Living Well With Pain: Managing Your Pain So It Doesn't Manage You—4 p.m., Thursday, November 17 via Zoom

Living Well With Pain: Managing Your Pain So It Doesn't Manage You
A UROC Critical Conversation
4 p.m., Thursday, November 17 via Zoom

Eighty percent of Americans experience back pain at some point in their lives.  Common back pain treatments, including opioids, often fail to meet pain sufferers’ needs, and may lead to more serious problems such as overdose and addiction.

Emerging research shows that non-drug options can empower people to take charge of their pain, yet such treatment is often inaccessible to populations that suffer most from back pain. Individuals who suffer most from back pain—people of color, and those with less education and income—face additional barriers and have the least access to these promising pain management approaches that support health and wellbeing. 

Join University of Minnesota researchers and community experts specializing in the treatment of chronic pain in a public discussion of strategies to empower individuals in managing chronic pain, navigate health systems, and build stronger relationships between patients and their care providers.  

The conversation will be moderated by Clarence Jones, community engagement consultant for Minneapolis-based Hue-MAN Partnership and an outreach director with the University of Minnesota's Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and will feature a curated chat session for public input. 

Panelists will include: 
    •    Ronda Marie Chakolis (PharmD, MPH) Clinical pharmacist and medication therapy management specialist; 
    •    Roni Evans (DC, MS, PhD), Director, Integrative Health and Wellbeing Research Program; Research Associate Professor, Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing, University of Minnesota; and

    •    Sam Simmons (LADC), behavioral consultant in chemical dependency and culturally sensitive trauma-informed strategies with Samuel Simmons Consulting; co-host of the "Voices” radio show on KMOJ FM.


Living Well With Pain: Managing Your Pain So It Doesn't Manage You is co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota's Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing's Integrative Health and Wellbeing Research Program. The event serves as the kick-off for the series of Living Well with Pain community conversations on the topic of pain and pain management.

The event is free; registration is required.  

Watch a video of the event.