A brilliant and fascinating conversation about pain -- what is it? Jennifer uses her philosophy skills to really dig down into this vital question. Her answers may surprise you! She is radical by her own admission but I would say that her position is one that resonates with a person-first approach. We explore this and much more. Find out more about Jennifer's work here. And her book, The Complex Reality of Pain here.

Orla shares her story of frustration as a dietician trained in a directive way of working with people -- telling them what to do wasn't working. About to change career, she went on a motivational interviewing course and discovered gold! And Steve Rollnick. This set Orla on a new, exciting and fruitful path to where she is now. Hear all about Orla's journey and the fundamentals of MI. This is a great episode for you if you work with, or spend time with people -- patients, clients, friends, your kids, pupils, coachees... . So it's for all of us! Enjoy and I'd love to hear your feedback. Please do rate the episode and podcast on your favoured platform. -- More here: Orla Adams -- MI trainer, and follow Orla on Twitter. MI workshops in Cardiff with Orla and Steve Rollnick. The books Orla mentions are here.

Great to have Prof Manuela Ferreira on the show to talk about her pioneering work on back pain. Manuela is the lead author of a recent study analysing the global burden of low back pain: 'Global, regional, and national burden of low back pain, 1990–2020, its attributable risk factors, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021' (see link below). The findings are a stark reminder of the need to deepen our understanding of pain and how to help people. The authors estimate that on the current trajectory, "...there will be over 800 million cases of low back pain in 2050, a 36 percent increase from 2020". We get into this, the work that Manuela is doing and much more in this fascinating conversation, highlighting some of the practical ways forward. Reading: In 2050, over 800 million people globally estimated to be living with back pain -- read here Global, regional, and national burden of low back pain, 1990–2020, its attributable risk factors, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 -- read here The global epidemic of low back pain -- read here You can follow Maneula on Twitter and here.

"From a working class, first generation A-level student to recipient of the IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain) Patrick D. Wall award. I owe it all to mentorship. Love and gratitude especially to Tony, Frank & Mac for decades of support" -- Kirsty's words. Shows the importance of having a purpose and a passion, ignited in part by people close-by. Kirsty talks of luck. Wise people have said that the harder they worked, the luckier they got! Kirsty has undoubtedly worked hard. Encouraged by some of the big hitters in the pain world, Kirsty is now an encourager herself. She talks about her career in science, the reasons why it matters, and making it important for people who are suffering. A clear illustration of a very human scientist who cares. You can follow Kirsty on Twitter and read the papers and meet the people from the Bannister lab here. Enjoy! And please do leave comments, like and share.

Fascinating chat! Irena posted a video on Twitter describing her recent study, Perceived time expands and contracts within each heartbeat, which I thought a brilliant way of sharing. In this episode Irena talks about her work as a postdoctoral researcher in cognitive neuroscience at Royal Holloway, University of London -- how we experience time, why time sometimes flies by and yet other times drags by, and the role of the brain and the body as one. We get into this, interoception, the embodied mind, predictive processing, science and intuition and much more, using examples from chronic pain, depression and anxiety. Check it out! Follow Irena and her work on her website, on Twitter and her lab. _______ I hope you enjoy it and find it useful. Don't forget to leave a review and a rating. If you would like to donate to my 65k running fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestinians, you can here.

Sabrina (prior episode here) and Peter (prior episode here) are back on the encourager pod -- two of the most popular episodes, so give them a listen! This time they are joined by collaborator Prof Michael Ray. Together the three have recently put out a fascinating paper entitled, "Unpacking an affordance-based model of chronic pain: a video game analogy". In this four-way chat (my first go at multiple guests!), we dive into the paper, the concepts and the practicalities. This is a great way of understanding the reality of pain experience. We need models and explanations that span the person's first person experience and the third person perspective; the subjective and the objective. They need to be brought together and understood to give meaning and a way forward. That is what this paper does. Have a listen to the pod and read the paper here. You can follow and connect with Sabrina on her website and Twitter, with Peter on his website and Twitter, and with Michael on his website and Twitter.

Tom, musician and artist, generously shares his experience of FND -- functional neurological disorder. As Tom explains, he spent many years being told many things, often unhelpful and some utterly wrong (putting it politely). Then he met Prof Mark Edwards and things started to change. He described his journey with FND but also with chronic pain. At times it was incredibly and unimaginably difficult, but Tom kept going. You'll find out when you listen! Tom now spends time raising awareness of FND and sharing the latest research to help people on their own individual journeys. Connect with Tom on his website, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and FND Action.

Great to catch up with Deepak! Deepak is a pain doctor who listens, empowers, and comes alongside the people who come to see him. It's not a fight or a battlefield. Instead, a journey on which Deepak accompanies the person, if they wish. He realised the biomedical model wasn't enough and so widened his approach, embracing a range of modern ways of thinking about pain, whilst keeping the person at the forefront. And being curious. We had a brilliant and fascinating chat about his approach, work and vision for the future of care. Follow Deepak on Twitter, Instagram, and his website. Please rate and share on your platform of choice 🙏.

This week an old friend joins me: musician, guitarist, songwriter, producer, Tim Shoben. Aka, Showbiz. (If you watch the video, you'll see me wearing my guitar hat whilst Tim is suited -- we got it the wrong way round 😂). Tim has been around music all his life, picking up the guitar at an early age. And playing it of course. He talks about his musical career, his definition of success, the importance of practice and his collaboration with Lifford (golden buzzer on Britain's Got Talent), The Soul Dogs.  But what shines through is his passion that has kept Showbiz deeply connected with music. This connection is rooted in his family and his very being. And now he has an album under his belt that deserves to be widely heard. Guitar playing is a great example of being on a route of mastery. There is no end point with new things to learn and practice. There are ups, downs and plateaus just as there are in life, with any learning or challenge you seek to overcome.  Check out The Soul Dogs album here, listen to them playing here and keep an eye out for their forthcoming gigs at Pizza Express Jazz Club and Boulevard Soho. And if you want to learn English at Tim's school in Islington, see here.

Louise is a Lived Experience Advocate, Lived Experience Lead Trainer, Past Vice Chair at British Pain Society Patient Voice Committee, Ramblers Wellbeing Walks leader and a successful chronic pain self-manager.  She is certainly not being defined by her pain, instead using the experiences she has had since childhood to help others who are struggling with chronic pain. Louise tells her story that started with pain in childhood that often was unexplained medically despite repeated appointments and investigations. Later she discovered it was fibromyalgia.  But it was the opioids that took everything to another level!  Louise talked me through what has happened in her life and how she has come through the other side of an opioid crisis to now being involved in numerous projects to help people understand and manage their pain by living life.  It's a remarkable tale of success that is greatly inspiring, and showing what is possible. You can connect with Louise here, on LinkedIn, Twitter and the Walking Works Wonder Facebook page.