Hopkins Hour: Pain: A complex protection system: Participant learnings from the ENGAGE study

The Hopkins Centre recently hosted a Hopkins Hour webinar, Pain: A complex protection system: Participant learnings from the ENGAGE study, on Wednesday 29 July 2026.

The Metro South Pain Rehabilitation Centre's six-week ENGAGE Pain Group was originally based on pain education and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) principles. While the program had a strong theoretical foundation, clinicians recognised the need to better understand what participants found most valuable and what they learned from their experience. This research explored participants' perspectives and informed changes to make the program more person-centred.

During the webinar, presenters shared the study findings and discussed how the ENGAGE program has evolved to better meet the needs of people living with chronic pain in our community.

Participants heard from Michael Deen, who provided an overview of the evolution of pain education; Kelly Walsh, the study's lead researcher; Elizabeth Dite, who lives with chronic pain and contributed to the design and implementation of the study; and Dr Nicholas Aitcheson, Director of the Metro South Pain Rehabilitation Centre. The session highlighted how participant feedback has directly shaped improvements to the ENGAGE program and challenged some common assumptions about pain management.

View presentation from Pain: A complex protection system: Participant learnings from the ENGAGE study Hopkins Hour here.

Watch the recording

If you were unable to attend, or would like to revisit the discussion, you can watch the webinar recording here: 

 

To view the Hopkins Hour recording on our YouTube channel, click here.