MARS Method Mentorship

Why is health and fitness the norm for comparatively healthy people, yet taboo or a luxury for those of us who’s quality of life depends on it most? Health doesn’t just come just from eradicating illness, but also increasing wellness.

It’s an overwhelming, intense place to be. Believe me, I’ve been there, and see it every day with the folks I work with. It’s not easy to systematically undo the very tangled ball of yarn that complex pain becomes, but with the right approach, it can be done. If you’re a complex patient who wants to gain back control of their life and needs 1:1 support beyond movement, you’re in the right place.

Welcome to the MARS Method Mentorship.

Complex patients often lack a centralized approach that connects all the dots the medical system treats in isolation. Feeling overwhelmed by managing care and addressing all the different variables that affect pain is lonely and daunting.

Most of us have exhausted medications or procedures we want to try, want to be less reliant on them, or need to lower sensitization levels before doing additional therapies. If you need a structured, individualized plan with ongoing support that make working through complex pain simple - the Mentorship is exactly the program for you.

The MARS Method Mentorship is NOT a traditional pain program. This is a four month completely individualized 1:1 lifestyle, movement, and pain education program that centers around the difference complex pain patients need in treatment application and communication. It comes from both lived, first-hand experience, and work with many patients who like me, had exhausted everything the traditional medical system had to offer and still had persistent, worsening pain.

This is the information - and the implementation, with support every step of the way.

Do you have complex pain, chronic illnesses, or neurological conditions like:

  • hypermobility, hypermobile-Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS)

  • Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)

  • Fibromyalgia or multiple, widespread pain locations

  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME)

  • Long COVID, or post-concussive syndrome

  • TBI (traumatic brain injury or post concussive syndrome), MS, stroke, etc.

  • Multiple types of overlapping, persistent pain including body part pain, nerve pain, or nociplastic pain (central sensitization)

Are you are struggling with:

  • Increasingly widespread and persistent pain with and frequent, unpredictable flares

  • Worsening sensitivity to sensory inputs like light, sound, smells, touch, taste etc that are limiting your life

  • An overwhelming sympathetic component to your pain like with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

  • Sensory issues, demand avoidance, food aversions, or intolerances that neurodivergence can create additional barriers around

  • Having a hard time eating regularly due to GIT issues, nausea, lack of appetite, or sourcing food that affect your nutrition

  • Chronic low energy; feel burnt out, lethargic and have intrusive fatigue

  • Significant difficulty falling asleep, tossing and turning all night, not waking up refreshed, and can’t get through the day without a nap

  • Brain fog, trouble concentrating, and remembering things

  • Want to be able to work out more consistently, and flare less from movement…

This is the program you’ve been looking for.

Symptoms of nervous system dysfunction and complex pain are real, and not in your head.

Complex pathologies, persistent pain, and central sensitization result in buckets of symptoms and diagnosis you’ve probably been explaining to different specialists for a long time, like:

01
Sensory
Sensitivity

Sensitivity to sensory inputs like touch (allodynia), light, sound (tinnitus), temperature (Reynaud’s), taste, smell.

02
Sleep
Disturbance

“Painsomnia”, difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, and feeling rested even when you do.

03
Extreme
Fatigue

Frequent crashes and debilitating exhaustion, napping constantly, and being unable to predict energy levels.

04
Cognitive
Impairment

Bran fog, memory issues, ADHD/neurodivergence. Difficulty learning or retaining information.

05
Mood
Disturbance

Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, and persistent sympathetic states that increasingly isolate and overwhelm you.

06
Autonomic
Dysfunction

Dysautonomias like IBS, bladder dysfunction, POTS, orthostatic intolerance, secretomotor issues etc.

It also results in motor dysfunction including muscle inhibition, myoclonic jerks, dystonia or diagnosis like restless leg syndrome we deal with using specific desensitization and sensory strategies.

All of these symptoms require specific and individualized management strategies and education the MARS Method was specifically designed to help you systematically prioritize and progress the management strategies for.

