In this episode, we're tackling the important but often times not spoken about the impact of trauma and PTSD on the experience of chronic pain. We're going to be sharing a masterclass that was delivered by a physical therapist, Dr. Jeremy Fletcher, on the topic of trauma-informed pain care and why all of us as healthcare professionals should be more sensitive to the needs of people living with trauma and PTSD. Jeremy does share a number of slides. It's got some great data and some beautiful slides to share with everyone.
Let me tell you a little bit about Jeremy before we begin this episode. Jeremy is a Physical Therapist and serves as the Director of Community Integration for a company called Veterans Recovery Resources. This is a non-profit mental health organization, which is located in Mobile, Alabama. He is a former Professor of Physical Therapy. He's also presented at state, national, and international conferences on the topic of chronic pain, health behavior trauma, as well as community health. He's a Major in the US Army Reserve and holds several leadership positions for non-profit organizations throughout Alabama. His service in the Afghanistan war earned him a Bronze Star for working in a combat zone. He's also a veteran, a father, a coach, as well as a husband. I know you'll gain a lot from this episode.
Jeremy talks about the topic of trauma from a clinician's perspective. He also talks about it from his own perspective, as far as being in a war and suffering from his own PTSD. He's also leading our Trauma-informed Pain Care Course at the Integrative Pain Science Institute. That course is open for registration now. It's a five-week course with a mentor and learning session at the end of the course. You can find out more about the Trauma-Informed Pain Care Course that Jeremy is leading on this episode. You can also go over to the website at IntegrativePainScienceInstitute.com. Scroll over to the Courses tab and scroll down, and you'll find the Trauma-Informed Pain Care Course page.
We would love to see you in that course. It is so important that all of us mental health providers oftentimes receive some trauma-informed pain care, but those of us who are physical medicine professionals, PTs, OTs, oftentimes, we need to reinforce that training. This is an incredible course to do that. Without further ado, I welcome you to read this episode of this masterclass. If you have any questions, you can reach out to us at the Institute. Our email is Support@IntegrativePainScienceInstitute.com. Without further ado, let's begin to learn about Trauma-Informed Pain Care with Dr. Jeremy Fletcher.
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The month of September is Pain Awareness Month. In years past, I've done lots of different things for Pain Awareness Month. I've held online summits, which hosted 30 plus experts. I've done courses for professionals and people with pain. In 2021, I was trying to figure out, "What are we not talking about in the chronic pain space that we need to bring more awareness around? What should we be talking about? What can we bring some more disruption around to disrupt our pain care world out there that isn't always as effective for people with chronic pain?"
As I started to reflect on my practice and the patients I've seen over many years I've been treating patients looking at research, I said, "We need to talk more about the link between trauma and chronic pain." This September, I've done a couple of different things to raise awareness around the trauma-pain connection. The first is I've done lots of different posts on my Instagram handle. If you can head on over to Instagram and find me, my handle is easy. It's @DrJoeTatta. You can find me on Instagram. Like and follow me. I have lots of great posts and sliders that are perfect for you if you're a practitioner or someone with chronic pain and you want to learn more about the trauma-pain connection.
The second is I partnered with a physical therapist this September. His name is Dr. Jeremy Fletcher. He is teaching our first Trauma-Informed Pain Care Course. You can find that by going to IntegrativePainScienceInstitute.com. Head on over to the Courses tab and scroll down and you'll find the Trauma-Informed Pain Care course. That's open now and you can register. It's available for CEs as well as CEUs for physical therapists and other licensed health professionals. It's about seven hours long and has lots of great content.
Jeremy is a physical therapy educator. He works for a company called Veterans Recovery Resources, which is a not-for-profit organization, which helps veterans with both their physical well as mental health needs. He is a dad, coach and also a survivor of trauma himself. He is a veteran of the Afghanistan War. He brings lots of professional as well as personal input to this topic. I've learned so much from Jeremy. He and I lectured in 2020 at Combined Sections at the APTA National Conference. I'm going to lecture again in 2021 at the national conference, which is in February. You can meet both of us there if you're around.
Finally, I've reached out and partnered with people like our guest, Dr. Robyn Walser, who is an ACT-trained clinical psychologist. She is one of the world's leading experts in treating trauma and PTSD. She is the Director of TL Psychological and Consultation Services. She is also an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley and works with the National Center for PTSD. As a licensed clinical psychologist, she maintains international training, consulting as well as therapy practice.
Robyn is well-known as an expert in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, specifically for the treatment of trauma and PTSD. She has co-authored seven books, including a book on Learning ACT. Robyn's work spans traumatic stress, depression, substance use and chronic pain. She has written research articles, chapters and books on these topics. She has been doing ACT training and workshops since 1998.
