“Meet a Member” –Bernadette Smith, TAS Director - APS

Bernadette Smith BA(Hons) GradDipPsychEd GradDipTeachLearnHeatlthProf DipClinHyp(Med) MScMed(Pain Management) MAPS

Graduating from UTAS in 1992 Bernadette spent the next 10 years working as a Psychologist for Community Mental Health Services in Tasmania. Bernadette moved into private practice (Psychology Plus) in 2003 where she developed a special interest in the treatment of chronic pain and health education.

How did you get into pain research/clinician practice?

I kind of fell into psychology after a mad panic of realising pharmacy wasn’t for me. I initially considered going and doing law after pharmacy, but the course was fully subscribed for that year. It’s probably a good thing in hindsight—I would have made a terrible lawyer! So, I ended up tagging along with friends to some introductory lectures and ended up in a psychology lecture. From there, I was hooked.

The only information I learned about pain during my training was the biopsychosocial model of health and illness as well as the Gate Control Theory. It meant I had a somewhat limited capacity to engage with chronic pain patients when I first graduated. I started working in child and adolescent mental health before eventually moving into private practice in regional Tasmania and began seeing chronic pain patients.

It was a jarring transition, initially, as the referrals felt like they were saying, “We can’t do anything more with these patients from a [bio]medical perspective—it’s over to you.” That feeling didn’t sit well with me and it sent me on a journey to learn more about pain science. Before too long I was asked to co-facilitate a Commonwealth funded pilot pain management project. We still have funding for that nine years later. Things really grew from there to take me to where I am today.

What do you think will be the next “hot topic” in your area of research or practice?

I think continually improving how we use patients as partners will be a big thing. We currently use patients as partners in our pain education programs. They bring so much face validity to what we talk about. Although as clinicians we have done all this study and have all this knowledge, sometimes that doesn’t get you any kudos with the patients. But bringing in a patient who has recovered, or is recovering, it helps patients see there is hope. It makes them feel like they can sit and listen to the pain science for a bit longer.

How and why did you join the APS Board?

Tasmania is a small place with a tight knit pain community. I love to rabbit on about pain, and so a colleague suggested getting involved with the APS and the Board to channel that energy. I was an only child and have always sought out and been energised by interactions with peers. The real interdisciplinary nature of the APS—getting to work with people from outside your profession—I love that. You can’t work with people in pain by yourself from a clinical perspective, so it makes sense to be part of an interdisciplinary society.

If you could offer one piece of advice to a younger you, what would it be and why?

It’s not advice per se, but I’d love to tell my younger self, “Thanks for doing you. As imperfect as you were, I’m way wiser now because of all that.” And in another 20 years, I’ll be able to say the same thing!