Manage the impact of persistent pain on your life with evidence-based psychological therapies like CBT and ACT.
For People With Pain
For Health Professionals
Refer A Patient
Different things can affect your experience of persistent pain.
For example, your pain might feel more manageable when you’re well-rested, feeling positive about the future, or doing something you enjoy.
That’s an example of the mind–body link.
A psychologist can teach you ways to cope with your pain’s presence, like:
They might also share strategies for reducing stress and unhelpful thoughts, which can make your pain feel worse than normal.
Psychology can’t ‘cure’ your pain, but – along with other supports like nutrition and movement – it can help you create a life worth living.
CBT and ACT are evidence-based therapies for pain management. Both recognise persistent pain as a chronic health condition.
CBT focuses on solving a problem.
Your thoughts, feelings and behaviours can affect your pain.
Changing your thoughts and behaviours can change your feelings, which can make your pain more manageable.
CBT gives you practical behavioural tools you can use to manage your pain.
The goal is to help you live better despite your pain.
ACT focuses on psychological flexibility.
Your thoughts, feelings and experiences are real and valid, but they aren’t facts.
A life worth living starts with identifying the values that matter most to you and acting in accordance with them.
ACT helps you manage the stress, fear, and emotional 'weight' of persistent pain.
The goal is to help you live better despite your pain.
Most of our patients come to us for interdisciplinary pain management that includes psychology. That means you’ll need a GP referral.
You can also engage our psychologists directly by paying upfront or through your private health fund.
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Your GP or specialist refers you to us because you have pain persisting for more than 3 months.
You can also come to us directly for psychology services.
We then work with you and your GP/specialist to identify the root cause of your pain.
Together, we put together a plan to manage your pain.
Your care plan can include everything from nutrition and mental wellbeing support to surgery and medication.
Our specialists and allied health practitioners help you and your GP put your plan into place.
We’ll review and adjust your support based on your progress.
Many people living with chronic pain experience a ‘boom–bust’ cycle: doing too much on good days and crashing on bad days. Pacing helps stabilise activity levels so your body and nervous system can build resilience without triggering flare-ups.
Flare-ups are a normal part of chronic pain. Together, we identify triggers and develop a personalised flare-up plan to help manage your symptoms.
Poor sleep makes your pain feel worse. We work together to improve your sleep hygiene, manage anxiety, and support more restorative rest.
Many people feel more stressed, worried and frustrated when they experience persistent pain. We work on strategies for calming your nervous system, stabilising your mood, and improving resilience.
Pain can shrink your world. Therapy helps gently re-expand it in ways that feel achievable – returning to hobbies, socialising, work, movement or simply feeling more in control of your day-to-day life.
You can book our allied health services (including psychology) directly by contacting us.
To be eligible for Medicare, your GP will need to refer you under a health assessment, chronic disease management plan, or mental health plan.
You can access our full range of services – including our specialist pain physicians – through a GP referral.
To help your GP understand the importance of pain management, you can share this website with them or encourage them to call us directly for a free discussion.
Pain is your experience of nociception. (Nociception is when specialised nerve endings called nociceptors send a signal to your brain that your body is being damaged.) That’s why different things can cause your pain to feel better or worse.
For example, your pain might be more bearable if you’re well-rested, hopeful about the future, and supported by your loved ones. On the other hand, if you’re having a bad day where things keep going wrong, your pain is likely to be less bearable.
Your body might be sending your brain the same signal each time, but you experience that signal differently. A whole-person approach to pain (also known as a biopsychosocial approach) recognises that your mental wellbeing can have a big impact on how manageable your pain seems.
That’s where a psychologist comes in. They can’t help cure or ‘fix’ your pain, but they can help you reduce its impact on your life. Keep in mind that psychology complements other supports you might receive under an integrated care plan. It won’t replace them.
If you Google ‘pain psychologist’ or ‘persistent pain counselling’, you might come across the term ‘evidence-based intervention’. An evidence-based intervention means that the supports your psychologist uses are backed by peer-reviewed evidence. Generally, that means numerous, high-quality randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have shown that the support in question is more effective than a control to a statistically significant degree.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the most well-researched type of therapy. Many, many studies have shown that it’s effective at both treating mental health conditions and helping people cope with the symptoms of physical health conditions like persistent pain.
Nociception and pain have slightly different meanings. Nociception happens when your body registers an unpleasant sensation like an injury. Your nociceptors – which are nerve cell endings across your body – tell your central nervous system (CNS) that something bad is happening. Your CNS will then pass that signal up to your brain.
When your brain registers the signal from your nociceptors, you might feel pain. Pain is your experience of what’s happening to your body. Pain becomes persistent when it doesn’t go away.
When your tissues are damaged, your cells release pro-inflammatory agents. Pro-inflammatory agents are a part of the healing process, but, sometimes, they can cause ‘peripheral sensitisation’ (where nociceptors at the damage site become more sensitive) or ‘central sensitisation’ (where your CNS amplifies signals from your nociceptors). Both types of sensitisation can cause persistent pain even once the original tissue damage has healed.
Central sensitisation is very complex. It’s a type of neuropathic pain caused by your central nervous system (CNS) becoming overly sensitive to pain signals from your peripheral nervous system.
Nerve cells in your dorsal horn (a part of your spinal cord) have chemicals called neurotransmitters. Different neurotransmitters can affect how likely your nerve cells are to talk to each other. A healthy body has a balance between excitatory and inhibitory transmission – in other words, how a signal is passed on is regulated.
Persistent pain can disrupt that balance. Your nerves can be more likely to pass on a signal to your brain, pass on a stronger signal than they should, or pass on a false signal (you feel pain spontaneously).
Because central sensitisation is a physical condition, psychology can’t ‘fix’ it. It can help how your brain experiences pain, though, which can make your pain more manageable.
No, only psychiatrists and other doctors can prescribe medication. Our specialist pain physicians can and do prescribe pain medication, although your GP will be responsible for refilling any prescriptions you receive.
If your patient is living with persistent pain – even if they haven’t been diagnosed with persistent pain – they should see a specialist pain physician as soon as possible. The earlier they can start receiving integrated care, the less sensitised their CNS will be, which improves their recovery chances. Pain medicine is not a last resort or palliative care.
You can use our referral screening tool to see whether your patient should see a pain medicine specialist.
When you refer a patient to us, our pain physicians will act as consultants. We’ll screen your patient for any morbidities that could be contributing to their pain, then liaise with you to put together an interdisciplinary care plan. Depending on the patient, that may include support from our in-house dieticians, physiotherapists, and psychologists.
As the patient’s primary physician, you’ll direct their care with our support. We’ll suggest regular reviews of the patient’s progress and adjustments to their plan as required. Importantly, you’ll also have an open line of communication with the treating pain physician – they’ll be available to talk through any questions, concerns or thoughts you might have. If a patient’s care plan includes surgery, that physician will conduct any necessary procedures.
You can call us to discuss our services or a specific scenario free of charge. We strongly believe that deepening the medical community’s understanding of persistent pain is the best way to help more patients get the care they need.
If you’re a GP or specialist, you can help your patients get the multidisciplinary care they need. Make a referral, request more information, or discuss a patient’s situation with one of our pain physicians.
Statistic based on responses published in the 2024 National Pain Report.
