Chronic Pain Ireland

Recognizing and Coping with Stigma: A silent enemy
2023-03-16 19:00 - 19:45 (Europe/Dublin)
Recognizing and Coping with Stigma: A silent enemy with Dr Vasilis Vasiliou and Research team from the School of Applied Psychology, University College Cork. Living with chronic pain we regularly experience stigma, but what do we mean by that?
Laoise has been struggling to understand what makes her feel tense whenever she had to talk to her bosses. She had to always explain to them the reasons for abstaining from work, due to the chronic pain. Yet, she was always getting back a sense of “not feeling believed” or doubting herself. This is a typical example of stigma.
Individuals with chronic physical illnesses in Ireland frequently report these types of stigmatized behaviours, coming from others. Often, individuals who experience stigma do not recognize what does and does not entail stigma, but afterward, they experience its impact – a sense of doubt, low mood, lack of motivation, reluctance to ask for something, guilt, and avoidance.
In this brief online workshop researchers from the School of Applied Psychology at the University College Cork will provide examples of stigma. They will also discuss some ways for people to identify and respond to stigma so that it does not impact them. Finally, they will present a new service that has been developed in partnership with Chronic Pain Ireland (CPI) for our members, focusing on stigma prevention and alleviation.
We hope that you will join us on March 16th at 7:00 p.m. for this live Teams event. Please note as this is live, you cannot register in advance so put the date in your calendar and save this link https://bit.ly/3SHnzxt

CPI Members Network meeting
2023-03-14 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-02-14 11:00 - 12:00, 2023-01-10 11:00 - 12:00
Each month CPI holds our peer to peer network meetings which are facilitated by our current Chairperson. It’s a safe, inclusive space to meet others, to chat, share and support each other. Our membership feedback regularly mentions the importance of speaking with others where they can chat openly without judgement and connect with others.
This event is open to members of Chronic Pain Ireland and if you would like to join, membership is €22.00 per year. See here for more details.
Many of our members have formed life long friendships as a result of attending CPI events, workshops and taking part in research. Please, consider becoming part of our community.

Brain Awareness Week 2023
2023-03-13 - 2023-03-19
Brain Awareness Week aims to promote greater awareness and understanding of the brain and brain conditions as well as highlighting the need for more investment in services, research & prevention. The campaign is an annual event, co-ordinated by the Neurological Alliance of Ireland (NAI).
Did you know that between 20-40% of all people with a neurological condition will experience chronic pain.
As a member of the NAI and a proud campaign partner, Chronic Pain Ireland will be holding a live event on March 16th supporting #BrainAwarenessWeek2023 and the overall theme of #InvestInBrainHealth.
For more on Brain Awareness Week, visit the Loveyourbrain website. For more on the live CPI event check out our calendar of events.

Workshop: Dealing with Stress & Anxiety
2023-03-03 14:00 - 16:00
During this two hour workshop we explore the following:

Stress as nature’s defence system
Anxiety as nature’s radar
How stress and anxiety relate to each other
Pain stress cycle
Eustress and distress
Signs of stress
Stealth stress
4p’s approach
Working with pattern interrupts
Relaxation technique

This workshop is delivered by an experienced CPI/PAS facilitator who has over two decades of experience having delivered over 10,000 workshops. This workshop is delivered free of charge to members of Chronic Pain Ireland.
About our workshops. Chronic Pain Ireland has a long history of providing an excellent, accessible range of workshops. During the pandemic we changed our delivery model to include online workshops on specific topics identified by our members as areas where they needed additional support. In 2022 we formalised our partnership with the Pain Association of Scotland in order to expand and diversify our online specialist education, training and support in the self-management of chronic pain. Both charities have decades of expertise in the delivery of interactive workshops using a person-centred approach which engages and motivates people to adopt new ways of thinking, based on a better understanding of their health and themselves. Indeed, the Pain Association of Scotland pioneered the development and delivery of self-management training for those burdened with Chronic Pain.
This unique model of community-based education and support programmes has been developed to improve quality of life and well-being and is based on the Bio-Psycho-Social model of health. This explores the impacts of a change in health and seeks ways to address any mal-adaptations that can often develop.
Workshops are available to CPI members only. If you would like to join Chronic Pain Ireland and avail of all our supports register here

How does the brain and nervous system produce pain?
2023-02-28 17:00 - 18:00
Join us as we explore this topic which helps lay the foundation for understanding how chronic pain is managed. Meet Dr. Evan Parks, Clinical Psychologist at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, adjunct assistant professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Evan helps people get the information they need to manage chronic pain by providing neuroscience education in everyday language in his book, “Chronic Pain Rehabilitation: Active pain management that helps you get back to the life you love.” He is the host of the Pain Rehab Podcast and a writer for Psychology Today on pain rehabilitation.

Event concluded: Check out our online video library to watch back.

Workshop: Managing Flare Ups
2023-02-15 18:00 - 20:00
Dealing with Flare Ups (episodes of intense pain / symptoms). Flare–ups are unusually painful episodes (or episodes of high symptom incidence) that eventually settle down and go away. The experience of a flare–up is physically and emotionally harrowing.
In addition to heightened pain and fatigue, many people are frightened, puzzled, frustrated, angry, panicky and desperate.
Throughout this 2-hour interactive workshop we explore the following:

Flare ups and understanding why they happen
Analysing how we experience them
High speed pain stress cycle
Exploring and creating a plan to help

This workshop is delivered by an experienced CPI/PAS facilitator who has over two decades of experience having delivered over 10,000 workshops. This workshop is delivered free of charge to members of Chronic Pain Ireland.
About our workshops. Chronic Pain Ireland has a long history of providing an excellent, accessible range of workshops. During the pandemic we changed our delivery model to include online workshops on specific topics identified by our members as areas where they needed additional support. In 2022 we formalised our partnership with the Pain Association of Scotland in order to expand and diversify our online specialist education, training and support in the self-management of chronic pain. Both charities have decades of expertise in the delivery of interactive workshops using a person-centred approach which engages and motivates people to adopt new ways of thinking, based on a better understanding of their health and themselves. Indeed, the Pain Association of Scotland pioneered the development and delivery of self-management training for those burdened with Chronic Pain.
This unique model of community-based education and support programmes has been developed to improve quality of life and well-being and is based on the Bio-Psycho-Social model of health. This explores the impacts of a change in health and seeks ways to address any mal-adaptations that can often develop.
Workshops are available to CPI members only. If you would like to join Chronic Pain Ireland and avail of all our supports register here
