Before your first assessment we invite you to a workshop to help you to understand more about your condition and what the specialist pain physiotherapy and psychologists offer. The aim of these sessions is to give you information about our service, what to expect and help you to decide if we are the right service for you.  

What happens after the workshop? 

You will be offered a joint assessment with a specialist pain physiotherapist and psychologist. At the end of your appointment we will agree next steps with you. Depending on your individual needs you may be offered: 

  • Living well with pain educational programme - LWWP
  • Movement group 
  • 1-2-1 specialist pain physiotherapy 
  • 1-2-1 pain psychology  
  • Signpost to other services e.g. mental health support, community groups,  

We understand how difficult it is to live with chronic pain. Our aim is to improve your confidence to move and engage in activities that are important to you whilst living with chronic pain. To do this we work with you to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to self-manage your chronic pain. This may be through our pain management programme or working on a one-to-one basis with members of the team. 

We treat patients with many different pain conditions and the impact that chronic pain has on your life will be unique to you. The pain education, skills and strategies that we teach patients are the same for all chronic pain conditions. This may sound like a ‘one size fits all’ approach but working alongside you we get to know you and how pain impacts your life as an individual. We can then support you where you would like to make changes to live well with pain. 

Self-supported management for your pain might not be what you were expecting, and you may feel it just isn’t right for you. Learning to self-manage your pain takes commitment and courage from you as a patient to start making changes using the skills & strategies. It may be that this isn’t the right time for you and you don’t feel ready to make these changes. You can always come back to us at a later date if you change your mind.  

Further information on our LWWP:

The sessions will be for 2 hours with a short comfort break halfway through. 

You are welcome to bring cushions, mats etc. to help you feel as comfortable as possible. 

This is a practical session learning about skills, so it is not a group therapy session.

We will cover lots of different topics, skills, and strategies, which we hope will help you to learn to live well with pain. The programme is interactive, which includes activities such as breathing practices, mindfulness, and gentle movement in every session. You will be encouraged to take part in these activities, but the choice is up to you. We will support you to explore how you can use the skills you learn in your daily life, helping you to live as well as possible with pain.

We understand that trying new things can be challenging and difficult, so we are here to support you throughout the programme. To help you to get the most out of the programme we would strongly encourage you to commit to coming to every session.

This is a 10 week pain self-management education programme comprising of eight face-to-face group sessions and two individual telephone reviews. It is run by a specialist pain physiotherapist and psychologist and our lived experience practitioner. 

The aim of the programme is to introduce you to skills and strategies, which may help you to learn to self-manage pain to live a fuller and more meaningful life alongside your pain, such as: 

  • Introduction to pain - how we understand pain 
  • Mindfulness 
  • Acceptance 
  • Gentle movement 
  • Breathwork 
  • Pacing 
  • Self-compassion 
  • Communication 
  • Sleep 
  • How pain works your body and mind 
  • Values / goals 
  • Managing your wellbeing and setbacks 

During the 10 weeks, participants will engage in an educational program designed to increase your understanding of pain and develop practical skills and strategies for managing its impact. The sessions will look at the science behind pain, techniques for managing stress and physical activity, and look at ways to improve sleep and overall well-being.

Other topics include mindfulness, self-compassion, and what’s important to you, and your values. We will look at understanding the body's systems involved in pain, looking at why acceptance is important in moving forwards, as well as learning to communicate about your pain with others. The programme will end with strategies for maintaining wellness and preparing for potential setbacks, offering a holistic approach to pain management.

The pain education, skills and strategies that we teach patients can be beneficial for all chronic pain conditions. Working alongside you we get to know how pain impacts your life as an individual and support you where you would like to make changes to live well with pain. 

What matters to you – we treat you as a whole person, not just a diagnosis. We look at your whole life and the areas that pain affects, including relationships, your interests and the challenges you experience 

We see you as the expert of your pain, we value you as an active & equal partner in conversations about your health and wellbeing and any decisions you make 

We aim to support you to find solutions, make plans and look at how you can break down your health and self-care goals into manageable steps  

Listen to what your goals are, support you to learn how to set goals, make changes to enable you to start returning to activities that you may have stopped due to pain 

Support you to grow your ability to self-manage, helping to motivate and feel confident about moving your body and managing your mental wellbeing 

Give you access to support which will improve your mental and physical wellbeing and improve your pain symptoms  

If you would like to know more about self-management visit NHS England

Pain came into my life and turned my world upside down. Over many years, my pain increased and took over my life – I gave up work, stopped driving and I isolated myself from family and friends. I was desperate to find someone who could wave a magic wand and make it go away. I spent years looking for someone to fix me and my life became full of medical appointments, failed treatments and pain medications.

At times, I felt that no one believed my pain was real and no one understood how I felt. Chronic pain is invisible, it changes hour by hour, day by day, week by week. This was hard for other people to understand and I felt hopeless, isolated and alone. 

I then took part in a pain management programme which looked at me as a whole person and not just me as a diagnosis. I learnt how pain works in the body, as well as skills and strategies to self-manage my own pain with support. I accepted that the pain wasn’t going to go away, and I found the courage and determination to take control of my pain and start to rebuild my life.

I still have the same diagnosis; I am still in pain every day and I still have flare-ups. My life looks very different to how it did before pain came along, but I have learnt to accept this and really enjoy my life.

There is always hope...

We ask patients who complete our pain management programmes to leave anonymous feedback of their experience of the course and what they found helpful – here are a few examples;

“I truly learned that I can live well with pain. Sometimes you think you’re alone but this is just phenomenal to learn about how best you can live a normal life and being yourself despite the pain”

"Breathing exercises as a way to release physical tension that is contributing to pain.  Mindfulness, especially for coping with anxiety attacks. The foundation movements - learning that small, slow movements can be beneficial. Pacing - learning that limiting the time spent on an activity is the most effective method."

“I liked learning about the science behind pain”

“Without the course I’m not quite sure where I would have been”

“Hearing others’ thoughts on everything helped me get a better perspective on what’s going on”