PAIN MANAGMENT
Currently on hold due to COVID:19. New Virtual Pain Management Programme to be announced shortly.
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VETERAN SPECIFIC PAIN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME
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SWV set up the first veterans-specific pain management programmes and pain review. The main barriers to both employment and being able to live a full life are chronic pain and problems with pain medication. The objectives of the veterans’ PMP are to help veterans access a diagnosis, help to develop a better understanding and management of pain, to increase meaningful activity, self-management, quality of life and improved mood and confidence.
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We aim to get veterans properly assessed and obtain access to the correct treatment as soon as possible.
If only I had attended this programme shortly after injury - it would have saved me years of pain and related anxiety - thank you SWV for setting it up for me - it is going to have a hugely positive impact on my quality of life.
The Pain Management Programme includes
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An assessment appointment
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four residential days
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single follow-up treatment days.
The Pain management programme is a group-based programme, with the group component reported as particularly helpful since it allows a discussion of pain in a safe environment with others who have had similar experiences and problems. You are not alone in needing help; for every 10 places offered, SWV receives, on average, 100 requests.
Through each programme, veterans have access to information on:
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The physiological response to pain, and an understanding as to why pain develops.
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The function and effects of medication on the brain, and when they are most effective. Individual advice and full support is given regarding medication reduction.
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Strategies to manage pain more successfully with the end goal of considering employment options.
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Strategies to improve sleep patterns and relaxation.
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Strategies to manage negative changes in mood caused by chronic/ pain, using psychological approaches, in order to harness a better understanding of thoughts, beliefs and feelings in relation to pain and its impact on their quality of life.
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How to identify meaningful goals and work out how to achieve them.
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Specific exercises to aim to help affected areas feel less sensitive.
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I have lived with chronic pain for several years and the stress and direct effect that pain has on an individual/family is crippling both physically and mentally. It drains you like pulling the plug on a swimming pool. Eventually that pool will empty and you can see no way of refilling it…you just live with it.