The Scottish National Pain Management Programme provide intensive group programmes to individuals from all over Scotland who live with chronic pain. The programme supports individuals to develop self-management skills to improve the aspects in life impacted by pain and to live a more fulfilling life with pain. Individuals with chronic pain residing in Scotland can be referred from their local pain management service.

How might a programme help?

A pain management programme can help people with long term pain to develop self-management skills and strategies, in the hope that they can live more fulfilling lives.

On these intensive group programmes, you will work in a group of up to ten others, alongside a specialist team of healthcare professionals. The team consists of psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a doctor and a nurse. You will work with the team to identify what impact pain has had on the things that are important to you and how you might explore ways to re-engage with these things.  Participating in a programme can help you to understand more about your pain and develop skills to:

Improve your quality of life

Be able to do more of the activities that you enjoy and are important to you

Explore ways of managing difficult emotions associated with your pain

Become more independent with everyday tasks

Feel more confident about managing your pain condition

What happens on a Programme?

The content is the same for both the in-person residential and virtual programmes. We use a variety of methods to help suit different learning styles.

Each day is varied and can be a mixture of

group sessions

working in a small group 

individual work

practical physical and activity sessions