“We all feel pain. It’s a universal experience which physically demands our attention. Now Dr. Mick Thacker, a world-renowned Professor of Pain is leading pioneering new research to better understand pain, based on the theory of Predictive Processing. He submits that our brains are predictive machines: experience subconsciously affects how much we expect to feel pain in conditions suggesting threat or danger. The degree of sensation you feel in that moment is influenced by personal senses of anticipation, anxiety and emotion. So deep down, you already know it’s going to hurt.“

TED-X Kingston-upon-Thames

This course promises to radically change what you know and how you think about pain, human experience and our clinical practice in ways that you may never have explored before.

The Course:

This will be a 15 hour 2-day course that will explore all of the most up-to-date information, evidence and models available on the experience and perception of pain. The content of the course will be decided and created by Mick over the next few months running up to its delivery. This is Mick’s commitment to you as delegates. He will be taking an exciting and completely reloaded look at “the problem of pain” exploring and sharing isights from his own most recent research placed into the context of the current and continuing development and dissemination of research. Mick will draw upon the original work of his collaborators and will showcase some of the best current experimental science of pain.

You:

- will be expertly guided through the story of pain and brought to a place where you are comfortable and able to explore a new understanding of consciousness and the experience of pain.

- will leave this weekend with an understanding of the limitations with a neurocentric model of ‘pain’ and an insight into the predictive processing model.

Mick will explore with you different philosophical and statistical accounts of how we experience our world with a firm basis in the science. He will weave in ideas for the clinic as well as approaches towards integrated these concepts within the modern frameworks for reasoning – from within and outside of the pain management world!

Le Pub Scientifique.

There will be an evening event released and managed by Le Pub Scientifique. Details to come. Tickets will be released to delegates prior to general release.

Make sure you follow @LePubNL and @LePubUK on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date! 🍻

Prof. Mick Thacker

Mick is currently Professor at London Southbank University and has been working towards his second PhD under the eminent Philosopher and Cognitive Scientist Prof Andy Clark on biologising the predictive processing model for pain.

But, Mick is first and foremost a Physiotherapist. His ultimate motivation is to better understand the symptoms of the patients and to help the clinicians working with them.

He trained as a Physiotherapist at West Middlesex University Hospital and progressed quickly to the role of Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist across multiple sites in London. He completed his PhD at King’s College, which began under Pat Wall and ended under Steve McMahon, and CCL2 as an important mediator into the production of neuropathic pain. He has lectured all over the world, and led the world renowned Pain Science and Society at MSc at Kings’ College London for several years.

Mick’s current research has several strands including; neuroimaging, computational neuroscience and both clinical trials and experimental pain research. He is involved in several art based projects focusing on pain. He has experience of both quantitative and qualitative methods and their application to clinical practice

Mick can be found on twitter @dibbygibby

The location:

Weesp

Just a 20minute ride South East from Amsterdam Centraal Station, sits the historic town of Weesp.

Weesp is a beautiful example of ‘typical Dutch’ with it’s cobble-stone roads, windmills, canals and jenever!

In the heart of Weesp sits the world-famous dementia village De Hogeweyk.

The Hogeweyk is a specialised residential environment for people with various forms of dementia and at elderly mental health disorders. It is a real neighbourhood with streets, squares, alleys and a park. Residents live in a ‘home environment’ and every home has several other residents and a permanent team of caretakers. A fully independent household is conducted in the homes that is not reminiscent of living in a traditional nursing home. A normal life also involves daily activities such as seeing and smelling that food is being cooked, folding the laundry or going outside and shopping. You can help wherever you can and want to.

With cafes, restaurants, bars, a supermarket and a theatre De Hogewyk prides itself on caring for the patient not only the diagnosis.

Residents have the freedom to continue to make their own choices, in a recognisable environment where well-being is paramount. This is a unique and ecological approach to caring for people with dementia and other psychological disorders as they grow older. It is therefore not surprising that there is a lot of interest from around the world and there are often visiting groups from abroad.

De Hogeweyk is a leader in the field of patient-centred care and an honour to be able to host this course in an environment where the person and not the condition is the priority of the healthcare team.

Accommodation in Weesp can be limited, contact us if you have questions or need assistance.

Weesp is located in the middle of The Netherlands making it easily accessible by car from all regions as well as Belgium and the western regions of Germany.

Weesp is connected directly by train to Amsterdam Schiphol (25 minutes), Amsterdam Centraal Station (20 min), Utrecht (35minutes) with easy connections from The Hague and Haarlem.

Weesp is a 50-minute cycle from Amsterdam Centraal Station, 25-minute drive from Amsterdam Centrum and a 40-minute drive from Utrecht.

Free parking is available in multiple areas of Weesp.