What About Pain? Up to a third of individuals live with ongoing pain due to a wide range of medical conditions, injuries, and surgeries, and pain often interferes with sleep. National agencies have called for whole person pain care but persistent barriers prevent access to this care. Empowered Relief was designed to overcome these barriers as a scientifically-proven, two-hour class for pain conditions.
What is Empowered Relief?
Empowered Relief is a two-hour pain management class that was developed by a pain psychologist and researcher at Stanford University. Researchers who developed Empowered Relief found that participation in the class reduced pain-related distress, pain intensity, pain interference with daily life, sleep problems, and many other symptoms. These results were found to last 6 months after taking the class. The two-hour class has been shown to be as effective as 16 hours of CBT for pain, and research demonstrates the same beneficial outcomes of the class when delivered on Zoom.
What will you experience?
Dr. Detweiler-Bedell is a certified instructor of Empowered Relief. During the two-hour class you will:
-
Learn about the neuroscience of pain and what you can do to help yourself.
-
Gain pain relief skills that you can use right away.
-
Receive a free 20-minute binaural relaxation audiofile.
-
Create a personal plan for your pain relief.
Because chronic pain often impacts families and friendships, you are encouraged to invite a family member or friend to the class free of charge. Classes are offered on Zoom to groups about once each month. Dr. Detweiler-Bedell also offers individual classes by request.
What can you expect?
Empowered Relief has been shown to be effective in people who have chronic and acute pain, as well as people who undergo surgery. No matter how long you have been in pain, or whether you are treating your pain in other ways, the intervention can still be effective. Living with pain causes high levels of distress for most people, and it interferes with sleep, work, social activities, and relationships. This two-hour class will give you the skills you need to manage your pain so you can feel more in control of your pain, feel better, sleep better, and live your life more fully.
What Does the Research Say?
The 2-hour-long Empowered Relief class has been shown to:​
-
Reduce pain intensity and sleep disturbances associated with General Chronic Pain (Ziadni et al., 2021).
-
Lead to clinically meaningful symptom reduction, across every outcome tested, for Chronic Back Pain (Darnall et al., 2021; 2024).
-
Reduce opioid use after Breast Cancer Surgery (Darnall et al., 2019).
-
Reduce pain after Orthopedic Trauma Surgery (Ziadni et al., 2022).
For more information about Empowered Relief, see this news coverage compiled by Stanford University’s Dr. Darnall and the Empowered Relief researchers.