Welcome back to our ‘Meet the Speaker’ newsletter series, where we’ll be interviewing members of our speaker line-up for Therapy Expo 2025. It’s a chance to get to know the experts behind all the real insights, experience, and guidance presented at the show.    

This week, we’re meeting Julia Gover, Community Pain Champion, Flippin’ Pain…  

Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in chronic pain management? 

It all started with personal experience. Migraine syndromes run in my family, and managing my own led me down a fascinating path of exploring just how complex pain can be. I quickly learned that it’s never just one thing—pain is shaped by biology, psychology, and lifestyle. During my chiropractic degree, learning about chronic pain was a core concept that we received lots of training on. I became especially interested in the psychology of chronic pain and how behaviour change can play a powerful role in recovery. I knew early on that this was the area where I wanted to make a difference. Today, I work in public health with Flippin’ Pain, helping people re-think what pain is, how we talk about it, and how we treat it—grounded in the latest science and always with empathy. 

What’s the focus of your presentation at this year’s conference, and why is this topic important right now? 

We will be talking about "Painkillers without the Pills". With recent NICE guidelines advising a move away from long-term use of pain medication for chronic pain—due to limited benefits and growing concerns about side effects—the big question is: what else can we offer? This talk explores evidence-based alternatives that go beyond the prescription pad. Come to the session to find out! 

What’s one thing you hope attendees will take away from your session? 

That pain doesn't always mean injury or tissue damage, and that a myriad of different factors can influence the experience pain - many of which can be controlled or changed. This is the foundation of everything we do at Flippin’ Pain: sharing this information has helped people feel less fearful of their chronic pain, more in control, and more hopeful for the future. 

Have there been any recent developments or research in chronic pain management that you find particularly exciting? 

We are really beginning to understand the huge impact that the MEANING of your pain has on your experience of it, and the enormous role played by pain beliefs. Not only that, but we're starting to understand how those beliefs are formed, and how they might change over time or when learning something new. The big development here is actually not a new science, but rather integrating the science of what we know about pain and what we know about how people learn. Those two branches of expertise together make Pain Science Education (the approach that Flippin’ Pain takes) a powerful tool in pain management. 

What’s one misconception about chronic pain management you often encounter, and how do you address it? 

That chronic pain is not "real" pain, because it's not linked to an injury. But this is far from true. I tend to compare it to a fire alarm. Fire alarms can go off when the house is on fire, you burn the toast, or when it's running out of battery. It still makes the same noise. Regardless of what is driving the experience of pain, that experience is still real, and is just as painful and distressing as any other experience of pain. 

How do you continue learning and evolving in your practice? Are there any books, courses, or mentors that have influenced you recently? 

I actually just finished my MSc which has been a fantastic opportunity to get my teeth into some of the more academic and cutting-edge literature on pain science and management. I also help to run the Pain Faculty at the Royal College of Chiropractors, and so I'm actively involved in finding speakers for our CPD events, which keeps me fairly current. As the impact of chronic pain on individuals and healthcare systems across the globe is increasingly recognised and quantified, more research and training is available now than ever before. This is wonderful but makes it tricky to stay current across the board! 

What do you enjoy most about working in this field? 

Seeing the paradigm shift happen in real time when people learn that their experience of pain is real, valid, and that recovery is possible. Many people who live with pain have had their experience dismissed, or been told that they just have to learn to live with it, and it's an enormous privilege and thrill to change their perceptions and provide some hope. 

Outside of work, how do you like to unwind or recharge? 

Boardgames, ballroom dancing and heavy metal gigs 

Register for your ticket now  to attend Julia’s session at Therapy Expo 2025.