The Canadian Pain Task Force delivered its second report to Health Canada on November 6, 2020 following a series of extensive in-person and online consultations from July 2019 through August 2020 to identify best practices to better understand, prevent, and manage chronic pain.

This year’s conference was offered virtually and saw the greatest attendance since its inception more than a decade ago – more than 600 people registered from across Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa.

The Interdisciplinary Pain Education Day annual conference - taking place on October 23, 2020 this year - has grown into one of BC’s most important events to foster ongoing pain education and networking opportunities for health care providers.

When you first hear the name “Coaching for Health”, you may have images in your head of a coach with a towel, sweating it out with a client, exerting all kinds of energy with a new exercise – but being a coach over these past few years has looked a lot different for me.

Looking back on my path to becoming a volunteer with Pain BC's Pain Support and Wellness Groups, I can best describe it as a series of seemingly random events. I first found out about Pain BC through an ad on the internet that my wife shared with me. That ad then led me to meet with Pain BC’s Support Services team. At the time, I had no idea that meeting would also serve as an interview to become a support group facilitator – an opportunity I am truly grateful for.

During COVID-19, Pain BC continues to operate at full capacity and is rapidly mobilizing to address the emerging needs of people with pain. Our work in education, support services, research and advocacy have and will continue to pivot to meet the unprecedented challenges of this time. We’re in this with you.

Since becoming a proud Pain Support Line volunteer in May 2019, I’ve had the opportunity to learn about pain physiology and pain management, meet intelligent Pain BC employees and volunteer alongside some of the kindest and most compassionate individuals I have ever met.

Despite having a limited income, Bev is a regular donor to Pain BC because she deeply values the organization’s work to improve the lives of people with pain.

“I am exhausted and hopeless.” This is just one of the many discouraging statements I hear regularly from clients who contact Pain BC’s Pain Support Line to seek advice, resources or even just a listening ear.

In spring of 2019, Health Canada established the Canadian Pain Task Force (CPTF) to recommend an improved approach to pain care, education, research and data monitoring in Canada.

The continuing COVID-19 pandemic can be overwhelming and isolating, but please know that you're not alone. During this time, Pain BC is committed to continuing to do what we’ve always done: working towards a future where no one is alone with pain. 

Chronic pain impacts people of all ages, genders and from all communities, but when pain is complicated by trauma and systemic racism, effective health care can become particularly difficult to access.

Pain BC applauds the launch today of a national online public consultation on chronic pain by the Canadian Pain Task Force (CPTF). The consultation will inform the Task Force’s work, including a report to Health Canada in June 2020 that will outline elements of an improved approach to pain in Canada.

Sarah Sandusky is a Pain BC board member who first found out about the organization while providing a job reference for a former colleague. While she didn’t know about Pain BC at the time, Sarah was no stranger to the devastating effects chronic pain can have on a person’s quality of life, having lived with pain for nearly a decade.

Dr. Judy Dercksen works as a general practitioner in Quesnel, BC. With a population of less than 30,000 people in the city and surrounding area, Quesnel doesn’t have many of the specialized health services available in big cities.