MARS Method Education: What You Impact As a Patient

  • Understanding Your Pain Puzzle

    Pain Types and Complex Presentations: Tease apart the different pieces of your pain puzzle and break down your pain drivers, amplifiers and contributingg factors so you can begin to systematically address each one that matters most for you.

    You’ll get pain models and complex-patient archetypes (hypermobile, post-viral, trauma-driven, iatrogenic-cascade), with simple to understand analogies and pain vocabulary that empowers you to advocate for yourself better with clinicians.

    You’ll understand how neurologic pain differs from injury pain, how an acute injury becomes chronic and then sensitized, and what predisposes you in this wind up in the first place.

  • Sleep and Circadian Rhythm

    Sleep affects pain, even more than pain affects sleep. Without dependable recovery, you don’t give yourself a chance because with insufficient capacity, you will always be bubbling over your pain threshold. A lot of our daytime behaviors affect energy management and sleep.

    Building predictability and safety for our body’s natural rhythms is crucial to decrease pain amplification. Sleep anchoring, wind down, nap hygiene, flare management etc all life in this domaine.

    We integrate sleep and circadian tools built for the barriers we face as complex pain that improve the physical and mental challenges so you can fall asleep easier, wake up more refreshed, have less crushing fatigue or dips during the day, and break the boom-and-bust flare cycle.

  • Pacing and Energy Management

    Pacing is not a dirty word. As soon as you recognize how to create more balance, your pain threshold will improve. Pacing takes planning, and routine is the antidote to stress. As I semi-joke, “it’s not about doing less, it’s about being less stupid”. Learning when to ‘push’ and when to ‘listen to your body’ is a skill. How you organize yourself matters. As you gain capacity with increased recovery and lower stress, you earn more freedom.

    You’ll learn pacing strategies to organize yourself and work smarter within the capacity you have, off-set the toll from different types of task, leak less energy and be more productive despite brain fog, and set goals and progress different types of activities. You’ll learn how to organize yourself better within each week to better manage allostatic load, progress activities properly, schedule yourself more sustainably,

  • Nutrition Basics and GIT Considerations

    Food is energy. We all know we need to eat better, but how to get healthier food, more consistently with the barriers and special considerations we have as complex patients, isn’t easy.

    Learn why under-fueling and bad meal timing make everything worse, ways to conveniently source and prep food on limited energy, and continually improve in sneaky ways without perfectionism.

    Lacking protein, being severely undernourished, eating too late in the day, poor macronutrient ratios, significant micronutrient deficiencies - all massively worsen fatigue, cognitive function, and widespread pain.

    You’ll get strategies to address the real nutrition challenges: nausea, gastroparesis, aversions, allergies, and intolerances, appetite loss, pain with standing etc, so you can make eating better simple and sustainable.

  • Stress, Mood, and Mindfulness

    If you are struggling with stress, anxiety, grief/depression etc with chronic pain - this makes you normal. However, your perspective and how you respond to these challenges is what makes you resilient.

    Stressors, like anxiety, fuels pain since. Avoiding triggers isn’t realistic though. Instead, we must understand how they affect us and tie the right management strategies to our acute, short-term, and long-term stressors so we mitigate their negative impact.

    You’ll be able to identify and impact your default responses, separate from stressful thoughts easier and filter pain, release tension and holding from your body, decrease your sympathetic drive and interrupt that feedback loop, decrease anxiety as a global sensitizer, and build regular nervous system management into your day with breathwork, somatic tools, and the four-quadrant mindfulness model.

  • Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction

    Target the autonomic picture: POTS and orthostatic intolerance, GI issues, bladder problems, temperature dysregulation, etc.

    With hypermobility and central sensitization, various forms of dysautonomia or autonomic nervous system dysfunction often develop.

