About Lauren Freedman | Board-Certified Chronic Illness & Neurodivergence Coach

In 2017, my health took a nosedive. I had to leave my job, go on disability, and figure out which way was up. But as I staggered through the recovery process, I learned invaluable lessons that would shape my future. I launched my award-winning podcast Uninvisible® in 2019, because I was asking enough questions that I thought the answers might just help others. Turns out, I was right. This patient advocacy work led me right into health coaching. In 2021, I trained as an Integrative Health & Wellness Coach, and was later nationally board-certified — earning several additional credentials to support the clients in my care.

I used to be an actor. I had a career for over a decade that spanned stage, screen, and the vocal booth. But at a certain point, I tired of the hustle — the financial instability, the constant travel, the grind of sustaining a creative life. So I stepped back and got myself a 9-to-5.

I was so focused on making that work that I defaulted to people-pleasing on a scale I didn't fully recognize until later. I made myself available at all hours. I was living in a house with toxic mold. I was eating takeout, barely exercising, barely sleeping — and then I got into a car accident.

Several months later, the symptoms hit: brain fog, cognitive decline, joint pain, and a host of other things that felt like my body failing but turned out to be messages — urgent ones — to tend to myself. The fatigue was perhaps the most debilitating. I was eventually diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, obstructive sleep apnea, and later, idiopathic hypersomnia. The mold, and some well-timed long-lived parasites, were major contributors.

I felt profoundly alone, struggled to find community, and got gaslit at nearly every turn. But two things stayed clear throughout: I never stopped pursuing my own thriving, and I always knew my experience was physiological — not imagined. My support system had a lot to do with that. So did my stubbornness.

I'd been an activist in women's health for some years at that point — and with my microphone in hand, the idea of combining my skills, interests, and experience to build a community took shape organically. I wanted to give people who didn't have support or direction the kind of understanding and inner conviction I was slowly finding for myself.

In 2019, I launched Uninvisible Pod® — a podcast that takes an intersectional look at what it's actually like to live with invisible chronic illness and disability. I became a full-time patient and a full-time advocate, for myself and for the growing community forming around the work. (Including close friends who suddenly began to reveal the diagnoses they'd been quietly carrying — many for years.)

As the work grew, so did my network and my understanding of what people actually needed. I've had the honor of speaking about patient advocacy and invisible illness across podcasts, conferences, and platforms — all while keeping Uninvisible Pod® alive and running, featuring new patient stories regularly.

Health coaching came as naturally as podcasting did. I was introduced to a coach, immediately understood the power of the work, and knew it was the logical next step. Several years into my own practice, I bring with me my years of lived experience navigating chronic illness, my insider knowledge of the healthcare system, and my deep belief in the mind-body connection — because I'm living it, right alongside you.

If you want to know more about how I work, head to Approach.  If you're ready to talk, book a free strategy session — no pressure, no pitch, just a real conversation about where you are and whether coaching makes sense for you right now.