What is a self-management workshop?

Persistent pain can affect all aspects of your life. The self-management workshop is a half-day course designed to give you information about self-management skills that can enable you to live a more fulfilling life, despite the presence of pain. Over the course of the workshop, you will learn about a range of self-management skills and techniques to help you manage your pain in more helpful ways. The workshop gives you information about a combination of physical, practical and psychological approaches to better manage your pain and improve your quality of life. This kind of approach to managing your pain has been developed over many years. Studies have shown the effectiveness of this approach in reducing the impact that persistent pain can have on people’s lives.

What is the aim?

The aim of the workshop is not to “fix” your pain, but to empower you to take back control over your life by learning about skills to self-manage the pain you experience in helpful ways. The skills you learn about will help you to set goals and make changes in areas of your life that have been affected by pain, e.g. by returning to activities you enjoy and that give you a sense of purpose and meaning, feeling more confident about moving your body, managing your mood and stress levels and giving you information about persistent pain and medications.   

Who runs the workshop?

The workshop is run by a multi-disciplinary team of healthcare professionals, including a pain nurse specialist, physiotherapist and clinical psychologist.

What happens during workshop?

Participants meet for one session on a Tuesday morning from 9:30am to 1:00pm. It is important that you are able to commit to attending the full duration of the workshop. If you miss more than 20 minutes, we may suggest that you attend an alternative session to ensure you do not miss out on too much information. You will be in a group of up to 20 people who are all experiencing persistent pain. Although their pain may be quite different to yours, the way it affects their lives is often very similar.

The workshop covers a range of topics linked with persistent pain. Owing to the short duration of the session and the amount of information we try and share with you, we ask that you save questions until the end, where we have dedicated time for this. There will be frequent short comfort breaks throughout the workshop.

Topics covered include:

• Understanding the difference between acute and persistent pain
• Information about medications
• Discovering the role of movement and exercise in managing persistent pain
• Exploring the benefits of relaxation techniques and mindfulness skills
• Setting manageable goals
• Considering the role of lifestyle factors in persistent pain
• Planning and pacing activities
• Finding ways to manage flare-ups

You will be asked to complete a feedback questionnaire at the end of the workshop to help us assess the session and make changes and improvements where necessary. We really value your input.

What happens once I have been referred to the workshop?

The pain management team will send you an appointment to attend the next available workshop.

Multi-disciplinary team

• Dr Tharakan - Consultant in Pain Medicine
• Dr Kafafy - Consultant in Pain Medicine
• Dr Rabie - Consultant in Pain Medicine
• Dr Carmel Bennett - Clinical Psychologist
• Rotational – Senior Physiotherapist
• Brian Hughes - Pain Nurse Specialist
• Claire Butler-Madden - Pain Nurse Specialist
• Deborah Kirkman - Pain Nurse Specialist
• Kelle Trivett - Secretary
• Michelle Savage - Secretary
• Diane Olalla - Secretary Support