LWWP conference – what the delegates said

7th May 2025 | David Andrassy

Live Well with Pain’s first ever national conference this March brought together over 200 delegates from the field of persistent pain. As part of the day we interviewed the main speakers and organisers for a short video. All had something interesting and informative to say about both the day and pain management in general. Here are some of the highlights. We began by asking . . .

What were the main aims of the conference?

‘It’s about putting pain management on the map! It’s the first time a conference like this has been hosted for supported pain self-management and that’s amazing.’

Laura Hissey, Live Well with Pain trainer and conference organiser

‘This conference is probably the first in the world where we sell a positive message that pain is part of our lives and always will be, but that we can live well with pain using the knowledge and skills and tools and resources that make that happen.’

Dr Frances Cole, co-founder, Live Well with Pain

What for you is the key take-away message and what would you like the conference to have achieved?

‘I think the thing I take home is that there’s still hope for change, that we can make things happen differently. That we can take a different approach that will make the lives of people living with long-term pain better.’

Rachel Stovell, Live Well with Pain trainer

What are the highlights for you of the conference so far?

‘I’ve got a real buzz about the enthusiasm there is for people that really want to support people living with pain. So often people say “it’s not for me, it’s too hard, the traditional methods don’t work,” but actually there’s a whole group of people here who want to get stuck in and that enthusiasm is contagious.’

Ollie Hart, GP and Director of Peak Health Coaching

‘To see such a huge amount of people sharing the experience and their desire to see a different way of delivering pain support out in the community is amazing.’

Dr Emma Davies, Live Well with Pain co-founder and conference organiser

‘Hearing so many good examples of how we can develop services and support people in the community… and maybe taking some of those ideas and thinking about how we can apply them locally to make a difference to the people in different areas.’

Roger Knaggs, President, British Pain Society

How do conferences like this help advance the cause of pain management?

‘Healthcare professionals are essentially the megaphone for reaching the general public and it’s so important that they are all on message… so being able to reach so many clinicians on one day in one space is fantastic.’

Prof. Cormac Ryan, Flippin’ Pain

‘It’s wonderful to meet with ‘our tribe’, people who have an interest in pain management and people who are passionate about supporting people to live well with pain.’

Dr Deepak Ravindran, author of The Pain-free Mindset

‘There is a real sense of compassion and self-care and care for others today, in terms of people with health conditions and also the health practitioners themselves in terms of the stresses they are under and making sure they stay connected too in their day-to-day roles.’

Balbir Singh, Balbir Singh Dance Company

And finally: what of the future of pain management?

‘From my point of view it would be around creativity and how valuable that can be for everybody, but specifically for people living with pain.’

Rosie Cruickshank, St Thomas’ Hospital

‘Moving some of the support into communities and thinking about how we fund it and start looking at commissioning plans differently. We really think about the person at the centre in terms of joint commissioning, so that we can connect people’s care and create a bridge between primary and secondary care with the holistic and whole-person focused care that the community can bring.’

Kerry Page, Rethinking Pain Service, Bradford

 

‘Pain management in 2025 needs courageous leadership. Wherever you are, wherever you’re working, whatever service you’re in we need to embody that courage and go out there and do what needs to be done. Essentially we’re advocating a social change.’

Shahzad Jamil, GP, Rethinking Pain Service, Bradford

You can view the full presentations from all our speakers here

 

 

This article first appeared in Live Well with Pain’s April 2025 newsletter.

You can download a PDF of the April edition here:

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