From Bracing for Pain to Feeling Safe in Your Body Again (with Jessie Hoffer)

In this episode, I’m joined by Jessie Hoffer, an associate clinical social worker at the Pain Psychology Center. 

In this episode, Jessie shares her own experience with pelvic pain and pain during intimacy as well as her experience working with her clients. We explore how the cycle of fear, bracing, and pain can become a learned pattern and how healing involves supporting both the physical components and the fear response within the nervous system.

We also talk about creating safety during intimacy, learning to advocate for your needs, and recognizing when relational or emotional factors may be contributing to a very real sense of unsafety. Jessie offers a compassionate look at how past experiences can shape our expectations in the present, even when our current circumstances are different.

Together, we discuss:

• How anticipating pain can create a cycle of fear, bracing, and increased symptoms

• The role of safety in pain reprocessing and pelvic pain recovery

• Creating safety with your body, with a partner, and within yourself

• Learning to pause, recognize what’s happening, and choose a different response

• Why outcome independence is an ongoing practice

• Shifting from fixing and fighting your pain toward curiosity and compassion

• The stories pelvic pain can create about your future

• How to make space for grief while also offering your brain new possibilities

• Integrating pelvic floor physical therapy and other physical treatments with mind-body work

  
  

Most importantly, this conversation is a reminder that even if you’ve been living with pain for months or years, your relationship with your body, your symptoms, and your future doesn’t have to keep looking the way it does today. Change is always possible. 

You can connect with Jessie through the Pain Psychology Center, on Instagram at @jesstalkaboutit, or by emailing jhoffer.therapy@gmail.com

Connect with Rachel: 

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Join BCPP 

Instagram: thepelvicpaincoach

Disclaimer:
This podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.