a good fit for you. We’ll talk about your story, your medical history, your goals, and what healing could realistically look like in your life right now.
Dr. Kandah’s Publications
Physical activity reduces hippocampal atrophy in elders at genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease
Recognition of famous names predicts cognitive decline in healthy elders
