We created this guide for people living with chronic symptoms or conditions such as ME/CFS, Long COVID, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, chronic migraines, post-viral fatigue, fatigue not fully resolved through medical or integrative pathways, autoimmune symptoms unresolved through medical or integrative pathways, post-treatment Lyme, POTS, MCAS, CIRS, dysautonomia, anxiety, mold sensitivity, chemical sensitivities, and/or food sensitivities, who feel curious about or ready to take the next step in their recovery.

This guide helps people with symptoms in which the brain, nervous system play an integral role.

People with a wide range of illness severities and diagnoses have told us they found this guide helpful, though ME/CFS has been the most common condition among our readers. 

This guide is intended for those who feel ready to shift away from chasing the next external solution and toward a more self-directed approach grounded in lifestyle changes and/or nervous system regulation. 

While these recovery programs emphasize self-healing, they span a wide range of support levels, including live cohorts, small group coaching, 1:1 support, and community forums. Our guide presents this information clearly so readers who want additional support can find it.

Important note: This guide is not medical advice. We encourage readers to explore appropriate medical care. At the same time, we recognize that many people with chronic symptoms spend years navigating the medical system without receiving clear answers or an effective treatment plan, or have pursued this route in depth and are still not well. This guide exists to support people alongside medical care, not as a replacement for it. 

Good question! We’ve spent 6 months working on a comprehensive overhaul of the Programs Guide. The most obvious change in our NEW 2026 version is that it now lives in an easy-to-navigate web platform where you can search and click around rather than scrolling through the PDF. We’ve also: 

• Updated the descriptions of each program by working with the program creators to capture changes they’ve made over the past few years and interviewing more people who have gone through each of the programs. 
• Added 9 new programs (and removed programs that are no longer available)
• Added more details, like a more complete explanation of the time commitment each program requires, a new Mental Bandwidth Score, information on emerging research & data, and whether each program is open to kids and teens
• Created new resources to help you navigate the guide and find the best program for you

Finally, if you purchase the new version of our guide (information is presented on an organized, searchable website rather than just a long PDF download), you’ll have access to new resources and information as we add them! In Spring 2026, we’re planning to add sections on group coaching programs and independent 1:1 coaches.

Note: We are constantly updating our guide. However, please refer to each program’s website for the most up-to-date information on price and content and when, if any, live group elements may begin.

Yes, we include a full analysis of the most longstanding and well-known programs like DNRS, Gupta, and The Lightning Process along with newer and less widely-known programs that are also great options. The recovery programs in this guide share a common thread: they are lifestyle-based or focused on nervous system regulation. Some cover both.

This guide features online programs to support healing from chronic symptoms. These programs offer a wide range of strategies to promote recovery, including lifestyle adjustments, pacing, nervous system regulation, neuroplasticity/brain retraining, emotional processing, and trauma release. We conducted in-depth analysis of 32 programs and shorter write-ups of 2 additional programs (with more shorter write-ups to come of programs recommended to us by community members!). 

On the new site, we’ve organized the programs into four main categories. Note: Multiple programs appear in more than one category as they use a multi-pronged approach to recovery. 

• Lifestyle and pacing programs 
• Brain retraining programs (also called neuroplasticity-based programs)
• Somatic nervous system regulation programs 
• Programs with a self-discovery element

Some programs in this guide are more narrowly focused on ME/CFS and Long COVID and have more content specific to fatigue, some have more specific content related to pain, while other programs are targeted to people with a wider range of conditions including mental health ones. Each program’s Description and the “Who is It For?” section notes who the program is intended for. Every program we included is created and/or led by someone who themselves healed from chronic symptoms, including over 20 from ME/CFS and/or Chronic Lyme. Many also healed from chronic pain and/or orthostatic intolerance. 

We initially picked the programs based on ones we know about. Several of the new programs added in this update were suggested by users of the guide or people we interviewed. This guide is an independent analysis, not an advertisement for any program (see “Is this guide really independent?”). 

All programs are in English, and we specify which programs are available in additional languages.

Important note: This guide does not include medical treatment options or naturopathic protocols, which may be helpful to recovery. This guide is not medical advice and is for information only. For additional resources (not medical advice), go here.

Privacy and security are an important priority to us. Payments are securely encrypted through Stripe. 

We chose the web platform, Circle, to host the guide, based on strong recommendations from our developer. It allowed us to build a customized space for the guide content. Circle allowed us to embed videos, structure information in a user-friendly way, and it even has a search bar so people who know what they’re looking for can find it faster.

Because the guide now lives on the Circle website platform, you’ll be prompted to set a password if you’ve never used Circle before. You may see a prompt that says “Join Heal With Liz.” That’s simply the name of the private space where the guide is hosted.

Circle may prompt you to complete a “Member profile,” but this is completely optional. You can click “Skip” and access the guide right away without adding any personal information. We have set the space to Private which means “members” cannot see who else is a member. Only Liz and her team can see the email and name of guide purchasers (like with any online checkout).

