It’s National Pain Week (21-27 July) and we’re showcasing our innovative approach to pain management.
A visual art exhibition and patient showcase is currently on display at Robina Hospital showing how our Interdisciplinary Persistent Pain Centre (IPPC) and Creative Health Hub have collaborated to use creativity to support those living with persistent pain.
The Patient Showcase, featuring visual artworks and readings from patients-turned-poets, was developed as an avenue for people with persistent and chronic pain to explore poetry writing to express their own pain experience, share and connect with each other, and inspire others to explore new tools for coping with their pain.
IPPC Team Lead Darren Doherty said the Creative Health Hub collaboration was just one example of the team’s commitment to exploring new ways to help people navigate persistent pain.
“Our approach focuses on the impact of pain on daily life rather than the cause and this includes first-of-a-kind projects that use creative arts to support pain expression,” he said.
“Our National Pain Week Patient Showcase is the ideal chance to share such initiatives with a wider audience and allow them to not only listen to and view creative writing from program participants but learn the impact it has had on their lives.”
Earlier this year, the teams also collaborated for C.A.R.E. Day (Creative Arts to Reconnect and Explore) which offered music with a moving meditation and cultural engagement, reflective writing and visual arts activities to build social connection and equip patients with creative self-management tools.
Creative Health Hub Principal Project Officer Laura Strange said the aim of C.A.R.E. Day was to not only provide a safe and supportive space for connection, but for patients to discover new coping tools they could take home with them.
“Patients have been learning techniques they can use to respond to their pain experience and also help them process and cope with that,” Laura said.
“There is a lot of research out there that talks to the benefits of creative arts and music expression for responding to and processing persistent pain experiences, and this cohort have been a really great example of that evidence brought into practice.”
View the C.A.R.E Day highlights video to see firsthand the wonderful impact this creative approach to care is having on our patients.
This IPPC and Creative Health Hub collaboration is just one example of how Gold Coast Health is harnessing innovative creative programs to support health outcomes for the Gold Coast Community.
