Coralie Wales

As a specialised pain educator and counsellor I help people live with chronic pain. I am the voluntary President of Chronic Pain Australia and advocate for the rights of people living with chronic pain. Having worked with people in pain for more than a decade I believe that helping people manage pain requires attention to contextual as well as individual factors. Sitting in a culture where the subtleties of less visible disability and impairment are subject to social and economic discrimination, chronic pain becomes a challenge for the community. It is my view that people living with chronic pain suffer needlessly, and are frequently deprived of those normally expected human rights we enjoy in Australia: to be heard and believed, and to “get a fair go”.  Working with people living with chronic pain is a specialised vocation indeed. I will submit my PhD shortly. It is about the challenges facing Australian rehabilitation professionals in their work with people experiencing chronic pain.