Bridging health care with community: 3 innovations at the heart of Yoga for Pain Down South

13 Apr Bridging health care with community: 3 innovations at the heart of Yoga for Pain Down South

Nine yoga teachers and health professionals from South West WA were selected for a special development program that aims to increase options for people with, or at risk of, persistent pain.

Yoga for Pain Down South is a partnership between not-for-profit GP down south and social enterprise Yoga for Pain Care Australia. It is part of a WAPHA-funded chronic disease management program that includes a Practitioner Development program for yoga teachers and health professionals, plus subsidised pain care yoga courses in areas of high need.

Participants in the Development Program included eight yoga teachers, two physiotherapists, an occupational therapist and emergency nurse from Collie, Harvey, Margaret River, Northcliffe and Augusta. They were selected from over 40 applications for their experience working with pain, demonstrated contribution to their community, and diversity of perspective they could contribute to the group.

Yoga teachers in the cohort will roll out 4-week pilot pain care yoga courses in May 2018, and more services in future. The health care professionals will offer a yoga-based approach to pain care within a more traditional health care setting.

Built into the development program are three innovations designed to address gaps in existing pain care:

1. Non-medical providers, in a community setting

   Pain care services are delivered in a normal, community setting by informed, non-medical providers with good referral pathways into the health care system for those clients who need extra support. These providers help with the transition from medical care to self-management and community participation.
2. Targeting areas of high need

   Pain is generally considered a medical issue, but the risk of pain and accessibility to services are affected by social and economic factors. To address these inequalities, yoga teachers and health professionals from towns identified as chronic health hotspots, or areas of high need, were offered partial scholarships into the development program, and places in the subsequent services they offer will be subsidised by GP down south for people on low incomes with certain health conditions.
3. Supporting people for their whole life

   Because providers in the development program offer classes and courses beyond those specific to pain care, many Yoga for Pain Practitioners may support their clients for many years. This allows clients to progress, enrich their health and meaning over the course of their life, beyond pain.

If you experience persistent pain and live in Warren-Blackwood, Margaret River-Augusta or Collie-Harvey, you can register here to attend pain care yoga classes with local teachers.