Initially involving local face-to-face group meetings, Coralie soon realised there were people in need all over Australia and beyond. Many of whom were isolated and alone.

Coralie invited people to share their stories with her. They arrived in hundreds from all corners of the country, revealing overwhelming distress and despair and emphasising the urgent need for community care and support to be made available to this vulnerable group. Coralie shared these stories with her friend and long-standing Rotarian Lee Furlong, who quickly activated his Rotary connections to provide $7000 seed funding to establish a nationally available support channel. Thus, Chronic Pain Australia was born.

Having incorporated in 2006, Chronic Pain Australia ran its first conference in 2007. Powered by volunteers’ dedication, including Coralie, Lee, and recruits Mandy Nielsen and David Newman, Chronic Pain Australia established the world’s first support hotline for people living with chronic pain. Further work saw the establishment of web-based resources and community connection sites, including the Chronic Pain Australia online discussion forum and the first Australian chronic pain awareness campaign – National Pain Week.

Today, Chronic Pain Australia is the voice for tens of thousands of Australians living with chronic pain. We have undertaken annual snapshot research to understand the experiences of people living with chronic pain in Australia, including how they manage it. We engage through social media, having built a community of over 9500 people that cross over into our 24/7 online forum with over 3000 users. Importantly, we continue to reduce stigma and raise awareness of chronic pain through our National Pain Week campaign each year in July.