    Get the hEDS, MCAS and POTS triad framework (how they bundle, what to test, what conservative steps help all three at once, and when each needs its own specialist), long COVID and post-viral sensitization specifics, and a clear conservative-versus-interventional decision framework for when to outsource.

    You’ll learn how different autonomic systems create distinct symptom buckets and get concrete, patient strategies for day-to-day management for the ones affected for you.

  • Widespread Pain and Desensitization

    CRPS ‘spread’. Fibromyalgia. Bilateral pain or pain at multiple spots that is unpredictable and imaging does not explain? Sensitivity to touch and textures (allodynia), or specific sensory inputs like temperature, sound, smell, taste. This is amplified pain.

    To decrease this, you have to work the 3 D’s: down-regulate, de-stim, and distract ,so you can re-wire your brain in appropriate ways to each type of sensory input, that respects where your nervous system is at and slowly progress them over time given your.

    You’ll learn to filter and calm sensory overload, address central gain, and decrease the central amplification component so you can improve your tolerance to these inputs.

  • Motor Inhibition and Sensory Integration

    Understand how sensory issues and motor inhibition drive body part pain and dysfunctional movement patterns - and what you need to integrate to change them that you haven’t yet and is lacking from traditional PT or rehab settings.

    We work on engaging and strengthening areas you’ve had to work around for years, so you can decrease chronic pain and the additional challenges that develop from becoming increasingly sedentary.

    You’ll learn individualized mobility techniques, desensitization and pacing within movement, proprioceptive, visual, and vestibular neuro techniques based upon your unique brain and body so you can build the underlying stability requred to sustainably layer on more strength or aerobic fitness.

“Wellness is illness but with a ‘we’ instead of an ‘i’…

because WE can do this.”

How the Mentorship is structured:

We do a detailed two-part intake including pain/lifestyle, and movement assessments, and build a completely customized program and education package that we integrate together.

Unlike a pain program, it works within the realities of your baseline, burdens, and barriers, so you master MARS concepts in a step-by-step fashion that is properly prioritized and progressed.

We implement those conservative pain management strategies week-to-week on live coaching calls and through the CoachRx app - in your own environment, amidst your normal everyday challenges and triggers, so your results are actually significant and sustainable.

I take your detailed assessment and create a completely individualized program with lifestyle prescriptions, a movement program based upon your unique assessment/goals, and MARS Method education we integrate together further on calls.

The education and coaching is delivered in a way that takes energy, brain fog, fatigue, concentration, pain etc. into account so that you don’t have to worry about remembering stuff, and can be present, actively learning and have everything to reference during and after the program.

You will leave understanding the pieces of your pain, what patient strategies are tied to improving them and why, and be continually improve symptoms without feeling overwhelmed.

What the Mentorship Includes:

  • 90 min Initial Intake and Movement Assessments

  • 60 min Program Design Consult

  • Completely individualized pain management program

  • Six 1:1 Zoom sessions every two weeks to talk, teach, adjust lifestyle prescriptions, and integrate movement techniques together

  • MARS Method modules with complex pain management patient education, resources, and worksheets

  • CoachRx app access for lifestyle prescriptions and movement program, weekly check-ins, messaging, and ongoing feedback.

  • Unlimited communication with Justine during the week between sessions.

  • Lifetime access to call recordings and summaries, as well as the MARS Mentorship education expanded upon below.

The Mentorship IS for you if:

  • Be able to do more day-to-day and integrate more steps without flaring

  • Becoming more active/less sedentary, desensitize areas, and sustainably build stability and strength

  • Increase nutritional intake or improve food quality to restore lean mass lost from nausea, lack of appetite, GI issues or MCAS

  • Improve metabolic diseases and additional health issues poor nutrition drives and further amplifies pain

  • Improve energy, focus, memory and cognition

  • Fall asleep easier, stay asleep better, or wake up with more energy despite sleeping OK

  • Improve mood and manage stress, anxiety, grief and isolation better

  • Become less reliant on medications so you can decrease side effects

The Mentorship is NOT for you if:

  • Your lifestyle factors are under control and you need help primarily with just movement. In that case, please reach out to learn about private movement sessions if you need to work on underlying instability/compensations, or individualized fitness programming if you are further along your journey ready to work on strength/fitness.

