At your initial appointment, I want to find out about you and your own experience of living with pain, what you know, think and believe about it, and how it affects you. I also want to understand what is important to you - your needs and goals. Because pain is both influenced by and affects what is going on in many aspects of our self – our physical body, our mental and emotional health, our connections with others at home, work and play – I ask questions that cover all of these areas.

Once we have explored your lived experience, we put our heads together and develop your own bespoke plan to help you manage your pain and improve your wellbeing.  I encourage you to take an active part in developing your plan.  This might be different to what you have tried before.  The great thing about this solution-focused approach is that you own the plan, rather than it being a one-size-fits-all plan imposed on you.  Once we have come up with a plan, you then go off and try it out.

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I follow up with you via email or phone within a week after your initial appointment, to see how you are going.

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What to expect at a follow-up session

Sometimes, people develop a strong plan, come back for one or two follow-up sessions and after that, they get on with it and don’t require any ongoing help.  Other times, people come back for additional sessions to consolidate the skills they have learned or learn new skills, develop or refine their plan further.  Some might need additional coaching if there have been some new challenges that have affected their ability to manage their pain. It the depends on the individual person and their needs.

At the start of a follow-up session, we review how things have been going for you and your experience of working with your individualised plan.  We explore any areas that have been challenging and I may use some questionnaires to get additional information from you to help us gain more insight into what might be affecting your ability to manage your pain.  We also use these sessions to celebrate successes, whatever they may look like.

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Session location and availability

Pain management coaching sessions can be in-person at my Wellington clinic, or via Zoom for those living outside of Wellington or unable to make it to the clinic. Let me know your preference when you book in.

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While this service is currently only available on Mondays and Tuesdays, additional day and time options can be arranged by negotiation.

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Communication and referral to other health professionals

I have referral networks with a range of other health professionals. If you are seeing another health professional for treatment for chronic pain, I am happy to collaborate or communicate with them, at your specific request, to help you achieve the best outcomes. Additionally, if it becomes clear that you may benefit from additional treatment that is outside my scope of practice, I am happy to refer you to the appropriate health professional upon discussion with you.

Scope of practice

Please note that pain management coaching is not counselling or psychotherapy. Should anything arise in a pain management coaching session that indicates that these other approaches would be more appropriate, I raise this and provide some referral options.