A 4-Week Challenge for Pain Awareness Month - Week 4 and Beyond
September was Pain Awareness Month!
While I’m now posting this at the very beginning of October, I hope the positive steps toward spreading awareness and understanding of pain continue long beyond the September challenge.
Throughout September, we followed along with IASP’s Pain Awareness Month 4-week challenge to clinicians and researchers, but empowering individuals and families with action steps to increase understanding of pain, pain management, and the experiences of those living with chronic pain.
In particular, pain in children, teens, and young adults can be underestimated and misunderstood, so if you’re here, you can make a big impact.
Click here for a refresher on Pain Awareness Month and to catch up on Week 1’s challenge and find Week 2 here and Week 3 here.
A Pain Awareness Month Challenge - Week 4
As a reminder, the International Association for the Study of Pain challenged its members this month to a focus each week for spreading awareness of pain.
Even if you’re not a pain researcher, you can do a lot to spread awareness too! Mirroring the IASP challenge, here is the next step in our 4 week challenge to increase awareness of pain, particularly pain in children, teens, and young adults.
Week 4: Advance
As IASP notes, “awareness becomes meaningful when knowledge leads to action.”
For the fourth week of the challenge and beyond, we can continue to spread awareness and understanding of pain by exploring options for action for ourselves, our families, our communities, and perhaps thinking even bigger than that. Then, we figure out ways to put our ideas into action, and commit to them.
If you are at all like me, you sometimes get excited to see topics of interest, such as pain or mental health, being discussed in the news, on tv, or online. Then, you hear the trite, “we’re starting a conversation.” That’s great, but then what?
If you’ve ever felt this frustration, here’s where you get to jump in.
I encourage you to consider your passion when it comes to pain. Is it a particular underrepresented or misunderstood age group or diagnosis? A treatment that you found particularly effective? The intersection between faith and health? How pain is handled in the schools, hospitals, or sports? Do you care a lot about community, state, or national policy? Focus in on that as you consider these possible action items and resources to advance awareness, understanding, and treatment of pain:
Practical Steps
Join a support group for yourself, for you as a parent, for your child, to both receive from and share support with others.
If you have time to spare, consider volunteering!
If you don’t have quite as much time but enjoy writing, consider sharing your pain story with others.
If you really like writing, consider writing an op-ed or a letter to the editor for your local newspaper or online outlet. Here are some suggestions to get you started.
If you are a student, find ways to share your knowledge with others by creating a presentation for your school or campus health clinic.
If you love physical activity or celebrations, consider organizing your own event like a charitable 5K or a gala to honor those with pain!
Once you’ve read through this list, try picking 1 action item to get started on that aligns with. your interests and values. Then, think of one small, concrete step you can take in that direction and what you can do to make it happen (e.g. I want to start volunteering, so I will block an hour on Thursday afternoon to look through the link of opportunities).
If you’re looking for someone to help you or your child thrive through pain and pursue their goals and dreams, please click the Get Started button at the top right of your screen for a free consultation call.