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If you said that I get immense pleasure from other people’s pain - resolving it that is - you’d be right. I spent ten years working with people in pain as an Occupational Therapist before coming to ACC.
Since then nine years have flown by working with the ACC Injury Prevention team, devising programmes to prevent painful conditions from happening in the first instance and manage them effectively when they do occur.
As someone who regularly experiences lower back pain I feel personally qualified in this area, and truly practice what I preach.
In the last two decades our thinking on pain and its causes and cures has changed considerably, and it’s my professional mission to bring people up to speed on this subject. We created the DPI Programme to help bust myths and develop a more holistic approach to pain, acknowledging that it is common and often distinctive from injury. … getting rid of the pain without addressing the deeper cause would be like shutting off a fire alarm while the fire's still going. David Foster Wallace | | My first career as a freelance violinist and teacher lasted seven years before I realised it wasn't for me. I had developed a niggling back problem and was frustrated by the whole musician lifestyle.
A switch to office temp-work was an improvement, but the change in activity and lack of knowledge led to a moderate gradual process injury. I never saw a doctor about it (we know that many people don’t, they just battle on) and being a temp I had to deal with it myself. And I still had to keep earning.
Through necessity I began to experiment. I kept reading, tried different therapeutic modalities, and didn’t accept anything just because somebody wearing a white coat said it was so. I learned to think for and do for myself and gradually, I recovered.
In May 2006 I started at ACC in a temporary role, initially for another programme manager. Then three months after the August launch I took over the training administration and I’ve been here ever since.
I divide my time between resource development, editing Connected each month, dealing with member’s queries and other curved balls. I love that I contribute to something that helps people feel better every day.
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