Making Sense of Pain

This MSOP facilitator training prepares health care providers to successfully deliver Making Sense of Pain, a supported self-management program for people who live with chronic pain and who experience marginalization and face barriers to accessing care.

Recognize pain as a complex, subjective experience within the unique individual.
Describe the changes that take place in the nervous system when living with chronic pain and apply these concepts when supporting MSOP participants.
Reflect on MSOP participant potential experience of stigma and marginalization (e.g. because of ethnicity, gender identity, socioeconomic status) and apply compassionate strategies when supporting them.
Practice culturally safe skills required to develop a successful relationship with participants.
Apply the biopsychosocial approach to treating chronic pain, with a focus on supported self-management when assisting participants.
Facilitate MSOP sessions in accordance with the program principles.

Each session is 2 hours long with 1.5 hours dedicated to group work, and 30 minutes for social time. The Making Sense of Pain curriculum is designed to be flexible, and we encourage facilitators to adapt the content to the needs of their group.

Topics (can be presented in any order):

Session 1: Introductions and the biopsychosocial model of pain
Session 2: Pain science
Session 3: Stress & stress management
Session 4: Movement
Session 5: Sleep and mood
Session 6: Social support and communication
Session 7: Nutrition
Session 8: Grief & loss
Session 9: Self-talk & self-compassion
Session 10: Wrap-up (Optional)

The site will be responsible for:

Providing a comfortable meeting space for the group (if in person) or secure online meeting space (if online)
Recruiting facilitators
Ensuring facilitators successfully pass Pain BC’s online facilitator training course
Recruiting participants and identifying those who need accessibility subsidies (e.g. transit passes, gas cards, taxi vouchers, reimbursement for childcare) to attend sessions
Disbursing accessibility subsidies to those who need them
Purchasing refreshments (or gift cards for online programs) for each session
Organizing and facilitating weekly sessions (each session is 2 hours long)
Participating in the evaluation of the program (assigning anonymous IDs to each participant, ensuring pre- and post-program surveys and the attendance sheet are submitted to Pain BC)
Notifying Pain BC of the start and end dates of all future cohorts

The facilitator training consists of four self-paced online modules.
New facilitators can enrol at any time throughout the year.

We recommend at least two people complete the facilitator training at each MSOP site. That way, if the scheduled facilitator is sick or leaves their position, a cohort won't have to be cancelled. It also gives the option of having two people co-facilitate the program.

Your organization might already have a process in place to assess need. If not, one of the resources on the MSOP Facilitators Dashboard is a Participant Intake Guide, which includes questions you can ask potential participants to assess their need for accessibility subsidies (e.g. transit fare, gas cards, reimbursement for childminding) and group readiness.

Most sites print the Participant Handbook, Self-management Cards and Gentle Movement Exercises booklet. Printing 12 of each (1 for each participant and 2 for facilitators) typically costs around $700.

The Facilitator Manual and all participant-facing materials are available in English, French, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic and Spanish. The online facilitator training course is in English only.

Making Sense of Pain

Learning outcomes

Modules

Frequently asked questions

What is the program structure and what topics are covered?

What are the responsibilities of the site?

How long is the facilitator training?

How often is facilitator training offered?

How many facilitators can an MSOP site have?

How do you determine who gets accessibility subsidies?

How much will it cost to print materials for each cohort?

Are materials available in languages other than English?