Our journey to supporting individuals and families living with chronic pain and/or navigating medical trauma began personally before it became professional. The therapists on our team who work within the areas of medical trauma and chronic pain counselling Calgary have a strong passion rooted in some of their own life experiences that prompted them to incorporate this into their careers
As trained and certified professionals, our approach to supporting those with chronic pain and/or health trauma is grounded in modern, evidence-based therapies paired with the utmost of empathy, compassion, and desire to support YOU, not provide a one-size-fits-all treatment model. We know that this is not effective in helping those with experiences that are so unique and individual.
Chronic Pain Counselling Calgary.
“Chronic pain is long standing pain that persists beyond the usual recovery period or occurs along with a chronic health condition” (John Hopkins Medicine). While chronic pain is not a mental health diagnosis or disorder, the impact of living with pain and all of the associated changes to life and function that it brings can lead to feelings of depression, anxiety, grief and loss, addiction/substance use issues, and more.
Chronic Pain Counselling Calgary is about providing you with a safe environment in which:
- To share openly about your experience (as often this may not be provided by close supports, especially as symptoms become chronic rather than acute)
- To help identify strategies and daily living tools to help improve mental health symptoms, functioning and coping
- To empower you to live life while navigating the chronic pain symptoms rather than feeling like your life has been taken over; and
- To help address internal self-talk patterns, perception, self-esteem, and other impacts that living with chronic pain and health symptoms has had in your life.
The goal of Chronic Pain Counselling Calgary is not to end the pain or stop it (we would if we could but this is usually not possible) but, rather, to help you have the best quality of life while co-existing with your health condition.
We are there with you as you navigate the diagnostic exploration too. Sometimes people have had chronic pain with no clear reason as to why or where it’s coming from. We are there with you as you navigate the health system and can support you in being an advocate for yourself to feel empowered as you go through this process.
Medical Trauma Counselling Calgary.
Chronic Pain Counselling Calgary may involve support around long standing health issues and pain, and/or it may involve supporting you with specific, acute medical traumas that were either short-lived but impactful or part of that ongoing process of chronic pain that you are navigating.
Medical trauma is the experience of traumatic stress as a result of interactions with the medical system, which may include procedures (i.e., surgeries), new diagnoses (i.e., cancer or heart disease), and professionals in healthcare settings (Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine).
As much as the medical system is inherently designed to support you, unfortunately some people’s experience with the system leads to upset, frustration, distress, and can include trauma. These experiences can impact your day-to-day life because it might be distracting, overwhelming, and so upsetting that it inhibits functioning. Even if it does not impact your everyday life, if you find yourself fearing appointments, worrying about hypothetical scenarios in the future, and/or compromising your current healthcare because of past experiences, then you are likely being impacted by medical trauma. For example, if you have decided not to receive future life-affirming treatment because of past experiences, this is an example of medical trauma having a hold over you and your life.
Our therapists use a combination of different therapeutic techniques while providing medical trauma and chronic pain counselling Calgary, and this will depend on you, your experiences, and goals. Some therapeutic techniques that may be considered include:
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
- Trauma specific treatments such as EMDR or Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
- Mindfulness training and techniques
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
All of these modalities would be used in discussion with your therapist and only with your permission and consent. Each therapeutic intervention that is used is discussed with you beforehand and explained so that you feel comfortable with understanding the process, pros/cons and what to expect. With general talk therapy, recommendations and homework are integrated along the way and the process evolves based on your responsiveness. Specific techniques can be integrated as needed and as suited to you.
Chronic Pain Counselling Calgary and Medical Trauma Counselling Calgary: Support for Family Members. We understand that the impact of chronic health issues, acute health issues, pain, and medical trauma can affect many people within a social unit, including children, partners, parents, siblings, friends, and more. For this reason, our services are available to anyone who has been and is being affected by somebody’s health condition and would like some supportive counselling around this.
Support for family members and loved ones can involve some of the same techniques listed above, such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Trauma Specific Therapies, and more, to help provide you the tools and skills needed to empower yourself to improve quality of life and coping with what you are experiencing. Chronic Pain Counselling and Medical Trauma Counselling for family members may also involve some psychoeducation and skill building around boundaries, communication skills, emotional intelligence and empathy, as well as a focus on your own self-care.
The goal with any counselling is to improve coping, functioning, and quality of life. That is what Chronic Pain Counselling Calgary and Medical Trauma Counselling Calgary is here to offer to you and your loved ones.
We are happy to offer convenient online booking 24/7. Here you will see information about each of our clinicians and their areas of expertise.
We are also happy to offer flexible scheduling options (daytime, evening and weekend appointments), direct billing with certain insurance providers (depending on availability and clinician), and virtual counselling for your ease of access. We have a 24 hour cancellation policy at our clinic but are human too and understand that with chronic pain counselling there may be difficulty always upholding this. In cases where appointments need to be changed, we simply ask that you reach out directly to your therapist to let them know what the situation is and you can discuss the cancellation policy and fee with them at this time.
We also understand that those looking for Chronic Pain Counselling Calgary may be living on fixed or limited incomes. For this reason, each of our clinicians offers a number of reduced rate spots. Please reach out to the clinician you are interested in working with (or have been working with) to see what is possible in terms of reduced rates.
We want to make the counselling process as accessible, easy and beneficial to you as possible. Please feel free to Contact Us anytime. We look forward to connecting with you!
