Why do I need a Pain Coach?
Unshrinkable is a structured course based on the STILL Method which stands for Stop, Talk, Imagine, Listen and Learn. It will provide YOU with a toolkit of different strategies and coping mechanisms to help you tackle problems, challenges and fear. This course has a specific emphasis on coping with chronic pain, illness and disability.
- Do you feel trapped in a cycle of pain and don’t know how to move out of it?
- Do you feel that your pain has robbed you of your real identity and joy?
- Discover the “real you” again and begin to live your best life despite the difficulties and limitations.
- Learn how to change your mindset and increase your level of wellbeing and independence in every day living.
Course Information
- The weekly sessions are fun, friendly and flexible.
- Courses last 6 weeks.
- Cost is £295.
- The sessions can be completed in on an individual basis or in small groups, either face to face or in an online capacity.
- Suitable for adults and children over 7 years old.
- The sessions are work book based but individualised.
How will doing this course help me?
Understand the modern science of pain and the pain cycle and how it affects each person differently.
Positive Psychology principles will help you to change your mindset to increase confidence and self-belief.
Apply neuro-scientific principles to help to change the way your brain responds to pain.
Feel calmer and more in control, using relaxation and breathing exercises.
Understand the association between the experience of pain, anxiety and trauma.
Achieve much more by breaking activities down and laddering to manage small successful steps.
Personalised goal setting with the course leader mean that targets will matter to you and help you to move on from where you are.
Practise a healthier lifestyle – from sleep, diet, balance of activity and rest to feel happier and more confident.
Meet the team
My name is Sarah. In my mid- 30’s, I was diagnosed with serious damage to my spine including fractures in my lower back, which necessitated a year off work. I was told that I would be have to finish work and be unable to have children. This devastating news caused me re-think everything, and consider a future that looked nothing like the one I wanted. At this point, I had to make a decision; to accept this , or to find a way to battle through. I had to make a lot of changes – physical, psychological and social – but slowly I began to learn to use pain as “guide” rather than an enemy, and found a way to make each task a “challenge” rather than an instant defeat. I was able to return to work after a year. I also went on to have 3 children. This process was far from easy, but it was crucial for me to learn to control my pain and not be controlled by it. It helped me to stand up to fear and despair, and to become “Unshrinkable” in the face of challenges and shattered dreams.
I worked as an Occupational Therapist for 20+ years , specialising in Older People’s Mental Health. I enjoyed working in this field because many clients experienced problems in a number of different areas – mental health, physical issues as well as social factors. This career provided me with wonderful opportunities to develop and use a wide range of effective techniques and strategies, e.g. Anxiety Management, relaxation, individual goal setting , activity breakdown, environmental adaptations and an understanding of many medical conditions and often pain.
In 2023, I completed my training as a STILL Anxiety Management Coach. This is a Diploma, and ACCPH and IPHM accredited course.
In 2025, I completed further training to become a STILL Pain Coach.
I hold a Full Enhanced DBS and Level 1 Safeguarding Children.
