Following a motor vehicle accident that resulted in chronic pain, Gwenn Herman felt compelled to reach out to others to provide support and treatment that she had found lacking during her own experience. She started Pain Connection in 1999 as a nonprofit, community organization that aimed to improve the quality of life of those suffering from chronic pain, decrease their sense of isolation and alienation, increase their control of their condition and treatment, and maintain their independence.
Pain Connection’s mission is to help people with chronic pain and their families by providing information and resources, professional training, psychosocial support, a peer support network, a speakers’ series, community outreach/education, support groups, therapy groups, a newsletter, and a website.
Ms. Herman, LCSW-C, DCSW collaborated with Mary French, RN, MSW, LCSW-C to create an outstanding resource for health care providers, called Making the Invisible Visible: Chronic Pain Manual for Health Care Providers. It is a 262-page manual that includes up-to-date information on chronic pain, myths and misconceptions about chronic pain clients, how to develop a treatment plan, coping skills and strategies in handout form for clients, and follows the Pain Connection group therapy model.
This manual helps health care providers become more familiar with some of the challenges facing the chronic pain population. The manual is practical, helpful, and easy to use and is a dynamic tool that contains many handouts designed for individual clients as well as for groups.
To read excerpts from Making the Invisible Visible: Chronic Pain Manual for Health Care Providers and to purchase the book, click here.
