There’s Turtle, a man in his 40s from the southeastern United States who has lived with chronic back pain for over 20 years. Two years ago, through learning not to fear pain and learning to trust his body, Turtle finally began to feel that he’s living life to the fullest, despite the pain.

Annie, a 68-year-old woman from British Columbia, Canada, worked with an interdisciplinary team to find enough relief from her fibromyalgia pain to begin moving more and sleeping better, which has her feeling much more hopeful about life.

And then there’s Jade, a 47-year-old Canadian woman, who was diagnosed with lupus and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) 15 years ago. Through proper medications and an extensive support system, she found a way to stay engaged in life, even when living with pain remains a challenge.

These are among the 10 people whose personal recovery stories were captured and shared — with the participants’ permission — by Sarah Jamieson for her Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology thesis, “Beyond Symptoms and Between Us: A Narrative Inquiry into the Experience of Personal Recovery from Chronic Pain.”

“Pain is a subjective experience,” she said. “There’s a long history of researchers defining what matters and deciding who’s doing better based on what they deem important.”

“While the previous research is important,” Jamieson added. “Through my work, I have seen incredible diversity in what doing better means to different people, and for my thesis, I wanted to explore the broad range of recovery experiences. My hope is that the research would expand our understanding of what recovery can look like.”

For Jamieson, conducting this research focused on living and recovering from pain was personal.

“I’ve lived with persistent pain since I was a kid,” said Jamieson, who became a yoga teacher specializing in therapeutic applications for persistent pain in 2010. And in 2013, she began working at a physician-led interdisciplinary pain clinic.

“Through my work, I witnessed the dire need for more mental health practitioners in the pain care field,” she added. “So, I went back to school to become one.”

Today, Jamieson is reflecting on her work, revealing what surprised and challenged her, offering advice to help other students navigating the thesis process, and sharing why she decided to make her findings — and participants’ stories — more accessible through her Chronic Pain Recovery website.

How did you decide on your thesis topic?

I had tons of different ideas jumping around in my mind, but I knew I wanted to do something in the realm of chronic pain. Years ago, at the pain clinic where I work, two women came up to me and asked me the question, “Are you recovered?” That stopped me in my tracks because I didn’t know how to answer. I’d made meaningful changes that had reduced my pain and improved my quality of life, but being in less pain still involved a lot of work.

When I started doing research, I came across the terms “clinical recovery” and “personal recovery” — both used in the mental illness space. Clinical recovery is used when everything is back to normal and there’s a complete eradication of symptoms. Whereas personal recovery focuses more on a person’s quality of life and their sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in life with or without symptoms of pain. I was really drawn to focus my thesis on the latter concept.

What did you enjoy most about working on your thesis?

There’s almost no words to describe how much I loved working with my participants. It was such an honor to have these people, who didn’t know me, show up and be so vulnerable to share their experiences. I’ve worked in the pain care space for over 10 years, but I still came out of this with so much humility around my own understanding of others’ personal recovery.

What did you find most challenging in the research process?

I think the most challenging part didn’t directly involve the work I did for the thesis. I’m kind of a nerd. I enjoy research and digging into it. I really enjoyed the conversations I had with my participants. And I loved writing each of their stories. So, the most challenging part was doing all of that while going through a full-time degree program. I had to be mindful in managing my workload, which included a full course load and internships.

I only sought out five participants but ended up accepting 10 because there was so much interest in the research. If I had the time, I would have done 50 stories. It was an incredibly enriching and healing process for me.

Was there anything that surprised you?

I don’t know if it was surprising but there is a lack of research that looks at how social factors such as poverty and other systemic challenges can impact one’s recovery from persistent pain. It’s well established that folks from more marginalized populations are disproportionately impacted by chronic pain. However, it’s rare to find research that acknowledges how that impacts recovery — that being white or having money may significantly impact how likely you are to get better. I think chronic pain is underrecognized as a health equity issue. In my thesis, it was important for me to acknowledge that my participants were in situations where they didn’t have to worry about finances.

What do you hope people who read your thesis take away from it?

The first word that comes to mind is “possibility.” When you read the personal stories and journeys of the people I interviewed, you’ll learn that there is so much possibility around the paths one could take to find meaningful change in their life.

For current students about to go through the thesis process, do you have any advice or learned lessons to share?

I would highly encourage them to pick a topic they are passionate about. It is a lot of work, and what sustained me was knowing that I was doing something that I really cared about. If there’s something that lights you up, something that you’re excited to learn more about, go for it.

What inspired you build the website based on your thesis?

My participants all said that they wanted to share their stories with the hope that their experiences would help others. I don’t know how many people would go to the Thesis Canada website and download my 200-page report. I figured not many. So, I decided to make these stories more accessible through my website, Chronic Pain Recovery, with the hope that it increases the likelihood that someone who is living with pain can find that possibility of personal recovery in these stories.

How will your thesis and time at Adler inform your professional pursuits and career?

Since graduating, I have already trained in two specific psychological approaches to pain (Pain Reprocessing Therapy and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy), which was inspired by the success some of my participants saw through these approaches. I am applying everything I have learned in my position as a counsellor at Change Pain, which is the pain clinic that I have been working with since 2013. I also see clients at Turning Point Therapy, a trauma-focused private practice in downtown Vancouver, which provides a nice balance for my interests, as I am particularly interested in the intersection of chronic pain and trauma.

Is there anything else you’d like to add or share?

I just want to point out how wonderful my thesis supervisor Benjamin Aiken, Ph.D., was. He encouraged me to bring my research back to a place of wonder and exploration, and that approach allowed for a decent amount of joy in the thesis writing process.