JoyWork Restore

Are you ready to reverse the cycle of chronic pain and restore emotional and physical wellness?

Join me for JoyWork Restore, an 8-week online group wellness program for people with chronic pain who want to learn how to free themselves of pain.

Hi there, I’m Melissa! I’ve been living with chronic illness since the age of 25.

My world was cracked into a million pieces when I went from living a full, active life to being unable to walk, in less than a year.

I lost friends, dreams, physical ability, a career as a professional dancer, creative outlets, and so much more. Through personal research, trial and error and many hards years of recovery, I have lived for decades relatively pain free, despite still having a chronic illness. I created JoyWork Restore to teach people like me how to find a way back from chronic pain to joy.

As someone who has been living with chronic illness for 3 decades, I can tell you I’ve been there, AND there is HOPE.

JoyWork Restore is a brain training and personal empowerment program that will help you to:

  • Restore your brain’s and body’s innate powers to heal itself

  • Repair your mind, body, and your confidence

  • Rejoice in reclaiming your life

This is not hocus pocus woo woo magic. JoyWork is science applied to real life.

JoyWork Restore puts your brain and body to work repairing and restoring health, disabling the cycle of pain and restoring cycles of repair. The program is based on my personal life experience, decades of scientific research, my professional expertise in mental health and on my training in Pain Reprocessing Therapy, an evidence-based therapy that puts brain science to work to help reprogram chronic pain.

What is the cycle of pain?

The chronic pain you feel today is your brain responding to learned pain patterns that are unconscious and automatic.

The more the brain produces learned pain signals over time, the worse the pain gets. This is what we call the “cycle of pain” and without intervention, it can be a downward spiral.

Chronic pain is different from acute pain–the pain we feel just after an injury or initial symptoms of a chronic illness, or pain that is related to an ongoing disease that is causing structural issues, swelling or numbing. These initial responses to disease or injury are the brain’s way of protecting the body. The brain is saying, “Slow down, protect this area. It needs time to heal.” This type of pain should be intense at first and disappear as damaged tissue heals.

When pain continues or worsens once an injury has “physically” healed, this is what experts call learned pain, the true source of chronic pain – where the brain is producing pain signals according to learned patterns rooted in fear. A similar thing happens with pain related to chronic illness. Even chronic stomach pain, such as with IBS, or migraines have “learned” aspects to them. I have rheumatoid arthritis, with structural changes to my joints, but I have almost no pain in those joints

Change Your Pain Brain

Your pain is NOT “in your head”. It IS in your brain, though. In your brain Fear=Pain

Your brain has learned the amount of “pain” to produce according to:

  • The original disease or tissue damage

  • How you responded and respond now to it emotionally—FEAR produces pain

  • Beliefs you hold about yourself and the pain

  • What you do to avoid the pain

  • Environmental and social context cues that trigger pain production by association

  • Stressful past events (including but not only traumatic events), that predispose the brain to fear

You don’t have to change the fact that you have a disease or injury to change how your brain produces pain. Takeaway here is that learned pain is 100% REAL. You are having real pain. Critically, it is not the diseased or damaged tissue that is causing the pain, it is the brain repeating learned patterns, which are 100% changeable.

What is the cycle of repair and restoration?

Think of the cycle of repair and restoration like an update to the “pain program” on your computer – created by changing all the aspects of your life that are contributing to the cycle of pain and replacing them with repair and restore signals.

JoyWork Restore will help you make these brain changes, lessening the production of pain signals and therefore your experience of pain.

Imagine the joy you will feel discovering the power you possess to transform your circumstances and discover new meaning and purpose in your life.

“Within a few sessions, I was able to stop ruminating and worrying about my physical condition and refocus my attention to the things that were working for me. My joy in life, my relationships, my work, my belief in myself has returned.”

— Kristine

  • "For the last 3 years, I have been dealing with chronic pain and was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, an autoimmune disorder. Thus began a journey through many specialists, endless tests, and scans. I became a guinea pig for various strong medications each with different side effects which required more medications to counter those effects. All of this led to depression, anxiety, and a feeling of hopelessness about the future. And I was in a lot of pain on a daily basis.

    After another set of painful tests, which provided no new information or help, I heard a strong inner voice say “STOP.” No more tests, no more medications, no more specialists telling me what to do and what to be afraid of if I didn’t follow their solutions.