If you choose to add profile details in the Heal With Liz Circle, that’s entirely up to you. In the future, we may enable optional features like comments or community interaction, but participation will always be your choice and you can remain private/anonymous.

Based on our personal experience, our research, and all the other recoverers we’ve worked with or interviewed, there is no one best program for everyone! 

All of the programs in this guide have helped numerous people recover, yet no program in this guide has worked for everyone who’s tried it. Sometimes the same person even needs different approaches at different stages of life or recovery. That’s one of the reasons we created the guide. Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to find the best fit for you right now.

We didn’t just look at what the programs say about themselves on their websites. We conducted well over 100 20-50 minute candid Zoom or phone interviews with real people who did these programs. (We also accepted written feedback.) About 75 percent of the participants we interviewed had ME/CFS or Long COVID, though 25 percent had other conditions (see ‘Who is this guide for?’).

Between the two of us, we also looked inside most of the programs (whether we previously did them ourselves, had access, or were shown a preview). We also factored public feedback (example: what people have shared on YouTube, blogs, Instagram, forums, comment sections, etc.) and private feedback that people have shared directly with us (examples: email or Instagram messages) from over 100 people about the included programs. We then approached the creators themselves to confirm information was accurate and up to date. 

We compiled feedback over June 2022 to early December 2022 for Version 1 released in January 2023. On April 2, 2023, we released a major Version 2 update which includes two additional programs, additional feedback, and more analysis on some of the existing programs. On October 29, 2003, we released a Version 3 update with updated information and 3 new programs. 

For our major 2026 update, we interviewed ~2-8 *new* participants from every program (both previously included programs & 9 new programs) and updated our analysis of each program based on their feedback. We also collected up to date information on each program from participants and program creators/teams.

This guide intentionally provides in-depth information that’s hard to find elsewhere. However, we know what it’s like to deal with brain fog, limited mental bandwidth, and screen sensitivity, so we’ve done our best to organize the information in a way that allows you to easily look at just the things that matter to you. We’re hoping the new site will make this even easier. 

Most of our program descriptions are about 4-7 pages long (length of text if placed a Word document – though it’s on a webpage), divided into clear sections. The new site allows you to quickly look over all the programs A-Z or just all the programs in a certain category (e.g., somatics) and see the price and a one-sentence description all on one page. 

You can then click on the programs that interest you to learn more. The site includes additional resources like an introduction to recovery programs and the different types of programs, advice on how to use the guide to choose a program, and notes from us. It’s not necessary to read all of these resources.

Audio version: We plan to release an updated audio version by February 2026. The current audio version has not been updated since 2023.

Liz donates 100% of her portion of sales to ME/CFS research including to the OMF Foundation. Liz is financially supported by her husband and does not accept any payment for her work on this project in order to avoid any potential conflict of interest with the research she funds. Project Manager and new guide co-author M.J. Giesey was paid an hourly rate for her time working on the 2026 update. The rest of the funds go to the web platform fees and to support guide co-author Lindsay Vine’s time working on the project.

We understand not everyone has the funds to purchase our comprehensive guide. If you are really looking for detailed analysis of recovery programs but the price of the guide is not within your means right now, please contact Lindsay using the contact page on her website and ask for a discount code. Please note that all of the programs in the guide cost money to access, but we’ve made it easy to find the most affordable ones, and we’ve also indicated which ones offer scholarships or discounts. 

We also are aware of a few free resources that provide higher-level information on a range of recovery programs:

• Kendall Berry (who also healed from ME/CFS) made a free, online program finder tool: https://www.mecfsprogramfinder.org/  
• Recovery Hub provides a directory of a wide range of programs and platforms for more general chronic illness and pain recovery: https://www.the-recovery-hub.org/recovery-programmes-platforms

Please share this page with a friend, but not the guide itself, which is copyrighted material. If your friend is struggling with finances, we ask your friend to email us if they would need a discount code.

We hope our guide can help you make the best decision for you. If you’d like personalized guidance, Lindsay Vine is a CFS programs navigator and can help you choose the best program for you. You can contact her at lindsayvine.com. She offers a free 15 minute initial chat. 

Note: Lindsay Vine’s services are independent from Liz Carlson / Heal With Liz and any program featured in our guide and visa versa.

We’re not able to provide refunds for this guide. We put a lot of effort into making this guide, interviewing many people, compiling the nuanced feedback, and organizing it all together, and are pretty confident you’ll value it. 

Note: A number of programs within the guide do offer refunds – we specify this in each price section, and if any conditions exist for a refund, for those that apply. 

Yes. We would LOVE your feedback on any program featured in this guide. To share feedback on any program in our guide and/or to suggest a new program for us to consider including, please use this form.

If you’d like to share general feedback on how we can improve the guide itself, please contact guide co-creator Lindsay Vine using the contact page on her website. We value your thoughts.

https://login.circle.so/sign_in?request_host=heal-with-liz.circle.so 

Once you set or your password, be sure to save it somewhere safe!