Long COVID to Long-Term Wellness: Katie Brennan’s Journey to Build ThriveNinety

A photo of podcast guest, Katie Brennan of Thrive Ninety, who discusses her experience with long COVID

Katie Brennan’s experience with Long COVID began in the earliest days of the pandemic, while she was working with the UK’s National Health Service on data-driven policy changes to improve care for patients. Though her experience with the acute phase was relatively minor, instead of steadily recovering, she developed a range of ongoing symptoms—difficulty breathing, sudden heart rate spikes, dilated pupils, fatigue, brain fog, and difficulty focusing. Although she was still functional enough to work, everything felt harder, and she no longer felt like herself. Eventually, she realized she had Long COVID.

Navigating the push–crash cycle is common for many people with chronic illness: Katie would push herself too hard, frustrated by what her body could no longer handle, then crash and face hours or days of exhaustion and other symptoms as she recovered. A second COVID infection eroded what gains she had made. Recognizing the need to try something new, Katie attended a fitness class run by former biathlon Olympian and world champion Andrea Henkel Burke. Andrea’s combination of gentle but purposeful movement and various nervous system regulation techniques gave her participants small, tangible ways to control the body’s shift out of near-constant fight-or-flight into essential rest-and-repair.

Together, Katie and Andrea founded ThriveNinety, which aids people with Long COVID and other infection-induced conditions by translating science into simple, practical tools that help restore how their bodies function and help them rebuild capacity and performance. Their program provides movement and other sensory inputs that are accessible for anyone, wherever they’re at in their illness recovery or maintenance. They also guide participants through nutritional changes known to have a positive effect, such as anti-inflammatory diets. Throughout her journey, Katie has discovered the phenomenal impact of listening to her body’s cues and making proactive adjustments that enable her to live a healthy, happy, active life with Long COVID. ThriveNinety shows others how they, too, can improve and even thrive in the face of long-term illness.

Learn more about ThriveNinety’s programs and mission: https://www.thriveninety.com/

Buy the book, Recovery Kitchen: https://www.thriveninety.com/recovery-kitchen

Watch the episode on YouTube or Spotify, listen here on our website or on your favorite podcast platform.