People from all walks of life have discovered the life-changing benefits of self-managing pain effectively

I have found this course interesting and of benefit to me. I have not felt pressured as the course is set out in little chunks and allows me time to consider the support and information provided at my own pace and therefore takes the pressure off. I was unsure of the value of this course as it is online however this has been of benefit to me as I did not feel any pressure on time or responses during the time it has taken to complete. I would like to thank those professionals who have supplied each area of their expertise for the benefit of others.

I found this course was mainly covering back pain. I have fibromyalgia and putting my hands on my head is excruciating never mind bending forward to my knees. Lying on the floor is not an option for me I can’t get up. Stretching my arms and legs is extremely painful with fibro. I’ve noticed when I do exercise or walking I get severe leg and toe cramps. Life in general is the pits. The only thing I found was good is the meditation but I was doing that anyway myself. My hearing and smell are super sensitive and I found the background squealing on the videos off putting. I’ve started to get a sensation like pins being stuck into me all over after any exercise. This is extremely frustrating as I don’t want to exercise and get the stick pin sensations. I’m fed up with the pain. It’s like having a really bad flu every single day. Would anyone with a really bad flu get out of bed and exercise??? NO they wouldn’t. This programme while extensive might be good for some people but not for me. I was left in tears with pain after the first day of exercises. I’m not prepared to be in tears again for pain. I did the course with high hopes of being in control of my pain. It hasn’t happened. I do meditate myself anyway that was the only part of the course I found good. But it’s not a cure. Medication does not work for me. They make me dizzy and fall over. So I’m feeling all the pain every day. No relief so now I’m totally disillusioned as I was expecting this course to help immensely. And it hasn’t.

With an extremely recent CRPS diagnosis following a broken wrist, I was shocked, upset and experiencing intense pain when I’d always thought of myself as a relatively fit and healthy person. I was unsure about the course and how wrong I was…it brings together so many Dr’s, experts and advice you couldn’t personally assemble no matter how much research you do yourself. Simple steps, with all the helpful stuff put in your library for easy access and answered so many questions I was thinking about medication wise. Personally I chose to log in every few days and reflecting back it was one of best decisions I made when I was feeling totally overwhelmed. I’d urge anyone to give it a try.

Hi . Thank you all for the input provided. I found a lot of this information helpful in certain areas. It also gives you confirmation that you are not alone.

Don't appreciate attempts to brainwash by people who simply identify themselves as specialists. In the 14 years I've been suffering from pain, many "specialists" have come forward and actively ruined my health. I find it incredibly insulting that this course has the nerve to tell me that the whole situation is simply manageable and relaxing music and calm breathing will take away pain that has put me on my knees in supermarkets and taken the breath and words from my mouth mid sentence. Also, most people who actually manage to get this course, bearing in mind it took my GP the best part of a decade to refer me, are already aware that stretching will help. The problem is, if the pain is still there then the stretching is starting to fail. This course is entirely centered around either hypochondriacs or minor pain sufferers. Anyone with debilitating pain cannot consider any of this advice. It's just another NHS cop out and cost saving time waste exercise designed to get patients out of waiting rooms and improve the shortfall statistics. Complete waste of my time!

This course was not for me . Everything that we went through are things I have already been doing for years. I have suffered for so long that I manage my. Pain well. It will not beat me . I hold down a full time job and run a house and family of 5. I take time when I need to and I pace my self well I know what works and doesn't. All I need is my pain relief managed and tweeked once in a while and mri to make sure things are not getting worse . I know my body

I have found the course very helpful, there was no rushing to get it completed. Just did it in my own time. I would recommend anybody to do this course it was so helpful. Thank you all very much. Pauline Butterfill.

