# Pelvic Pain, Shame, and the Long Road to Freedom with Claire Birnie

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw-487645/pelvic-pain-shame-and-the-long-road-to-freedom-with-claire-birnie
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw-487645/pelvic-pain-shame-and-the-long-road-to-freedom-with-claire-birnie.md
Podcast: [The Cure for Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs, LCSW](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw-487645)
Published: 2026-05-22T08:11:00+00:00
Episode link: https://tracking.swap.fm/track/JhoQDAATtO1l0y8tdKNa/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL6282210087.mp3?updated=1779369519
Audio file: https://tracking.swap.fm/track/JhoQDAATtO1l0y8tdKNa/traffic.megaphone.fm/ADL6282210087.mp3?updated=1779369519
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-cure-for-chronic-pain-with-nicole-sachs-lcsw-487645/episodes/pelvic-pain-shame-and-the-long-road-to-freedom-with-claire-birnie
Duration seconds: 3684

## Resource

Learn how to JournalSpeak ➡️ ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.yourbreakawake.com/journalspeak⁠ In this episode, I’m joined by the wonderful Claire Birnie, whose story is such a powerful reminder that healing does not always arrive in one clean, linear, cinematic moment. Claire lived with chronic pelvic and vaginal pain for more than two decades. After years of medical searching, diagnoses that named the pain but did not resolve it, countless treatments, medications, physical therapies, and the deep loneliness that can come with symptoms people are afraid to talk about, Claire eventually found the work of Dr. Sarno, JournalSpeak, and our mindbody approach. What I love so much about this conversation is Claire’s honesty about the long way around. She talks about researching, resisting, comparing herself to other recovery stories, wondering if she was doing it wrong, and slowly learning that every part of her process belonged. We talk about good-girl conditioning, conflict avoidance, the fear of being seen, the shame of not knowing how to feel, and the way the nervous system can create symptoms in the very places we most want to hide. Claire’s recovery was not about doing this perfectly. It was about becoming safe enough to be herself, to speak up, to take risks, to have her own back, and to stop abandoning herself in the name of being acceptable. Claire has spent years helping hold this work for others — first as an admin of the original JournalSpeak Facebook page, and now as an admin of Nicole Sachs’ Support Circle, where she continues to offer steadiness, wisdom, and lived proof to people who are still finding their way. Her story is also in MIND YOUR BODY! Claire is now the Co-Director of Living Proof, a UK-based, recoveree-led nonprofit devoted to sharing the s…

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## Transcript

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