Chronic pain support group in Kirkcaldy offers help to Fifers

The awareness campaign aims to highlight the challenges faced by individuals living with arthritis and promoting a better understanding of this debilitating condition.

The group was founded by Diane Wright from Coaltown of Wemyss after she realised that there were no chronic pain support groups in the Kirkcaldy area.

She said: “I was having to travel to St Andrews once a month to attend a support group to be with others in the same position as me to not feel isolated and on my own with my pain. It was too much as the pain was excruciating – I couldn’t drive the distance and when I used the bus it wasn’t any better, I can remember sitting at the bus stop crying in pain. I decided to host my own group in Coaltown of Wemyss Village Hall, so I held an awareness day in Kirkcaldy’s Mercat Centre where I met other people who would be interested in meeting once a month and it all started from there.”

Diane, who is also a trustee on the board at Kirkcaldy’s additional support needs charity Nourish, moved the group to Kirkcaldy under the charity’s umbrella as many people who visit the service also live with chronic pain.

She added: “It made sense to me to move the group to Nourish as people with additional needs can also be living with chronic pain and as I have a background in public health, early years, and education it just felt right. “It also means that I can now just be a member of the group now and not worry about having to facilitate it.”

Mr Torrance said: “The support group is an amazing service that is attended by many people who have banded together to support one another through their lived experiences. A lot of people take for granted their own mobility and it is inspiring to talk with people with chronic pain to find out what daily life is like for them and how they cope with it.

“Diane has created a fantastic group, that to me, feels more like a family than a support group, and what better venue to hold it than at Fife’s number one additional needs charity Nourish.