I began the course a little sceptical having had persistent pain for over 20 years. I am pleasantly surprised, I have thoroughly enjoyed the course and things that I thought I understood have finally clicked into place, I am particularly enjoying the meditation and mindfulness, something I have never been able to appreciate before. I am happy to know I can still access the course and continue with the steps. I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone with persistent pain and to definitely see the course through to the end. I will continue to access and use the steps from this course. Thankyou

i found 40 percent of the course helpful to my personal condition...others may find more or less, but that is for them to try for themselves. some of the things i found discomforting were the musical offerings for meditation.. this type of sound is VERY personal.and what one person finds soothing can make another feel very irritated. please do NOT offer sounds unless guaranteed to help...for example....one of comforting field and meadow sounds was ruined by a pigeon call that continued to irritate! Pigeons do not coo.. they screech

My own GP asked me to try this course,and I am so pleased that I decided to "give it a go". My pain is probably not as bad as many contemplating starting , but I CAN say that I have enjoyed the course and it has helped to alter my mindset to deal with my problem. To have experts who, although they don't know me personally, understand how I'm feeling and can share positive solutions to try, is fantastic. I would say to anyone who can't decide if it's worth the bother....Give it a go!

Course was very useful and helped me through some dark days of pain and discomfort. It is good to be able to access my library at any time now I have completed the course. Would recommend to others, just wish the course and physio help I had was available at the start of my problems, if it had I would not have been so bad, it took 18 months to try and get help despite being in a great deal of pain.

Some helpful information

I started the course already believing that the brain is a powerful tool. What this course has given me is clarity of thought and a roadmap ahead of how to deal with persistant pain. But most of all I now realise that after 3 years of lower back pain that pain does not mean damage. Many thanks for the course

Helped to learn how to pace myself and set goals and cut down on the pain killers.

I enjoyed the course. It was thought provoking. It made me think more about my responses to pain and how it affects my life. Most often I have pain when I move rather than every moment which didn’t seem to be catered for on the course. I was grateful for the opportunity and ideas about meditation.

I was very sceptical about an online course but was extremely pleasantly surprised at how it has helped me and would highly recommend it to anyone. Thank you for challenging me to think differently.

The course was general information that may be helpful for someone starting out with chronic pain, having had chronic pain for 13 years however, everything felt very basic knowledge. I have learnt nothing new and the approaches and delivery is very condescending. I do not feel this is an appropriate course as it is being delievered - especially at a cost when this information should rightly be free. As a trainee psychotherapist so much of the emotions and psychology of pain has been left out and neglected entirely. My mood did not improve, I grew more anxious because it shocks me honestly that this approach of 'managing pain' is incredibly out dated - bascially to suck it up and manage it yourself, not to hope for a cure. It puts a very negative light on hope for healing and hope for improving your quality of life. The goals are ridiculous as they are extremely unrealistic if a person is bed bound i.e to travel abroad, the relaxation and exercises are so generic and are not suited if you have severe mobility there should be different levels for this. There should be crisis teams links and numbers when scores are high not just left like that. Paitents rarely see their scores in therapy as this can be a harmful realisation to them, the graph is not helpful. Furthermore, using breath as an anchor if breath is a source of pain would be highly ineffective. I've asked others about this course and they too agree that they are angry with the way it was delievered and how poor the pain managment education is. After 13 years you need much more indepth courses that can meet the persons needs especially if you intend to charge £60 for it. For which I will be seeking out a refund due to no improvement.

Course provides hope and encouragement for people trying to manage chronic pain. Includes lots of general advice, suggestions and techniques for coping, including exercise, stretching, mindfulness, guided meditation and ‘thought management’. Very well presented by a team of experts.

The course was OK for me. But with my memory I kept forgetting to log on but it was useful in some aspects.

I have chronic mental and physical health/illness. It would have been helpful to have have had hard copies of the course supplied as Long Covid has left me with chronic fatigue blurred sight. I would have found it easier to re-read through each section this way and keep notes instead of on my phone.

I was some what hesistant to give this course a try, as I felt that I had tried so many things including medication and injections and nothing helped; so how could this help. Once I got started on the course, I very quickly got drawn in to the expert advice, stretches and psychological thinking. I learned how to cope better when I experienced flare ups or was in pain. I now wake up 10 mins earlier to do my stretches, I am conscious of how long I sitting when I am at work, so I move around more. I have definitely noticed improvements and I now experience more milder pain.

I really enjoyed doing the course, it gave me the inspiration to try to help myself, Many thanks