  • You have more focal body part pain without widespread pain and accumulating diagnosis.

  • You are fine with your current treatment approach or don’t feel your pain is too intrusive and overwhelming at this time.

I’ve worked intimately with over 100 complex pain patients just like you who have gone through this curriculum and made significant improvements that forever changed with how they look at and manage chronic conditions. You will not leave this program the way you came in. Book a Discovery Call to learn more.

What’s unique about this complex pain program? I take your detailed assessments and produce a completely individualized program with MARS Method education you need for exactly your presentation. I prioritize and prescribe the plan, and coach you 1:1 through every step of the process to integrate it. We master it together. You keep it for life.

 

Pricing:

The Mentorship is $2300 pay in full (save 15%), or three payments of $900.

I know how scary it can feel to take a chance and have to put in the work, but betting on yourself is the best bet you can make because you have to learn how to manage your own body. Clinics that take advantage of patients desperation, tout unproven therapies, and lack truly individualized care will charge $12, $20, 50K+ capitalizing on our desperation.

I’ve been where you are and and understand wanting an easier way to just make pain go away with, as well as how stressful finances can be. Having to spend our precious expendable income on more healthcare is never what one wants, and medical trauma creates an understandable lack of trust and valid fear over another person overselling and underdelivering. My goal is to help you decrease pain and rely on the medical system less, so you can significantly decrease the overall cost of care going forward.

My clients find what they get out of my programs is beyond worth it. I know despite keeping costs as low as possible for the quality/care provided, the mentorship can still be too much. This is I why I offer other coaching, programs, and free resources as well. How many other kinds of therapies have you spent money on or will continue to if you keep going like this? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. Let’s change that, together.

Want to chat about your specific situation?

Apply for the Mentorship

Lower cost programs and coaching options include CPP, or individual movement sessions. No-cost resources include the RWC Newsletter, my podcast with Dr. Dan Bates: It’s Not in Your Head, guest podcast interviews on special topics, and tons more on social media.

  • “Prior to me starting with Justine, in 2022 I had a really hard year with CRPS. I ended up with multiple hospital stays due to dehydration, medication complications and CRPS flares. My biggest change in 2022 with Justine came with me identifying I had purpose, I had meaning and I just needed a little bit of structure and support in the way I interacted with life. The biggest thing Justine was able to accomplished for myself, was allowing me to consider my life with CRPS differently and know that I still had value and meaning, and I could push through it be the rockstar I knew I was. I’ve lived with CRPS for 7 years now and honestly if you have any question, or doubt, take the leap. It’s in you, you know you’re in there. You’ll be able to get places with Justine you never thought were possible. The mental challenge, the fun, the guidance is there. You just have to believe in yourself. ”

    — Matt B.

  • “Justine cares about helping people with CRPS. Her kindness and empathy comes through loud and clear. This is a very rare commodity in the medical community. She’s very intelligent and intuitive and is great at problem solving. She is able to adjust treatment so it will be effective and suitable for your condition; she has certainly done that for me. Unfortunately for her (but good for you) she has lived with CRPS and other unfortunate medical problems and understands what it takes to endure and more importantly help you live a good quality of life. Her system is designed to address the physical as well as psychological aspects of living with CRPS i.e. exercise, nutrition, mental health and personal relationships. The things that made the biggest difference for me was her understanding of my physical and mental challenges, positive attitude and solid communication skills, correct stretching and breathing regimen, matching the routines with my overall ability to accomplish goals, and looking forward to the variety of movement, strength exercises and helpful breathing techniques. My core has become much stronger which has helped me to keep moving, swimming and kayaking. Your breathing exercises have actually improved my lung capacity along with decreasing coughing. Your sense of humor and positive attitude helps me stay on an even keel…no trivial thing when living with the medical issues I have. Simply put, you’re a very good coach. You know what you’re doing.”

