Helping people with both chronic pain and a mental health condition

This is a free event designed for psychologists working in the public clinical mental health workforce in Victoria, (staff employed at Area Mental Health Services, Forensicare or mental health staff from RCH).

Event description:

Different forms of chronic pain (pain lasting more than 3 months) are among the most disabling conditions on the planet, with 1 in 5 Australians reporting it, and even more in those over the age of 65yrs. Chronic pain is often co-morbid with other health conditions, with depression being the most common, but in many injured workers PTSD is common as well.

Helping people to manage their chronic pain is difficult enough, but when there are co-morbid conditions to deal with as well the challenge for clinicians is magnified. There is good evidence that tackling the impact of chronic pain alongside co-morbid conditions has advantages over tackling only one condition at a time. But clinicians need a framework for guiding these complex interventions.

This talk will explore a model for dealing with chronic pain in this context and describe the sorts of skills required as well as examples of this approach in practice. Questions from those attending will be welcome.

Delivery Mode – 1 1/2 Virtual Session

This course is delivered online, and hosted via Zoom.

Centre for Mental Health Learning will contact registrants with login details prior to the event.

Presenter:

Professor Michael Nicholas is a Clinical Psychologist and Director of Pain Education and Pain Management Programs at the Pain Management Research Institute, University of Sydney, at Royal North Shore Hospital. He has an international reputation in the field of pain, as a clinician, researcher and educator, with over 200 publications on pain and its management. In recent years he has been actively engaged in training health workers in the provision of pain self-management training for people with all forms of chronic pain in rural and low resource settings in Australia and South East Asia.