Pain Retreat

About Camp Pain Retreat

This app is for parents of children who experience recurring headaches and stomachaches. The app is also for the children themselves. While parents can learn information to better understand their children's pain, children can learn ways to better cope with, and maybe even prevent, headaches and stomachaches.

The app includes nine audio recordings designed to help deal with pain.
• The Whispering Pines provides a place to learn breathing skills
• At the Waterfall, users can learn muscle relaxation exercises
• The Campfire offers opportunities to experience guided imagery

While initially designed for parents and their children, the app also includes two interactive tools that would be appropriate for anyone who is dealing with pain. Visit the Easel to find:
• A resource to help generate ideas for things to think and do to avoid feeling so bad
• A Pain Diary to record a history of pains you experience

The combination of professionally produced audio recordings designed to help listeners cope with pain along with the interactive tools makes this app a valuable tool for anyone who deals with issues of pain.



How did this app come to be?

Camp Pain Retreat is based on a website developed by Sarah Hanly and Joel Epstein when Sarah was completing her pre-doctoral internship in clinical psychology at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Sarah developed the site while conducting research at the Missouri Institute of Mental Health (MIMH), as part of her internship at the St. Louis Psychological Consortium. Joel received his PhD in Clinical/Community Psychology from the University of South Carolina. For nearly the past two decades, he has worked at MIMH as a Research Associate Professor. He has a particular interest in computer applications in mental health and has produced dozens of interactive apps and multimedia programs. Sarah recorded the audio, Joel programmed the app, and Tom Dineen produced the artwork.