Welcome to the Virtual Advocacy Training Series!
november 4-21, 2024 | 2-4pm ET
Webinar trainings
Congratulations on being accepted to participate in the U.S. Pain Foundation’s Introduction to Pain Advocacy & Policy Training Series! During this virtual training program, you will learn how to become an effective pain advocate through five, 2-hour sessions covering topics including federal/state policy, the power of advocacy, and communicating your own personal stories.
Each training session will take place over Zoom, and will include one break approximately 25 minutes long. Before each session, participants will receive a calendar link to the Zoom meeting to which you should accept to RSVP. During the session, we ask that participants appear on screen with their names displayed for the first hour on the first day, as well as during subsequent role plays and small group activities during the remaining days.
You should have received a link for attending the first five training sessions. Be sure to save it—there will be only one Zoom link for all training sessions. You can also click here to access the training session link.
The training schedule is as follows:
Monday, November 4, 2 – 4 pm ET
“What is Advocacy?” | Slides
Tuesday, November 12, 2 – 4 pm ET
“Federal Pain Policy” | Slides
Tuesday, November 19, 2 – 4 pm ET
“State Pain Policy” | Slides and Role playing sheet
Thursday, November 21, 2 – 4 pm ET
“Your Pain Policy Projects” | Slides
Your Host, Cindy Steinberg
Director of Policy and Advocacy, U.S. Pain Foundation
Cindy is the recipient of numerous accolades for her contributions to the field of pain management, including the 2023 American Academy of Pain Medicine Patient Advocacy Award for her commitment, contribution and leadership in the field of Pain Medicine, the 2021 American Massage Therapy Association President’s Award for her advocacy for access to therapeutic massage and other integrative modalities for individuals with chronic pain, the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s 2017 Presidential Commendation Award for leadership on behalf of individuals living with pain, the Grunenthal Unsung Hero Award for significant contributions to advance public policy in pain management as well as the social awareness of pain and suffering, the American Pain Foundation’s Presidential Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of pain management and the State Pain Initiative Champion Award from the Alliance of State Pain Initiatives for her pain policy accomplishments. Cindy was selected as one of six leaders in the field of pain management to receive the Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship for 2013-2014. Her dedication to pain advocacy was sparked when she sustained a severe crush injury that left her with daily back pain.
U.S. Pain team assisting with the training
Plus, two guest speakers: Dionne Dougall and Elizabeth Tapia
Dionne Dougall
As a communications strategist and facilitator, relationship manager, coach, and program and event director for three decades, Dionne Dougall connects C-suite leaders and influencers in public health, non-profits and philanthropy – and the audiences they serve – with the information and resources they need.
Elizabeth Tapia
Elizabeth Tapia is a public health professional and current Health Policy Advisor in the U.S. Congress for Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo (D-CO-08). In this role, she focuses heavily on drug pricing accessibility and access to healthcare, including investments in health research. She graduated with her Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion & Disease Prevention from the University of Southern California. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®).
Resources
Materials Used in Advocacy Training Series
- Advocacy Guidebook
- Federal agencies overview
- Acronyms and terms glossary
- Role Playing Rating Sheet
- Your Turn to Write a Powerful Story (worksheet coming soon! check back Wednesday)
- Letter to the Editor/Op-Ed
Recent Federal Pain Policy Milestones
- Bill introduced in Congress by Senators Casey, Kaine, Blackburn & Cramer initiated by U.S. Pain Foundation on September 26, 2023; S2922 Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act. (Bill text can be found visiting Congress.gov and then typing in the bill number, S2922; Senator Casey’s Press Release)
- One-pager on S2922: Understanding the Advancing Research for Chronic Pain Act of 2023
- Senator Casey’s bill
- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly (MMWR) article on chronic pain population health data published by CDC on April 13, 2023
Important Pain Policy Milestones
- The HHS Pain Management Best Practices Interagency Task Force Report, 2019
- Pain Management Best Practices overview
- Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report Factsheet: Toolkit Graphic
- Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force Report Factsheet: Access to Care
- Factsheet: Five Treatment Approaches
CDC Guideline
- CDC Updated Guideline for Prescribing Opioids, 2022
- CDC Guidelines Comparison of 2016 vs 2022 editions
U.S. Pain Foundation Comments to Federal Dockets
U.S. Pain Survey Report
U.S. Pain Articles
- The Impact of Pain in America (A U.S. Pain Foundation article)
- Numbers Don’t Lie: Chronic pain has greater impact on underserved communities (An INvisible Project article)
Other Federal Pain Policy Documents
Source Stats
-
Average of 11 hours for U.S. med students: https://pmc.ncbi.
nlm.nih.gov/articles/ PMC6251835 -
Math that shakes out to 5x more for vet students in Canada; it says Canada is doing better than the U.S. and cites 9 hours for U.S. med students: https://jacksonllp.
com/pain-education-across- disciplines/ -
Article that specifies the 5x stat: https://www.
medpagetoday.com/ publichealthpolicy/ medicaleducation/56025
Boston Globe stories on pain by Felice Freyer that Cindy mentioned:
Recent webinars delving into pain research
Sponsors
We thank our sponsors for supporting this important initiative. The 2024 Virtual Advocacy Training Series was developed independently with funding support from:
And to our Corporate Council.