Finding a way forward with chronic pain: one woman’s experience of SIRPA’s Online Recovery Programme

Living with persistent pain can affect far more than the body. Chronic pain can influence confidence, emotions, relationships, everyday activities and the way we see ourselves. When pain continues over a long period of time it can also be difficult to know where to turn or how to begin moving forward.

Narinder’s story

In this personal account Narinder, who had been struggling for four years first with migraines and then with chronic back pain and sciatica, shares her experience of using SIRPA’s Online Recovery Programme.

What stands out in her story is not simply the physical challenges she was experiencing, but the way the programme gave her the opportunity to explore her experiences, understand herself more deeply and work through the material at her own pace. She describes developing greater self-compassion, rebuilding trust in herself and her body, and finding hope at a time when she felt she needed it most.

She also explains how the programme helped her become more actively involved in her own recovery, and how what she learned has since influenced her work as a coach, allowing her to share her understanding and experience with others.

If you are interested in learning more about what SIRPA’s Online Recovery Programme involves, you can read Narinder’s review of her experiences below.

Narinder’s review of SIRPA’s Online Recovery Programme

Learning more about myself

One of the things that really supported me in my own healing was learning more about myself.

The Online Recovery Programme gave me the space to do that. Because it was self-paced, I could work through it in my own time and begin to understand where I was, not just physically but emotionally too.

From affirmations to a plan

I remember the daily statements that were reconfirmed to me, but I also started writing down my own positive affirmations, ones that helped me but also stretched me beyond where I was at that time.

But it was the understanding of myself, and particularly my younger self, that became so important. I began to understand what I really needed and to give myself some self-compassion. I realised I wasn’t the only person experiencing this and, actually, given everything I had been through, it was understandable that I was feeling the way I was.

Those positive affirmations became more than words. They helped me create a plan for myself. I still have all of the information I kept from that time because it gave me something I desperately needed: hope.

Setbacks are okay

I also learned that setbacks were okay.

Even when the pain was debilitating and I felt socially isolated, one of the most powerful things I learned was that I couldn’t hurt myself by beginning to move forward. I started to rebuild belief and trust in myself and my body.

Becoming part of my own healing

I had previously trained as an NLP practitioner and coach, so in many ways I already believed in a lot of this. But somewhere along the way, when I was the person in pain, I had forgotten it.

The information I was given, and more importantly what I began to apply for myself, gave me the confidence to become an active part of my own healing.

I actually did so much more through the Online Recovery Programme at a time when I didn’t feel that anyone else could really support me or help me understand what I was going through.

A ripple effect

I will always be grateful to SIRPA and Georgie for giving me the support I needed. It didn’t just help me personally, it changed my whole life. What I learned through my own recovery has gone on to create a ripple effect, allowing me to take that understanding, hope and belief and use it as a coach to help others too.

Find out more about SIRPA’s Online Recovery Programme.

Listen to Narinder talk about her recovery journey with Georgie Oldfield MCSP.