Robyn is incredible. I've seen her in action at a couple of national conferences through ACBS. I've also read a couple of her books. They're great. Head on over to Amazon and make sure you check out all of her books. Dive into this episode, read the topics that she and I are talking about around chronic pain and trauma, see if it resonates with you and think to yourself, "How much do I understand about trauma, PTSD, adverse childhood experiences and the social-political contextual aspects of trauma?" All these are important factors when it comes to treating people with chronic pain. Let's begin this episode and meet Dr. Robyn Walser.
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As always, it's an honor and a pleasure to be spending this time with you. Before we begin, there are a couple of thank yous as we move forward. I wanted to thank OPTP Products for hosting me on their webinar, which was on September 16th. I conducted a webinar for them on mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches for the treatment of chronic pain. Also, I talked about some information from my latest book, Radical Relief, which you can find on their website as well. Thank you for all the great people at OPTP. Make sure you check them out on their website, which is OPTP.com.
On October 21st, I'll be giving a two-hour session on mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches for the treatment of chronic pain at the New York Physical Therapy Association Annual Conference. I hope to see you there. I also want to thank the NYPTA for inviting me. Finally, you can catch me and our guest in this episode at The 2021 Educational Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The Excellence in Physical Therapy Education Conference highlights excellence in physical therapy, as well as innovation. It's a collaborative effort by the APTA Academy of Education and the American Council of Physical Therapy.
If you're a PT or PT educator and you're going to be at the 2021 ELC Conference, make sure to visit me and my colleague. We're presenting a session called Mindfulness and Acceptance-based Interventions in Physical Therapy Education. It's time to address the cycle of distress using evidence-based practice. Also, if you're attending the conference, make sure to catch the keynote by our guest, Dr. Nicole Piemonte. It's on Friday, October 22nd at 8:00 AM. She'll be speaking about cultivating the habits of the heart of patient care, including compassion, vulnerability and imagination.
Let me tell you about Dr. Nicole Piemonte before we begin. She is the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and a faculty member in the Department of Medical Humanities at Creighton University School of Medicine. She earned her PhD in Medical Humanities, where she focused on Philosophy and Medical Ethics. Her teaching and research focus on incorporating the humanities into medical education in order to cultivate future practitioners who are tuned to suffering, vulnerability and social justice.
In this episode, we discuss the benefits of confronting suffering and vulnerability, both in healthcare education, as well as its impact on patient outcomes. Once again, I want to thank the New York Physical Therapy Association and the Educational Leadership Conference for inviting me to speak. It's a great honor. I look forward to meeting all of you and without further ado, let's begin. Let's meet Dr. Nicole.
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We have an incredible guest and we're discussing ways to heal and prevent common childhood diseases. Our guest is an ear for parents, a voice for children, a resource for other healthcare professionals, and she's on a mission to help one million children get off meds. They may not need it if they were eating the right food for their health system. My guest is Dr. Sheila Kilbane. She is a board-certified pediatrician. Who's also trained in integrative medicine. She practices medicine in Charlotte, North Carolina, and consults with physicians around the globe using her holistic strategies to help parents resolve eight chronic recurring health conditions. Dr. Kilbane, welcome to the show.
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By now, you know that I'm a big fan of mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches for the treatment of chronic pain and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. If you look at studies, an increasing number of Americans are using some type of integrative or contemplative practice on a daily or a weekly basis to improve upon their physical health, as well as their mental health.
One of the reasons why I love mindfulness and acceptance-based approach so much is because, as practitioners, we're faced with an increasingly complex, more chronic, and more disease professional landscape. The other reason is I believe we've arrived at a place where we can no longer separate the brain from the body or the mind from the body, however you'd like to look at it.
Consider for a moment that there's a well-known, backed by evidence and science, strong positive association between living in a state of stress, which then turns into emotional distress and then finally, on to mental illness. There's a bi-directional relationship between mental illness and physical illness that's inseparable.
Currently, 1 in 5 Americans lives with a mental illness, that's about 52 million people and there have been surveys of physical therapists working in the general orthopedic practice where 75% report treating comorbid mental health problems on a daily or weekly basis. Mindfulness and acceptance-based interventions are a family of methods that emphasize a present moment awareness, nonjudgmental stance, and employ values-based living.
The techniques and exercises embedded in these methods teach you how to cope with stressful thoughts, stressful emotions, and even painful physical sensations. The goal is not to clear the mind or to prevent difficult emotions or thoughts from occurring. We don't have a great way to do that. It's about learning how to relate differently to all your experiences, even the distressing ones as part of our human experience.
These methods are useful in clinical practice, especially if you're aiming for health promotion, improving physical function, injury prevention, pain management, modulating the immune system, alleviating noncommunicable disease, and even improving sports performance. Mindfulness is much more than meditation. These are thoroughly investigated, science-backed, and proven methods of health behavior change.
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