    — Richard R.

  • “If you are on the fence about working with Justine I’d say 100% go for it. She works with you and the hard times that come outside of chronic illness as well. I was hesitant as I didn’t know if I would be able to ‘keep up’, but it isn’t like that with her. She works with you and what you need, she listens and adapts everything about the program according to what you need as a person. There’s no judgment and she is just a wonderful person that just wants to help and share her passion! When I first started my biggest struggles and frustrations were pain. I have CRPS in my lower back and both legs/feet and overall just a ton of body pain and soreness. The two most helpful things I have put into practice would definitely be release techniques and deep breathing. These really help me dial back and ground myself throughout the day. Since I started working with Justine, life certainly hasn’t given me a break (as it doesn’t for many of us) and having these tools in my toolbox has been so incredibly helpful. Having someone keep me accountable but in a good way has been a game changer. I overall feel much better as I have more of a schedule, feel stronger and more grounded and secure in what I’m doing. Justine is always willing to answer questions with no judgement and will listen to what you have to say!”

    — Lauren C.

  • “As someone who has prioritized exercise their entire life, I thought I'd know how to cope and incorporate movement into a this new life with chronic pain. As it turned out, I didn't know where to start and felt overwhelmed. Justine's MARS ID program was exactly what I needed to get my confidence back, and to learn how to move properly with pain. She makes sure to address specific strengths and weaknesses, compensation patterns, and creates a uniquely tailored program for each individual. I learned more from her in 3 months than I did in a whole year of PT. The fact that she has CRPS herself gives her not only in-depth knowledge, but her understanding and empathy is so much more than I ever experienced in traditional PT. Can't recommend her enough!”

    — Shelley R.

  • “Justine is by far the most knowledgable person I’ve ever met who offers 1:1 coaching. I did not realize how much there was in my life that I can actually change, right now. Since I’ve been working with her, I’ve been to the beach more times in a few weeks than probably the entire year. It’s wild. Thanks to Justine, I now have daily attainable goals and tools. She’s helping me become unstuck, find solutions to the big things even if they are little, but most importantly she’s giving me hope. Thank you Justine.”

    — Jen H.

  • “Having 1:1 coaching with someone who has CRPS and understands that each person is different is incredible. You come up in so many conversations, especially with my doctors; everyone can tell I’m doing so much better. Justine helped me change my mindset. Having CRPS for so long, I had almost given up. In my head, it was just going to keep getting worse. If it wasn’t for your program, I wouldn’t have the confidence to ‘do’ normal things again. Thank you Justine for helping me see that I can do anything. You literally changed my life.”

    — Steph K.

  • “Honestly, you have already been an answer to my prayers. It’s so much easier to figure out this new way of life when I have a guide. Someone who understands what i am going through. The doctors, therapists, etc. don’t have their own experience of this illness. Just following your account opened me to understand more, and to have the opportunity to work with you - the best! I am not interested in the final results that much anymore. The whole journey is the thing. I don’t have to know what might happen or not happen. I am more at peace. I remember the pain and tiredness during the cramps. I will never forget it. But if it happens again, I know I will survive and I can help myself get back. It is empowering! And for that, I am grateful to you. You were there for me, even if it was the weekend. I will never forget it. “

    — Karla T.

  • “Justine is amazing! I was almost bed bound when I started working with her. Now I’m watching my granddaughter (3 years old) 1 day a week and I can recover from it. I couldn’t watch her on my own for so long and now I’m keeping up with a 3 year old! I still flare but now I have solid tools to use to help me. I am recovering much better than I ever thought possible! It used to be do one thing and be in bed for the week. Now even after bad flares and meltdowns I’m still able to regulate my nervous system and be OK to do more. Justine changed my life. She’s the link you really need to live with CRPS”

    — 1:1 client

  • “It was such an amazing consult. She was very receptive, thorough, and had such great energy that made me even more excited. The individual focus on each person that you coach is amazing.”

