Starlight Children’s Foundation hosted a ‘Stress, Emotions and Pain in Paediatric Palliative Care’ workshop Baker St. London Monday 23 May 2022. Click on the Workshop Brochure.

 

Milk Bottle Tops for Fear (Over the Nile River in Cairo)

Role Play Milk Bottle Tops for Fear with Vanessa at ISPP 2023 Halifax

International Symposium on Pediatric Pain (ISPP) Halifax, Nova Scotia 1-4 October 2023

Mindful Distraction A4 download here.

Dr Bernie Whitaker Chaired and presented a session on Wednesday 4 October: “I Know a Way we Can Make This Easier: Would You Like to Try?  Working Together to Manage Procedural Fear and Pain with Children and Adolescents,”

Download an m4a recording of the Session from ISPP 2023 here: Part 1 - Part 2

NEW Click on Guided Imagery Audio to hear Dr Bernie Whitaker using guided imagery in actual cases.

2024 Marks 30 years since Dr Bernie Whitaker joined IASP and the Pain in Childhood SIG (Special Interest Group)

upcoming workshops

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery Workshop. Royal Darwin Hospital, NT Australia. Monday 19 February 2024.

Stress Emotions and Pain in Paediatric Palliative Care. Keech Hospice Care, Luton United Kingdom Friday 19 April 2024.

Stress and Emotions in Health Care Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust at Peace Children’s Centre, Watford, United Kingdom. Monday 22 April 2024.

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery Workshop. Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin. Mon 29 & Tues 30 April 2024.

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery Workshop. Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra - Hospital Pediátrico, Portugal. Friday 10 May 2024

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery Workshop. Starlight Children’s Foundation Northampton, UK. Tuesday 21 May 2024.

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery Workshop. Swan Hill District Health Victoria, Australia. Thursday 13 June 2024.

Recent Workshops

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery Workshops held in June 2023 at:

Royal Darwin Hospital. Wednesday 30 August 2023.

Starlight Children’s Foundation Hammersmith London. Wednesday 14 June 2023.

Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh. Friday 16 June 2023.

Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Birmingham. Wednesday 14 June 2023.

Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust at Peace Children’s Centre, Monday 5 June and Friday 22 September 2023

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Devon. Friday 2 June 2023.

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery Workshop: Play Wales at The International Pavilion Royal Welsh Showground Llanelwedd, Builth Wells LD2 3SY. United Kingdom. Tuesday 11 October 2022. Thanks to the Starlight Foundation for hosting this workshop.

Stress, Emotions and Pain in Paediatric Palliative Care Workshop: Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust at Peace Children’s Centre, Peace Prospect, Watford WD17 3EW. United Kingdom. Thursday 13 & Friday 14 October 2022.

Stress, Emotions and Pain in Paediatric Palliative Care Workshop: Sjællands Universitetshospital Pædiatrisk Palliativt Team at Scandic Roskilde Park Ved Ringen 2, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark. Monday 24 October 2022.

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery Virtual Workshop. Paediatric Project ECHO Program. The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Canada. Thursday 1 December 2022 and Thursday 23 March 2023.

Workshops Available

Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery workshop.

Stress, Emotions and Pain in Palliative Care Workshop for Health and Social Care Professionals.

Emotions and Stress in Health Care.

Please use the Contact link for more information or to register for a workshop.  The Distraction, Pain and Guided Imagery workshop brochure is available for download here.  The Palliative Care Workshop brochure for health and social care professionals is here.  Please click on this link for the Emotions and Stress Workshop.

If you would like Dr Bernie Whitaker to speak on managing pain and fear, anxiety, ACT or Palliative Care and Guided Imagery at your conference or event please Contact Here.

Welcome to Top-Down Pain Control: Education and training in managing procedural pain and fear in children and adolescents and ACT and guided imagery skills for parents and health/social care professionals in palliative care.  The approach is a synthesis of Personal Construct Psychology and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.

Bernie, I am using guided imagery on a weekly basis in my anaesthetic practice, finding it very useful for successful procedures (iv line placement, mask tolerance) in children and adults.  You have changed my anaesthetic career for the better and helped me help many patients.

(Email from an Anaesthetist, Australia)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The first time I used guided imagery with a child in a procedure was over 30 years ago.  The boy was 5 years-old and I took four sutures out of his eyelid in an emergency department while he sat with his eyes closed happily engaging with his friends, playing football (Aussie Rules) in imagery.  When we had finished he opened his eyes and asked me, "Is it going to hurt?" My astonished reply was along the lines of, "We're all done Mate".  I have to say that sparked a passion to learn more about managing procedural pain and fear in children.  With this in mind I explored the types of imagery that worked well in a Masters degree and then a PhD in psychology examining the effects of distraction, relaxation and imagery on procedural pain and fear in children.  I never intended this to 'sit on the shelf' and collect dust so in 1995 I started teaching people how to use these techniques.

The guided imagery technique I developed is not a script; it is conversational and very interactive. The child always chooses their imagery while you guide and are guided by their imagery as it unfolds.

The images above are from a video of me using guided imagery with a boy who is having a venepuncture while playing cricket in his imagery.  He was truly amazing hitting the ball again and again over the fence for a 'big six' before being 'run out' in the dramatic style of his cricketing heroes and yes, of course, his team won the game.

If you navigate to Guided Imagery Audio you can listen to the audio from this case.

 

Why Top-Down? 

Because in a constructivist sense the brain is not an end-point, it is both the generator and modulator of experience be it pain, fear, joy, memories or the thoughts you are having right now. Globally, Top-Down Pain Control is all about:

WALKING THE ROAD WITH THE CHILD AND IMPROVING THE MANAGEMENT OF PROCEDURAL PAIN AND FEAR, AND

Dr Bernie H. Whitaker

PROVIDING A FRAMEWORK FOR LIVING AND WORKING WITH THE INEVITABLE STRESS OF WORK, LIFE AND SPECIAL AREAS SUCH AS PALLIATIVE CARE  

WORKSHOPS

From distraction and pain to living and working with high-level stress and palliative care.  There are workshops for you and your staff to build on existing skills and develop further.

Learn More →

Take Action

Ready to take the next step? Click on the Contact Link above for a Zoom workshop or thankfully now again a face-to-face workshop if you would like to host a workshop in your hospital/workplace.

Find Out How →