Women's GI Support Group
Therapeutic support, empowerment, and coping skills for women diagnosed with a Chronic GI Condition (IBS, IBD, GERD)
THURSDAYS, 7:00PM TO 8:00PM | 12 VIRTUAL MEETINGS
Group Description:
Welcome to our 12-week virtual group, which takes a holistic approach to healthcare. We are confident we can help you heal in mind, body, and spirit. Our program offers education, support, and skills designed to empower you to make meaningful changes in your life.
Through our Women’s GI Group, you will learn about the mind-gut connection and powerful techniques to regulate your digestive function, reduce stress and inflammation, enhance the quality of your sleep, and boost your mood. Our team of experts is committed to guiding you every step of the way, and you’ll be surrounded by peers who share your journey.
Our group will empower you to tap into your inner wisdom, strengths, and values to make meaningful shifts in your self-care routine and how you think about your health condition. Our mission is to help you transform your experience from merely surviving to truly thriving.
Rest assured, your illness does not define you. Our group leaders, who have triumphed over their health challenges, are living proof of this. With our program’s evidence-based skills and strategies, participants will be equipped to manage their gastrointestinal conditions effectively. This will set them on a path to alleviating their symptoms and living their best lives.
Join us today and take the first step towards a healthier, happier you!
With evidence-based skills and strategies for managing your gastrointestinal condition, you will be on a pathway to symptom relief.
Our Living Proof Group Leaders
MICHELLE PINEL, MS, NBC-HWC
MIND-BODY PRACTITIONER & COUNSELING INTERN
Michelle (She/Her) is a master’s level counselor-in-training who approaches the counseling process from an integrative medicine lens, exploring mind, body, and spirit concerns to help clients achieve optimal wellness. She uses a strengths-based, client-centered approach to care, understanding that all beings possess an inner wisdom and an innate capacity for personal growth and healing. She lovingly empowers individuals to take control of their health and achieve self-determined goals.
Michelle fosters a safe and supportive space to meet clients where they are and guides them forward. As a former patient, she has deep compassion and understanding of the challenges of living with a chronic health condition. Michelle’s illness and recovery experience inspired her to heal herself so she could help others along on their healing-journey. She has extensive training in the mind-gut connection and understands the impact of stress, emotions, and trauma on the digestive tract. She leverages the power of the mind-body connection to support clients in the development of self-awareness, relaxation skills, and coping strategies that are proven to decrease symptomology.
Michelle is in her final year in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Saybrook University. She also holds a Master of Science degree in Mind-Body Medicine—an interdisciplinary field that examines healthcare through the lens of humanistic psychology, biology, and anthropology—from Saybrook University’s College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences. Her research focused on the effectiveness of mind-body therapies in treating chronic health disorders, with a particular focus on functional gastrointestinal conditions. Michelle is also a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach and holds a certificate in Gastropsychology from the prestigious Rome Foundation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, graduating with honors.
Before entering the health and healing space, Michelle was a corporate executive with 15+ years of experience leading high-performing teams and leading employee wellness programs.
TAIWO MAJEKODUNMI, MA, LMHC
PSYCHOTHERAPIST & SUPERVISOR
Taiwo (She/Her) was born and raised in New York City, specifically in Queens and Brooklyn. She is a licensed mental health counselor and holds a master’s degree in mental health counseling from CUNY Brooklyn College. As someone who is voraciously curious and naturally empathetic, Taiwo has always had an ardent desire to understand the inner workings of the mind, which has allowed her to have vast experience in working a diverse demographic. As a first-generation Nigerian American woman, it has been Taiwo’s mission to provide access to those who are underrepresented with the tools they need to overcome their obstacles and heal from their pain. It has been her pleasure to serve those who need it and may not have the resources to access that help, especially because she has experience dealing with financial, racial and emotional hardships. She has provided adolescents and young and middle-aged adults with complex trauma, self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, personality disorders, anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns in diverse clinical settings.
In treatment with Taiwo, she utilizes an eclectic approach utilizing methods from EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), interpersonal psychodynamic therapy, CBT (Cognitive Based Therapy), somatic approaches, ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) and MBT (Mentalization Based Treatment). She believes that one must be present with their inner experiences without shame or judgment to heal from past or present trauma, which is the proactive of mindfulness. Taiwo employs a collaborative and relational approach to treatment, ensuring that the client’s needs are in the forefront of the treatment process. She expels authenticity and warmth that allows the client to feel safe and attended to. Taiwo will work with the client to help them reach their goals, but it will be at a pace that is up to the client as she believes the session is about the client and their emotional safety.
When working with Taiwo, she will challenge you to assist you in getting out of your comfort zone because discomfort, but with a safe space, is needed to grow and heal. She will also remind you to be kind and compassionate to yourself, as the practice of self-compassion is essential in her treatment process and to one’s healing in general. She hopes that the client will utilize these tools for the rest of their healing journeys.