Helen Macdonald is a cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and university lecturer specialising in pain management. She obtained a Master's Degree in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy, with a dissertation examining the effectiveness of assisted self-help for chronic pain. She was recognized as a Chartered Health Psychologist in 2004. Catherine Carus is a registered physiotherapist currently teaching at the University of Bradford, and she specializes in the assessment and management of musculoskeletal conditions. Dr Frances Cole was a GP and pain rehabilitation specialist. She developed the first UK primary and community care pain rehabilitation programme based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles in 1996. She developed a pain health needs assessment tool that won an NHS Modernisation award in 2005 and gained an NHS National Clinical Leaders Award in 2011. Frances is a past chair of the British Pain Society Pain Management Programme Special Interest Group whose current focus is on multidisciplinary pain management. Her current work is on digital self-management tools for pain including apps.
