Social work students participate in Pain Week 2026

1 in 5 Canadians suffer from chronic pain and 5% will experience severe pain that leads to disability and difficulties with quality of life. Further, 50% of people attending pain clinics report moderate to severe depression and have higher risk for suicide. Social workers routinely support people experiencing chronic pain in various health and social service settings, though many feel unprepared to meet the complex needs of this diverse population.

Pain Week is a 3-day, 20-hour interprofessional curriculum where social work students learn and collaborate with students from different health disciplines (including Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and others) to understand the nature of pain and how to help people who struggle with it. The curriculum is based on the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) guidelines and is a part of the University of Toronto Interprofessional Education (IPE) Curriculum.

This year marks the third year that FIFSW is involved in Pain Week, with Professor Amar Ghelani leading the way as Pain Week coordinator for 2026. It has been exciting to see students from the Health & Mental Health and Gerontology fields of study participating in this interdisciplinary educational event. From March 2-4, students learned about the bio-psychosocial mechanisms, clinical complexity, social impact, and ethical issues related to pain assessment and management. Through virtual lectures, online modules, and in-person interprofessional activities, students explored topics such as opioid prescribing/risks, disability justice, gender inequities, supporting rural populations, interprofessional practice, mindfulness therapies, the latest in pain research, and more. The curriculum was delivered by clinicians, researchers, educators, and people with lived experience to over 1400 students in 9 different faculties.

On March 2, 170 FIFSW students attended a lecture from social workers Courtney Sas (St. Michaels Nephrology) and Miriam Blond (Holland Bloorview Get up and Go Kids Clinic), as well as a moving presentation by Paulette Caine, a person with living experience of chronic pain and kidney disease. These lectures, as well as the interprofessional case-based learning, taught students how to contribute to health teams while using systems-based and critical thinking skills to help individuals and families in need. A great benefit of FIFSW participating in Pain Week is that students from other programs across the U of T learned about the role of social work in supporting this vulnerable group.

In a follow up survey, students shared that they appreciated working with peers from other specialties and learning more about what they do while also exploring novel techniques such as mindfulness-based approaches for pain management. Some wished the learning was longer and most indicated that it helped increase their knowledge of chronic pain and skills in supporting affecting populations. Many students expressed that the involvement of service users and people with lived experience was particularly meaningful to their learning and has left them with a deeper understanding of how to support future clients in pain.

Interested in reading more about FIFSW students’ experiences with Pain Week? Take a look at this recent article: “A qualitative examination of social work students’ participation in an interprofessional pain curriculum symposium,” published by Rachelle Ashcroft, Peter Sheffield, Keith Adamson, David Burnes, Andie MacNeil and Nivetha Prabaharan in the journal Social Work Education.

By Amar Ghelani and Rachelle Ashcroft