BEYOND PAIN AS INVITATION

A TWO-DAY EXPERIENTIAL WORKSHOP

ON CHRONIC PAIN & ILLNESS IN THERAPY

IN PERSON | 2 & 3 MAY 2025

RACHAEL KELLETT

Are you a therapist or mental health practitioner looking to deepen your work with clients experiencing chronic pain and illness? Or are you a practitioner navigating your own journey with chronic pain, fatigue, or illness? This immersive two-day workshop offers a relational, body-centered approach that embraces both professional and personal experiences of long-term suffering.

About the Workshop:

Chronic pain and fatigue are not just physical conditions—they shape identity, relationships, and emotional landscapes. As therapists, how can we meet these challenges with curiosity, attunement, and a presence that fosters transformation? Over two days, we will explore chronic suffering as a doorway to profound therapeutic work, integrating phenomenological focusing, somatic attunement, and the art of listening to symptoms as meaningful expressions.

This space is designed to support both those working with clients experiencing chronic pain and those who personally navigate these experiences, recognizing the wisdom that can emerge from both perspectives.

What You’ll Gain:

 A deeper understanding of chronic pain as a lived, embodied experience rather than a symptom to be “fixed” Techniques for working with a client’s felt sense, allowing pain and fatigue to be fully expressed in a safe and therapeutic space.

 Practical tools for maintaining presence and curiosity in the face of complex and often overwhelming narratives.

 Insight into your own embodied responses as a therapist, especially if you experience chronic pain or fatigue yourself, and how these shape the therapeutic process.

 A balance of experiential exercises, discussion, and reflective practice to ground theory in lived experience.

Who Is This For?

 Therapists, counsellors, and mental health practitioners working with clients experiencing chronic pain and illness.

 Practitioners who personally navigate chronic pain, fatigue, or illness and want to explore how these experiences intersect with their work.

 Those interested in a relational, body-centered, and experiential approach to long-term suffering.

This workshop offers a supportive environment where professional insight and personal experience are equally valued, fostering deeper connection, understanding, and growth.

Venue: Jordans Quaker

Meeting House, Welders

Lane, Beaconsfield, Bucks.

HP9 2SN.

Directions: Nearest train station Seer Green & Jordans on the Chiltern Line.

Junction 2 on M40

Time: 10am -4.30pm each day

Cost: £300 (Early bird £250 before 31st March)

Lunches and tea & coffee included both days

TO BOOK email: Mandy, at mandy@relationalchange.org

Facilitator: Rachael Kellett

Rachael is a seasoned psychotherapist, supervisor, and facilitator with over 20 years of experience. After developing Fibromyalgia during her Gestalt training, she has dedicated her practice to understanding the healing journey from chronic pain and fatigue. Based in Buckinghamshire, she runs a busy private practice and is passionate about exploring the body’s relationship with pain.