    Where to turn? I contacted Melissa Susman, who I had worked with as a client a few years back. The minute I heard her voice on the phone, I knew I was with the right person to help me once again. She is a Marriage and Family Psychotherapist utilizing her training in somatic body work, EMDR, and other trauma centered mind/body practices.

    Melissa has spent the years since I last saw her developing a specialized program for those who have a Chronic Illness based on her experiences, knowledge, and research into the neurobiological connection. Within a few sessions, I was able to stop ruminating and worrying about my physical condition and refocus my attention to the things that were working for me. My relationship to and fear of pain lessened a great deal. I am getting my physical balance back and realigning my body/mind to stay centered in times of stress.

    My joy in life, my relationships, my work, my belief in myself has returned. Sure, I still have bad days with flareups, but I have confidence I can weather those and still have a full life to look forward to.

    By the way, Melissa is also warm, loving, interested and interesting, and has a great sense of humor and a lightness in the way she works. I highly recommend spending some time with her!"

Why work with me?

JoyWork is my passion project, the culmination of decades of research and practice with myself and others. As I mentioned, I’ve been living with chronic illness since the age of 25, but I am also a highly trained clinician–a licensed psychotherapist, art therapist, and trauma resolution specialist with advanced training in neurobiological trauma resolution modalities. I am also a certified Pain Reprocessing Therapy practitioner.

I wish I had met someone like me 30 years ago! Because I didn’t have the right information and had to find it on my own, it took me over a decade to reverse my chronic pain cycle. Today I live an extremely active lifestyle. I still have my flares now and then, but I know what I have to do to get back on the cycle of repair and restore.

You can’t do this alone.

JoyWork Restore is science applied to life and I will be your guide, your teacher–there for you every step of the way.

You are not expected to know how to do this, and while you can get an app, or read a book, research shows that fewer than 10% of people make progress when working alone.  We need each other!! I will teach you the science of pain and how to apply it to change your life, and fellow JoyWork students will support and encourage you too!

Let your brain heal your pain.

Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a system of psychological techniques that retrains the brain to accurately interpret and respond to signals from the body, breaking the cycle of chronic pain. Although various treatments aim to manage pain, PRT stands apart as an evidence-based treatment to eliminate pain.

Join our next JoyWork Restore cohort and learn what pain researchers, neuroscientists, and other warriors with chronic illness and pain have discovered– that you can reverse the cycle of chronic pain. 

Contact me to arrange individual sessions.

YOU can reverse the cycle of chronic pain. Imagine: less pain, more movement, more ease, more joyful living!

Make the choice to change

While you didn’t choose this chronic illness or pain path, you can still decide what to do about the path you’re on. Choose to change your path for the better.

The disease, disorder, or damaged tissue may be a given. In my case, my wrists don’t bend. The bones in my feet are messed up forever. Yet I live a very full and physically active life without much pain, and you can too.

Take back your life!

Reversing your pain cycle is the most liberating and empowering thing you can do to take back your life.

If you have a chronic illness or chronic pain condition, JoyWork Restore won’t cure your chronic illness or restore damaged tissue. Instead, it reverses the progression of the pain to a new set-point.

  • Mind & Brain

    • The facts behind your chronic pain cycles

    • How your brain learned to produce pain that worsens over time

  • Body & Biology

    • How your brain and body work together to cope with stress

    • How gut health and stress influence each other

    • How stress changes your pain chemical production process

  • Trauma & Stress

    • How trauma and life stressors can contribute to chronic pain

    • The difference between trauma and life stressors

    • How your life experience may be contributing to your cycle of pain

  • Restore & Repair

    • How to rewire your brain and body

    • How to use the power of mind to influence change in the body

    • How to change how you move your body and express yourself to reduce stress and activate repair

Get Results from JoyWork Restore

Once you’ve grasped the core science of stress and chronic pain, and mapped your unique cycle of pain, we will develop a roadmap to healing. I’ll teach you powerful mind and body techniques and reconnect you to sources of healing that will help you to develop a personal approach to reset your brain to the cycle of restoration and repair.

