Testing an idea, learning together and leaving something behind
When Ways to Wellness Team Lead Steffen Laukard met Bournemouth University academic Dr Jonny Branney at last year’s ‘Live Well with Pain’ conference, where he was a fellow delegate, little did either know how much they would come to champion one another’s work.
Steffen was in the process of shaping a relatively new pain support group at one of the primary care practices involved in the Ways to Wellness Persistent Physical Pain (PPS) prototype he leads, while the focus of Jonny’s research was pivoting from biomechanics towards the psychological and social impacts of pain, in particular for those experiencing chronic pain.
What followed from this chance encounter became a practical exercise in testing an idea, adapting it to local circumstances, and learning from participants along the way until a real legacy can remain.
From classroom to community
A registered nurse and former chiropractor, more recently Jonny also became a consultant trainer for a learning technique called Team-Based Learning (TBL), a structured teaching method that encourages participants to learn together in a classroom, discuss ideas, and apply knowledge to real-life situations, making it well-suited to healthcare education.
He explained: “The proportion of people with chronic pain is on the increase and expected to continue to increase, and we know that healthcare systems are really struggling to manage demand, so people do need self-management techniques as well.
“When it comes to practitioner learning, TBL has been quite successful, so I wondered why wouldn’t the same principle work in a patient context.”
Having trialled the approach within a five-week pain management programme for 10 physiotherapy patients in Somerset, Jonny was interested in exploring how it might be applied to other settings.
He continued: "We were really testing the waters to see, is this an acceptable way for patients to learn?”
The Somerset project generated encouraging feedback, particularly around participants' experiences of learning alongside one another, rather than simply receiving information from healthcare professionals.
Jonny said: “Patients said they were able to compare it to previous pain management programmes, where they said they had actually felt quite nervous and intimidated about going, and not always confident about speaking up. It gave us a lot of confidence.”
And it was that sense of direction that provided the starting point for what became the Ways to Wellness ‘Living Well with Pain’ group, whose participants have now taken it over following its initial success using TBL over the last 18 months.
Adapting rather than adopting
Steffen said that after a ‘crash course’ in the approach for his team, it quickly became clear that its delivery would need to be adapted to be appropriate to group participants.
He said: “We knew our group was too small to adopt the approach as was, but nonetheless we felt the model gave us tools to help people learn, so we reshaped it to fit what we were doing. For example, we incorporated the pre-learning into sessions themselves.”
The process became less about implementing a specific methodology and more about understanding which elements were useful in practice. For Jonny, that flexibility was entirely consistent with the purpose of the approach.
He said: “We always think of TBL as a framework, and there is a structure and a logic to it, but we don’t need to be fundamentalist about its implementation. It really has to be adapted to local needs, so I’m delighted you’ve been able to do that.”
Learning from participants
Each fortnightly session would recap the learning from last time, and Ways to Wellness team members were able to be agile enough to respond to topic requests as they came up, by opening up the last 15-20 minutes to group discussion, and asking prompt questions like ‘what has come up for you that you might need support with?’
The setting also allows for immediate feedback, so misunderstandings in terms of learning can be spotted and corrected.
Over time, the team was able to grow attendance at the group, which settled into a format that combined interactive learning, reflection, mindfulness, and mutual support. Participants were encouraged to set goals for themselves, and to consider how knowledge acquired during sessions could be applied in their own lives, while individual learning journals provided the space to record more personal considerations.
Looking back, Steffen believes that collaboration – both with Jonny and the patients themselves – helped provide a clearer structure for learning within the group.
Building something that could continue
While the collaboration began as an opportunity to test and learn, sustainability was never far from the team's thinking, as funding for the group was always time limited. Ways to Wellness stepped away from facilitating, but supported them in setting up as a patient-led group.
Steffen said: “We’re confident we have left the group in a space when it’s been the right time to step away. People have told us that if it wasn’t for the group they’d be at home doing nothing, so they continue to come to the group even if they’re having one of their worst pain days, which has been really nice to see, and for me the highlight has been seeing people form connections.”
While Jonny hopes in future to further develop TBL with patients in a feasibility randomised control trial, Cruddas Park Surgery has agreed to continue providing the space in which the group meets, with the room booked for meetings until the end of 2026, and members have been given ongoing access to resources and materials, to enable its work to continue.
For organisations, academics and clinicians interested in developing new healthcare approaches, the project demonstrates that meaningful learning often comes through testing ideas in real-world settings, listening carefully to feedback, and being prepared to adapt as you go.
You can access more resources about TBL on its website, or you can contact Jonny at: jbranney@bournemouth.ac.uk.
