Chronic Pain
On Pain.
"...Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand
in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your
life your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have
always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief..."
(Kahlil Gibran, 1923)
My Why.
I opened my graduate research studying resilience, personal narrative, and chronic pain with a Gibran poem because I think it speaks to the heart of a journey with pain. And I think it speaks to the hope that is possible too.
Chronic pain is an invaluable teacher. But the journey through its teachings can be one of the most excruciating journeys of a person’s life. One of the most wide-reaching, challenging health problems the world over, chronic pain torments millions of people.
The experience of pain is vital for human survival, a functioning nervous system and critical for learning. It seems cruel then that something so valuable can also be so indescribably unbearable to experience. This reality leaves many living with chronic pain and symptoms feeling dismissed, hopeless, and at best, resigned.
I have fought (and still am fighting) my way through the worlds of acute, traumatic, transitional and chronic pain, and like you, I am still here.
How I approach chronic pain.
I bring an integrative, multi-dimensional, multi-causal approach to chronic pain and symptoms because through my research, lived experience, and education I believe that a holistic, dynamic mind-body approach that honours your personal, existential, social, and cultural contexts is key in your healing journey.
To me this means who you are, what you have experienced, the stories you tell yourself about your pain, and how you experience the world can impact your chronic pain and symptoms.
This complex reality is why a growing understanding an integrative, mind-body response to chronic pain is proving to be an important part of relief.
My approach comes from my experiences incorporating neuroscience and established psychotherapeutic modalities of Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Narrative Therapy.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)
Pain is a danger signal. Normally when we injure ourselves, the body sends signals to the brain informing us of tissue damage, and we feel pain. Even in the case of the most traumatic of injuries, our bodies heal and pain dissipates as we recover.
But sometimes pain can persist long after the physical damage has healed and can occur even in absence of an injury. This is known as chronic or neuroplastic pain.
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a psychological treatment that retrains the brain to interpret and respond to signals from the body properly, leading to reduced or eliminated neuroplastic pain.
A comprehensive assessment can determine the category of your pain and PRT provides a structure in which we work together toward recovery from your pain.
Narrative Therapy for Chronic Pain
Narrative therapy can help you reconsider your relationships with chronic pain and symptoms and in turn can mitigate the debilitating effects of chronic pain on your quality of life.
By considering your relationship with chronic pain and symptoms through narrative conversations, externalizing and witnessing, you can begin to rewrite your own story with chronic pain.
Perhaps moving from an identity that may be plagued by chronic pain toward a perspective of self that is separate from your relationship with chronic pain that invites a curiosity to view yourself from a new perspective.
Narrative therapy work is a collaborative learning journey that we will walk through together as you work toward finding the relief you seek.
Chronic pain therapy designed for you.
My integrated, mind-body approach to support you in your chronic pain journey is grounded in:
- Pain Reprocessing Therapy
- Narrative Therapy
- Self Compassion
- Nervous System Support
Together we can explore how your stories, experiences, emotions, and feelings can influence your pain AND how you can find relief.
Let's Connect.
Narrative Roots Therapy
I am a Registered Provisional Psychologist with the College of Alberta Psychologists offering in-person and virtual individual therapy to adults 18+ on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Calgary, Alberta Canada.
I also offer walk and talk psychotherapy and group public Forest Bathing experiences.
Located at Riverwest Therapy Collective
850-700 4 AVE SW Calgary, AB T2P 3J4
JoAnn Reynolds (she/her), MC Registered Provisional Psychologist ANFT Forest Therapy Guide (In Training) Narrative Roots Therapy narrativerootstherapy@gmail.com
