If you’ve been struggling with pain for more than 12 weeks, there are many services that can help.
Your first stop should be a GP so you can discuss your pain in all its forms and explore options that work for you.
There are also online resources to help you with self-management.
Ten Footsteps to Living Well with Pain programme
This is a step-by-step online guide to living well despite your persistent pain. When people self-manage their pain, their quality of life improves. Eventually it stops dominating their day and they begin to get more out of life. Knowing how to self-manage your pain is not automatic – but it is something that you can learn. That’s where Ten Footsteps comes in. It’s designed to help you learn the skills you need to become an effective self-manager of your pain, and can be done on your own or with support from Bruton Surgery Health Coaches. To find out more about the Ten Footsteps approach to pain management go to:
https://livewellwithpain.co.uk/ten-footsteps-programme/
Pain cafe online (poster)
Support groups
There's lots of self-help advice available from a variety of organisations supporting people living with long-term pain, such as:
Action on Pain http://www.action-on-pain.co.uk/
British Pain Society https://www.britishpainsociety.org/
Pain Concern https://painconcern.org.uk/
Pain Support https://painsupport.co.uk/
Charities specialising in specific conditions, such as arthritis or fibromyalgia, may also offer more targeted pain management advice. Some of these organisations run helplines and self-help groups, where you can talk to and meet other people with long-term pain.
If you find you're having difficulty managing your pain, ask the GP for a referral to the Somerset Community Pain Management Service. Their aim is to support you and work with you to find ways to improve your quality of life and, in spite of your persistent pain, to live as independent a life as you would wish.
https://www.somersetpain.co.uk/
The Household Support Fund is designed to provide short-term urgent financial help to Somerset residents who are struggling to afford household essentials such as buying food, paying for energy and water bills and other essential household items such as beds and white goods.
More information on the fund, who it is for and how people can apply can be found here: Somerset Household Support Fund. A Leaflet is also available for more information.
Our Healthcoaches can refer you to the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme, which supports adults living with obesity who also have a diagnosis of diabetes, hypertension or both, to manage their weight and improve their health.
It is a 12-week online behavioural and lifestyle programme that people can access via a smartphone or computer with internet access.
For more information about the programme visit: https://www.england.nhs.uk/digital-weight-management/
The attached documents set out a number of links to websites and apps which you may find useful as a family or for teenagers and young adults:
CYP Wellbeing Links Resources - For Families
CYP Wellbeing Links Resources - For Teenagers Young Adults (002)
(This information is correct at time of publication, July 2022)