  • Reduced pain and reverse the progression of your illness or pain

  • Improved emotional and physical well-being

  • Improved relationships affected by your illness or pain

  • Feeling empowered by having sovereignty over your mind and body

  • Making choices you didn’t know or believe you had 

  • Feeling  joyful and more alive again

As with all change, this course requires you to do the work. But you will also find joy in this process because through expressive activities like art, music, writing, and movement, we’ll learn and grow in ways that bring about powerful, meaningful, and lasting brain and life changes.

Give yourself this time to get out of the cycle of pain and into the cycle of restoration and repair. Make peace in your mind and body now.

How we’ll get you there

Over the course of this 8-week program, we’ll have weekly live, virtual group sessions. Between the group sessions, you will need to set aside time for your own personal work, and I will be available for individual guidance every step of the way.

Reversing the chronic pain cycle is not one size fits all. I’ll give you tools, ideas, and challenges that will help you to find out what works for you. You’ll try new things, repeat things that work on your own and discard things that don’t.

We’ll focus on

  • Patterns

    You’ll learn about the brain, the body, and healing as it relates to

    • How, when, and why do patterns of the chronic pain cycle form?

    • What are the ingredients of the chronic pain cycle?

    • What are your unique cycle of pain elements–including childhood trauma or stressful events–and the resulting patterns?

    • How are your actions contributing to the progression of the cycle of pain?

    • What kinds of things do you already know re-start the cycle of restoration and repair?

  • Pathways and Portals

    You’ll come away with a personal roadmap for restarting the cycle of restoration and repair:

    • Learn techniques and tools to shape and sculpt new patterns

    • Practice applying the tools and techniques to your life and your body

    • Explore and overcome barriers to new learning

    • Ignite your creative brain through expressive arts

    • Rebuild trust and confidence in your intuition and your body

    • Open your mind to different ways of healing and transforming yourself (other than medication, for example)

  • Purpose

    Then we’ll work to reinforce your connections to purpose and meaning in your life:

    • Discover the gifts of your journey– not just with illness or pain but your life as a whole

    • Declare your purpose in healing

    • Direct your actions to your higher purpose– the things that bring you meaning and joy

    • Develop a plan in order to direct your life according to your choices

    • Connect with others who can share their experiences and enrich your knowledge on your pathway back to joy, health, and wholeness

What is Included

  • Online Group Meetings

    Eight (8) weekly, live, online group meetings with me, where we will dive more deeply into the practice of transformation.

  • Individual Coaching

    The opportunity to ask me questions directly—for the duration of the coaching period—and receive recorded feedback within a 48-hour period, on weekdays.

  • Brain Science Education

    Access to a library of easy-to-understand videos on topics such as:

    • How the chronic pain cycle develops and is shaped over time

    • The role of trauma in chronic pain conditions

    • The Art and Science of Connection: de-stressing by connecting

  • Guides to Healing Practices

    Access to instructional materials (some video, some written) guiding you through activities like:

    • Transformational mindfulness recordings

    • Expressive arts activities

    • Journaling prompts

    • Gentle movement practice suggestions

  • Group support

    The support of other group members through a closed, private group chat system—where you can talk through shared experiences and provide guidance and support to others if and when you’d like to.

  • Personal Roadmap

    Through instruction and your own experimentation, you will develop your own personal roadmap to re-setting your pain brain.

Get ready to hear and say things like these Joywork Restore participants…

“How can I already be feeling so much better?”

“Maybe I wasn’t as sick as I thought I was!”

“Me and my partner are spending time together again.”

“My wrist pain is gone! It can get a bit sore if I work it too much, but basically, it’s gone.”

“I went to the gym for the first time in ages and it was fun. I took it easy but I feel good about it.”

“The ‘Uncomfortable/Comfortable’ exercise was wild. One minute my ankle was hurting and then it stopped.”

“How can I already be feeling so much better?” “Maybe I wasn’t as sick as I thought I was!” “Me and my partner are spending time together again.” “My wrist pain is gone! It can get a bit sore if I work it too much, but basically, it’s gone.” “I went to the gym for the first time in ages and it was fun. I took it easy but I feel good about it.” “The ‘Uncomfortable/Comfortable’ exercise was wild. One minute my ankle was hurting and then it stopped.”

