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Pain Awareness Month: Expanding Options on the Road to Relief
Every September, Pain Awareness Month reminds us that pain is a daily reality for millions of Americans. In the U.S., pain is the most common reason for seeking medical care, with more than 80 million adults experiencing acute pain and more than 51 million adults experiencing chronic pain annually.
This widespread prevalence of pain has far-reaching impacts across communities, leading to lost productivity, missed workdays, and diminished quality of life. Furthermore, individuals who experience pain are disproportionately impacted by mental health illness and at greater risk of opioid use disorder. The consequences ripple into households, workplaces, and health care systems, costing society billions of dollars each year. This underscores a critical need for equitable access to effective pain management treatment options.
Yet pain management is made even more challenging by the current pain treatment landscape. Opioids, which have long been the solution for pain management, can pose significant risks to an individual’s health, especially for those with a family or personal history of addiction. An emergence of innovations in non-opioid treatment options offers renewed hope, but without equal access to these alternative pain management options, many are left seeking solutions.
At Patient Mind, we believe patients should have the resources they need to feel empowered in treating and managing their pain. Central to this is our commitment to educating communities and giving our advocates a voice. As a part of Take Control of Pain, an initiative from the Families, Addiction and Mental Health Network (FAM), we’re advocating for policies and programs that address pain management while providing the tools for all families, caregivers, and patients to thrive. Some of these resources include:
- Staying SAFE: To make the most informed decisions about treatment options, access Take Control of Pain’s pain management conversation guide.
- Importance of Coordination in Patient Access: There are multiple stakeholders that play a role in increasing access to treatment; learn how each player must be aligned to support patient access.
- The Opioid Epidemic and Need for Parity in Pain Treatment: The ongoing opioid epidemic has touched almost every American in one way or another, emphasizing the need for solutions to prevent addiction. Learn how parity would create equal access to non-opioid treatment options and prevent addiction before it begins.
During Pain Awareness Month, we were thrilled to attend PAINWeek 2025, where we handed out these resources and materials to health care providers, patients, and advocates of pain management. I encourage you to check out these resources and share them with others as well. Staying informed and up to date on the latest initiatives to support individuals facing pain can help us make more informed decisions with our healthcare providers on our road to relief — for ourselves and our loved ones.
Kathy Sapp is CEO of the American Chronic Pain Association, as well as the Co-founder of Patient Mind Inc. Kathy has worked for Marion Labs, Marion Merrell Dow, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Aventis, Pharmion Corporation, and Teva Pharmaceuticals. She was responsible for forming alliances with hundreds of national and international advocacy organizations and third parties to enact mutually beneficial strategies to meet business and patient needs. Kathy managed advisory boards on a global basis while building strong relationships with advocacy organizations and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). Her established relationships include rare diseases (Huntington’s, aplastic anemia, multiple myeloma), bipolar disorder, diabetes, CV, neurology (pain, migraine, MS, epilepsy, narcolepsy), and oncology. Kathy evaluated and supported thousands of medical and patient education grants and sponsorship requests. Kathy developed collaborative agreement opportunities and built strategic advocacy plans and budgets. As a health advocate, her sponsorship of innovative and award-winning programs supported millions of people globally… so patients could engage in their healthcare rights.
Scott Farmer is a passionate advocate for individuals living with physical and emotional pain, dedicating more than 21 years to advancing medical education. Throughout his career, Scott has developed and launched over 300 educational programs across 35 different conditions, including Pain Management, Migraine, Depression, Anxiety, Movement Disorders, Alzheimer’s Disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Addiction, Smoking Cessation, PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, Fibromyalgia, ADHD, Diabetes, and many others. His work also addresses broader healthcare challenges like access, clinician burnout, health literacy, and patient-centered care. Scott is the Co-Founder of Patient Mind Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the knowledge gap between clinicians and patients by fostering confident, informed clinical interactions. He also serves as COO of ACPA and CEO of AIMEC, a company specializing in ACCME live and e-learning production, education delivery, data collection, needs assessments, and outcomes-based solutions.