    — Ashley M.

  • “I have had the pleasure to work with Justine for a couple of months. It has been the best decision I have done since I got CRPS. Justine is a true professional in her field. MARS ID Method covers all the areas of life that CRPS affects on. If you want to learn how to live your best life with CRPS, are ready to make some changes, and are looking for someone to guide you on the way, you should book a call with Justine.”

    — Karla M.

  • “Friday was the day I got my first workout since the accident that led to CRPS. And man it felt good! Before the accident, I used to move around a lot. The last two years have been a weird time for my body. Been thinking I need muscle and body control for a long time, but when nerves don’t work properly, it feels impossible. Two months of persistence and daily preparation under Justine’s guidance brought me to this point. It has taken commitment and faith that the MARS I.D. Method works…At the beginning of June I spent two nights in the hospital with seizures and massive pain. I realized I am all alone with my situation because no one seemed to help me…I finally realized I need to take my healthcare back into my own hands. Fortunately, a little before that moment I had decided to hire Justine to help me. She helped me even when I was in the hospital, directing me through different exercises to calm my nervous system. From that moment on, Justine has guided me gently but purposefully down a path I had only dreamed of. In addition, my mindset has completely changed. I no longer focus on where I want to end up. I’m focused on what I have right now. I trust that life will carry on, when I have the courage to surrender to the path. There are plenty of mountains and stones ahead, but being afraid of them won’t help me.”

    1:1 client

  • “This is like learning a language again that I’ve been able to speak years ago. Familiar but different at the same time. My brain is working like crazy trying to figure it out. It is really like a challenging puzzle, but also fun. I think I have never enjoyed training this much! And I loved it also before.”

  • “My goals have changed from what I originally thought I wanted. I was ready to figure out how I was going to get back to everything I was doing before - working out was my priority. But now I’m really learning about slowing down and learning new ways to handle my condition. Breathing, pacing, release techniques - these are all things I had no knowledge/appreciation for. Now, I’m more focused on honing in on those skills. I’m definitely moving towards my goals.”

    — Dawn H.

  • “I am so happy we got here. The start of working together was not easy because of my massive flare up. But it doesn’t matter that we had to wait for this because with CRPS there are so many other aspects to tackle. Thank you for helping me get here. This was a huge win for me. “

  • “You have changed my life. You have shown me a path next to the one I was walking on. I know I am finally going where I have wanted to go. There are hills and big rocks ahead, I know. but with your help, I finally have the proper tools to get over those barriers. You are a star.”

Frequently Asked Questions

  • In the MARSMethod Mentorship we evaluate the previous weeks/months goals, troubleshoot stressors/challenges from previous period, go over exercise programming, cover resources/handouts, learn new movement techniques, and discussing medical/pain aspects of care. This is a real relationship, and I take a whole person centered approach to my care.

    In the Individual Design Program consults we go over exercise program design related issues.

    In Private Movement Sessions we focus on brain-based neuro movement strategies

  • We will typically have a scheduled recurring time to meet that works or you. That being said, this is life with chronic pain and treatments and if there wasn’t some flexibility we wouldn’t be successful. That’s why you have 16 weeks to complete the 12 session in the Mentorship.

    In other programs, please cancel at least 24 hours in advance.

  • To start, just some basic, accessible items so we can guarantee proper exercise selection, appropriately progress movement, and implement release techniques and sensory strategies. I'll provide a list of recommendations for mobility tools and bands, and based upon your unique situation and goals, discuss anything additional you may need as we progress. There is no need for a gym membership nor any expensive equipment to start.

  • Yep! You can pay in full to receive a discount, or in monThly installments for the MARSMethod Mentorship or Individual Design Program.

    Private Movement Sessions can be paid for by appointment as you go, or in regular chunks if preferred.