Forever Tools and Techniques for Living in the Cycle of Restoration and Repair

JoyWork is about applying science and art to life and moving you forever into the virtuous cycle of restoration and repair. Here’s what you can hope for:

  • Taking control of your illness, your pain, and your life

  • Experiencing less and less pain, and more mobility

  • Having better overall health and vitality over time

  • Feeling more calm and peaceful within

  • Connecting to your true self: the meaning and purpose of your life

  • Rejoicing in your life – having more joy

My passion is to help you discover the keys to your mind-body system, restoring balance and connecting you to meaning and joy in your life.

Melissa Susman, JoyWork Founder
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist,
Registered Art Therapist and Trauma Therapist

If you are having any doubts, that’s normal but believe me:

You are capable of making this change.
Your dreams, goals, hopes, and future are YOURS to grab.

I call my company JoyWork for good reason! Let’s do this joyful work together.

JoyWork Restore is FOR YOU if:

  • You’ve reached the end of your patience with treatments that don’t do enough (you do not need to stop your current treatment or medication, though)

  • You value personal growth (and not just a “quick fix”)

  • You’re ready to feel rewarded by the work you do to heal

  • You’re open to doing some creative, expressive stuff to change your brain faster 

  • You’re willing and able to carve out time each week for 8 weeks

  • You’re open to trying the techniques suggested in the program. It’s ok to be scared.

  • You’re ready to live with more joy and less suffering and pain

Types of chronic illnesses or chronic pain that commonly involve learned pain:

Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Autoimmune conditions, Migraines, chronic back or neck pain, chronic GI issues, or any pain condition that lasts more than six months without associated tissue or structural damage.

JoyWork Restore is NOT for you if:

  • You are currently healing from a surgery or other injury. This program is for chronic pain, not acute pain.

  • You want magic wand healing. I want that too. We put the joy in work, but there is work involved! (Let me know if you find that magic wand though! ;-)

  • You don’t believe that this type of approach could work for you. All change requires at least a partially open mindset. Please bring your questions and curiosity. JoyWork is science applied to life, not religion. Still the mind and the body work together, so you must be open to new ideas and applying new ideas to your life.

  • If you have a terminal disease, this program is not best suited to you. Folks with terminal illness deserve a program that addresses them directly. Please take care to find one.

  • You have too many time commitments to devote time to this program. Circle back with us when you have more space to dedicate. Otherwise, it could add to your problems with pain, due to the stress / pain continuum.

 FAQs

 

  • You will get what you give to this program. While most people say that they notice immediate changes once they begin applying the techniques, lasting change takes lasting effort. So I like to recommend that folks set aside 2 hours per week, in addition to the group meetings. Know that this is a commitment to self care and to changing your brain in ways that will last a lifetime. Having said that, the work involved–tending your body and mind in ways that change the brain and body in a positive direction–takes consistent commitment to doing the work. It gets easier and more automatic over time, but just as with physical exercise, mental and emotional change is a use it or lose it prospect.

  • Unfortunately no. Your insurer may pay for a treatment program that uses these same scientific principles in a clinic or hospital setting, and I encourage you to check that out. This kind of one to one care is valuable in and of itself and pays for itself again and again.

  • Yes you can. Fair warning, though, the program is going to ask you to begin to move more, but it will all be up to you when, how and how much. We will also introduce you to ways of triggering the part of your brain responsible for movement with very little movement at all. So don’t worry. It is all at your pace!

  • At this time, I do not offer fee reductions of any kind. It has been my experience that we put more effort into something when we have more “skin in the game”, so to speak.

    I understand that this is unfair to those who can’t afford to pay the fee; and I do hope for the day that my program could be covered by insurance.

    At this time, I do not offer fee reductions of any kind. It has been my experience that we put more effort into something when we have more “skin in the game”, so to speak.

    I understand that this is unfair to those who can’t afford to pay the fee; and I do hope for the day that my program could be covered by insurance.

  • This program is not a substitute for medical treatment that you are undergoing, including pain medications. Any changes to your medical treatment plan should be made in consultation with your physician.

  • No, not at all. That is an old concept–that your chronic pain is psychosomatic. The brain science of pain now tells us that our brain learns how much pain to produce according to biological, psychological, behavioral and social cues. This learned pain model shows how the brain produces ACTUAL PAIN signals, even when tissue damage has not changed, worsened or recurred. It can even produce pain when no tissue damage is present.