Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management courses are offered in Toronto at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and St. Michael’s Hospital and via Telemedicine to hospital sites across Ontario.
Throughout the year six courses are being offered:
- Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management Level 1
- Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management Level 2
- Emotional Skills
- Mindfulness for Health Care Professionals
- Mindfulness Maintenance
Currently, all the courses are facilitated by Dr Jackie Gardner-Nix.
Next cycle of courses will start the week of April 29th, 2013. Courses run once a week for 13 weeks.
Wait Time
Typical wait time to enter the entry level course, Mindfulness-Based Chronic Pain Management, is between 4 to 12 months for sites in Toronto at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and St. Michael’s Hospital. Wait times for the sites serviced by the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) will vary based on the number of participants in each location.
The Basic Mindfulness courses are offered 3 times a year starting in January, April and September. Class is once a week for 2 hours 50 minutes including a mid class intermission, and run for 13 weeks. Courses are offered at St Michael’s Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where on-site patients are linked with patients at other facilities in Ontario via Telemedecine. A physician referral is required and faxed to St Michael’s Hospital for Toronto referrals Greater Toronto Area Referral Form, and to OTN for distant site referrals Ontario Telemedicine Network Form for courses offered throughout Ontario.
Distant site courses run via telemedicine link up to the Toronto sites have to date been offered at: Bracebridge, Cambridge, Campbellford, Carlton Place, Cochrane, Elliot Lake, Espanola, Fort Frances, Haliburton, Iroquois Falls, Kingston, Leamington, Lindsay, Little Current, Napanee, Newmarket, Noelville, North Bay, Orangeville, Orillia, Oshawa, Parry Sound, Peterborough, Picton, Sault Ste-Marie, Shelburne, Sturgeon Falls, Sudbury, Terrace Bay, Thunder Bay, Wawa, and Wellington.
New sites starting April 30th will include: Aurora, Timmins, and Scarborough (Centenary Hospital).
More sites can be accommodated if there are enough participants and a telemedicine site is available locally for clinical work. Application for Ontario Telemedicine (OTN) Classes: it requires a physician referral.
Please note that most of the classes are run with three sites simultaneously, two sites being connected through TV screens from their local hospitals. Average number of participants is 30 for the entire class at the three sites. Commonly there is a drop out rate of one third of class participants by the 4th class, a consistent finding over the 8 years we have been offering these courses.
An enrollment fee of $35 is charged per person per course, but the cost of participation is covered by the Ontario provincial health insurance plan. There is a cost for course materials of $85.
In the past Ontario Works (OW) and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) have covered the enrollment fee, materials and transportation costs to and from the course for participants. Please see respective parties for further details.
