Millions of people worldwide struggle with both chronic pain and mental health conditions. This complex interplay creates a substantial challenge for clinicians, who may miss crucial aspects of a patient's overall well-being if they fail to consider the impact of chronic pain on mental health. Traditional healthcare approaches often compartmentalize pain management and mental healthcare, neglecting the interconnectedness of mind and body. This fragmented approach can lead to ineffective treatment and leave patients feeling unheard and misunderstood.

Additionally, the lack of adequate training and resources for clinicians to address the dual burden of chronic pain and mental health conditions is a pressing issue. Many healthcare professionals are not equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to recognize and treat the intricate ways in which chronic pain can exacerbate mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. This gap in training leads to missed diagnoses and suboptimal treatment plans that fail to address the root causes of patients' suffering. Furthermore, specific populations, including the elderly, veterans, and individuals from low-income or minority backgrounds, are disproportionately affected by chronic pain and mental health issues, yet they often receive even less comprehensive care due to systemic barriers and biases in the healthcare system. The course aims to highlight these pervasive problems and emphasize the need for a more integrated and empathetic approach to care.

The course is appropriate for practitioners of all disciplines and levels; incorporating pain into the biopsychosocial perspective can be relevant at all levels and in all practices where mental health and pain are entwined.

• Mental health professionals: Clinicians like therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors would greatly benefit from this course. It would equip them to better understand the complex interplay between chronic pain and mental health conditions.

This course transcends the limitations of traditional chronic pain management, which often focuses solely on medication and physical interventions. It equips mental health professionals with a groundbreaking approach: incorporating chronic pain language into the assessment and treatment of related mental health conditions. This innovative framework delves deeper than the physical aspects of pain, allowing practitioners to gain a richer understanding of the daily biopsychosocial challenges faced by individuals with chronic pain. This deeper insight empowers therapists to tailor treatment plans with evidence-based practices that address not just the mental health symptoms but the true lived experience of chronic pain, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes.

Engaging in this course will equip you with a fresh perspective on treating clients with chronic pain and co-occurring mental health conditions. Here are some key takeaways you can expect:

• Shifting Focus: You'll move beyond a purely medical model of pain management and gain skills to incorporate pain into evidence-based practices for mental health conditions.
• Enhanced Communication: You'll learn to effectively "talk chronic pain" with your clients, fostering deeper understanding of their daily struggles.
• Holistic Care: By incorporating the biopsychosocial impact of chronic pain, you'll be able to deliver more comprehensive and effective care for your clients.
• Improved Patient Outcomes: Ultimately, this course empowers you to deliver better care and achieve more positive outcomes for your clients with chronic pain and mental health challenges, aiming to reduce overall healthcare costs for the client over time.

Traditional approaches often neglect the significant impact chronic pain has on a person's mental and emotional well-being. This course addresses this critical gap by equipping you with the skills to:

• Uncover Hidden Struggles: By delving deeper into the "pain language" of your clients, you'll uncover hidden emotional and psychological burdens associated with chronic pain.
• Address the Whole Person: Integrating chronic pain into your treatment framework allows you to address all aspects of your clients' health, leading to more holistic and effective care.
• Reduce Mental Health Symptoms: Understanding the pain-mental health connection empowers you to develop interventions that can directly reduce anxiety, depression, and other co-occurring conditions.
• Empower Your Clients: By effectively addressing the complex interplay of chronic pain and mental health, you can empower your clients to regain control and improve their quality of life.

This course includes 1.5+ hours of video training, a post-test and an evaluation.

This course was recorded September 13, 2024.

Upon completion of this training, professionals will be able to do the following:

• Utilize a standardized assessment tool to identify the biopsychosocial impact of chronic pain on clients' mental health.
• Develop interventions for co-occurring mental health conditions by incorporating pain into evidence-based practices.
• Effectively communicate with clients using "pain language" to foster deeper understanding and collaboration in treatment planning.

Victoriya Reich, LCDCIII, LISW-S

Victoriya Reich is a clinical social worker and chemical dependency counselor who provides comprehensive therapy and case management for individuals, couples, families, and companies to improve personal and profession development. After spending nearly a decade working in the field of social work, Victoriya knows what truly drives conversions and impacts meaningful change in people’s lives - and it’s not just about giving advice or reciting paragraphs from books. It is how well you connect with the people you are trying to help and communicate your understanding back to them. Victoriya strives to create individual goals and plans for each person, promoting empowerment and self-efficacy. Victoriya teaches at Cleveland State University and provides social work supervision. Victoriya holds a BA in Psychology, MA in Criminal Justice and MSW in Social Work from the University of Toledo.

Victoriya has worked her way through various facets of social work, having been employed in community-based settings with adults and youth, facilitated the creation of a youth drug and alcohol program in a residential setting, implemented and expanded an outpatient mental health program for seniors and most recently provided specialized treatment for injured workers struggling with chronic pain.

Credit Hours: CEs provided with this course include 1.5 continuing education hours of credit.

Counselors: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors #MHC-0048.

Marriage and Family Therapists: Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations.  You can check with your board to determine if this course would be accepted by your licensing board.

Social Workers: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2024 – 05/02/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 1.5 clinical continuing education credits.

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0435.

Psychologists: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0128.

Art Therapists: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed creative arts therapists #CAT-0093.

Other Professionals: This course qualifies for 90 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations.  Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.

This is a non-interactive, self-study course.

To receive your certificate of completion you must complete the course in its entirety.

Online courses are completed by registering, logging in, navigating to your course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), completing all of the modules, completing and passing the post-test, and completing the course evaluation. Participants have 6 months from registration to access and complete online self-study courses.

Live Webinar courses are completed by registering, logging in to this website, navigating to your course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), attending the full course via webinar, submitting your attendance, and completing the post-test and course evaluation online.

Psychologists and other professionals seeking CE credit through our approval with the American Psychological Association are asked, but not required, to complete the course evaluation before obtaining their certificate of completion, however passing a post-test for online self-study courses and live webinars, and submitting one's attendance for live on-site and live webinars is required.

You can receive your certificate of completion by logging onto this website, navigating to the course using the menu (My Courses – the Course Title), scroll to the bottom of your course, and click on your certificate to either download it or print it.

Directions for completing a course can be found by clicking here.

Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities

Click here to view our Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.

Cancellation Policy

Refunds are offered within the first 30 days for courses which have not been completed.  There is a 10% service fee for refunds.

Grievance Policy

Click here to view our Grievance Policy.

This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

This program was recorded September 13, 2024

You have six months to access online courses from the time of purchase.