Two free pain management courses are now available for residents of the Nass Valley, and the rest of Northwest B.C.

The Pacific Northwest Division of Family Practice will offer Pain BC's ten-week-long Making Sense of Pain Program. The course will begin in September.

鈥淐hronic pain is usually when someone has had pain for more than three months," said Joelle Mckiernan, program facilitator. "People with chronic pain often feel very isolated. Pain is not a subject that people really want to talk about, and if you've been having pain for more than three months, often your family or friends don't know what to do with you, like they don't want to hear it, or whatever. And so, this program teaches you other, alternative ways to deal with pain besides just medical intervention,鈥�

Joelle is a Terrace-based clinical counsellor and social worker who has been practicing in northwest B.C. for 25 years. 

During her meetings, she assesses people鈥檚 pain through various lenses. She and the participants explore their feelings associated with pain, and look at what she calls their "total pain." This includes their mental pain, spiritual pain, social pain, emotional pain, and physical pain. 

The Pacific Northwest Division of Family Practice represents family physicians in Prince Rupert, Dease Lake, Houston, Kitimat, Gitlaxt鈥檃amiks, Smithers, Stewart, Terrace and on Haida Gwaii (Daajing Giids and Masset).

"The Nisga'a Valley program is more culturally tailored to Nisga'a Valley," said Andrea Demick, project manager at the Pacific Northwest Division of Family Practice. It's for Indigenous peoples, whereas the Pacific Northwest is open to anybody that would like to join.

According to Pain BC, the program is designed for people with pain who experience marginalization and barriers to accessing care.

Joelle has noticed a frequent reason for the development of chronic pain in the candidates specific to the northwest coast. Some class members have been waiting for years before getting the correct treatment or surgery.

鈥淚 know that many of them are waiting for things. So they're waiting for surgery, they're waiting to get into the pain clinic down south, they're waiting, right? And so, unfortunately, acute pain [from origin/injury] is turned into chronic pain because of the services not available here. So things are taking longer to get into, to get their knee replaced, to get whatever it is. And the problem is, if you wait too long, then those pathways in the brain are already established, right? That's true, so that's a real problem.鈥�

It is believed that three months are enough for the bones and tissues to heal from injury, but the pain can become chronic if the brain continues to send pain signals based on past experiences of doing the same activities. So it involves both, the original injury, and how the brain deals with the automatic cycle of how patients think about/deal with that pain. 

Facilitators help participants learn about factors that worsen their pain and suggest strategies to help them manage it better in their everyday lives.

As it is on a self-referral basis, participants in the program don't need a doctor's note.

Classes began in September 2023 and about 40 people have joined them since. The average class size is ten people, and it requires people to join an instructor-led online meeting for two hours per week.

"They like that the program was offered over Zoom and that they weren't in-person sessions, because a lot of people can't really move so they can just do it from the comfort of their homes," said Demick.

They have also reportedly liked the personalized weekly check-ins provided by the instructor.

Past attendees have been from communities and all the outlining areas of Prince Rupert, Dease Lake, Houston, Smithers, Hazelton, Stewart, Terrace, Kitimat, Gitanmaax and Haida Gwaii.

鈥淢any people said that they had a safe place to talk about it with other people that were going through the same thing," Joelle said. "One in five Canadians have chronic pain, so it's not a fringe, it's not a small group, but they feel isolated because there's no one who wants to talk about it. No one wants to hear it."

People can register by calling Andrea Demick at 250-917-8928 by Sept. 10.