A not-for-profit organization hopes to host a free workshop on living with chronic pain later this fall in Oliver and possibly Osoyoos.
More than 13 per cent of British Columbians suffer from chronic pain, and Carol Sicoli of Self-Management BC is trying to give those in the Okanagan the tools to manage their conditions.
Self-Management BC does its work on behalf of the University of Victoria’s Centre on Aging, in partnership with the B.C. government.
Sicoli spoke at an information session last Wednesday at the Oliver branch of Okanagan Regional Library.
According to Sicoli, the not-for-profit group uses a program designed at Stanford University that aims to give patients living with chronic pain tools to manage their condition on a daily basis.
The chronic pain workshop she will host lasts six weeks, with participants meeting once a week for its duration. Sicoli explained that includes activities as varied as a “moving easy” stretching program, discussions on how to talk about pain with a doctor and creating action plans for self-management.
Sicoli first got involved with BC Self-Management more than a decade ago when she took one of the six-week workshops, and she said that experience allowed her to cope with her own chronic medical issue, as well as through two separate battles with breast cancer.
“I stand here in front of you proud to say that I am a breast cancer survivor, and I owe a lot of my life to what I’ve learned in regards to self-management,” she told the small group gathered for the information session May 27.
She recalled how she could hardly leave her bed after her latest round of surgery and chemotherapy after her 2010 breast cancer diagnosis.
She eventually got sick of not seeing the light of day, so she began working up the energy to go outside—practicing walking through her condo and in her building’s hallway until she thought she could make it.
“I’ll never forget what it was like to go out that front door and breath fresh air. I tell you it was like a little kid, and I almost wanted to throw a party. I didn’t have the energy for it at the time, but I tell you, what I felt at that moment was I finally got a feeling of control back in my life.”
“That sense of control back over something in my life was such a gift, and it was a turning point for me,” she said, explaining that she was finally able to put things in place by tapping into what she learned at the chronic illness workshop she attended.
Sicoli says she’s been trying hard to “get the word out” about Self-Management BC’s workshops, which she calls the province’s “best kept secret.”
She says she is in the process of planning one in Oliver this fall, and is also trying to organize a fall or spring workshop in Osoyoos.
Anyone who is interested in learning more can call 1-866-902-3767 and sign up to be informed when the next workshop will be held in Osoyoos.
TREVOR NICHOLS
Special to the Times
