Our vision: What if good pain care was the norm?
Where do we see the Meg Foundation going? What are our hopes for the future? We are so glad you asked! Let's talk about our big plans!
Jody Thomas, PhD,
December 12, 2023
Babies & Toddlers (0-2) Kids (3-11) Tweens & Teens (12+) Needle Pokes Provider Acute Pain Chronic Pain Procedural Pain English
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This is the final part of our “Pause and Reflect” series! Over the past few weeks, we’ve shared our origin story (part 1 & part 2) and the impact we’ve made—with your help—since our founding. Now, we are excited to share our big plans for the future!
Our vision for the future requires a change in mindset. We need to change the way people—and healthcare systems—think about pain. That starts with the individual. To change the world, we start with changing people’s minds.
This is where you come in! We need your help to realize our vision. To get you excited about where we are going, let’s start with reviewing our core foundation: our mission and guiding beliefs.
Our mission:
Empower kids and families with the skills, strategies, and support they need to manage pain and medical anxiety. We provide more than information, we give people a guide to self-advocacy and a course of action. Knowledge is not necessarily power, but the ability to use it and turn it into action is.
We believe:
- No child should hurt when it can be avoided.
- No parent should feel helpless watching their child in pain.
- No adult should avoid healthcare because of preventable childhood trauma.
- Quality healthcare shouldn’t depend on where you live, the color of your skin, who you love, how you identify yourself, or what you make.
- Partnerships, collaboration, and supporting the good work of others is key to large-scale change.
Our vision:
To go big, we have to think big. We envision a world free of unnecessary suffering that has closed the gap between science and clinical practice. A world where every child, family, and medical provider has the skills, information, and tools they need to understand, prevent, and manage pain. A world that understands and normalizes that pain is a physical, psychological AND social experience. A world where right from the start kids and families understand how pain works and how to manage it before it’s out of control. A world where we prevent medical trauma instead of treat it.
A world where kids look forward to well-child visits—and don’t fear sick ones—because their doctor and healthcare team make them feel safe, seen, and heard. A world where rates of medical anxiety and chronic pain are going down instead of up. A world where kids (and adults!) with illnesses like cancer and diabetes aren’t traumatized by the very treatment that saves them. A world where no one dies or suffers unnecessarily because they were too scared to see a doctor.
We get there together
We don’t reach these goals all on our own. We reach them by hard work, good science, innovation, and collaboration. We make this vision a reality by working together. Every time you use our tools, share our strategies, advocate for yourself or your loved ones, or donate a dollar, we get that much closer.
We need you, and we are so grateful for you. THANK YOU. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU.
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The Meg Foundation Origin Story Part 2:
How one little girl and the idea of empowering people became the Meg Foundation.
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American Academy of Pediatrics On Call Podcast: Pediatrics Research Roundup, Managing Fear of Needles
In this episode Rachel Moon, associate editor of digital media for the journal Pediatrics, shares a research roundup from the July issue. Hosts David Hill, MD, FAAP, and Joanna Parga-Belinkie, also talk with David Becker and Jody Thomas, PhD, about strategies for taking the pain and fear out of vaccinations.
Interested in helping us help even more people by putting our science backed resources out in the world? We need amazing people like you! Consider donating today!
About the Author
Dr. Jody Thomas is a licensed clinical psychologist, and specialist in pediatric medical illness and trauma. A well-known expert in pediatric pain who teaches internationally on the subject, she is also a founder and the former Clinical Director of the Packard Pediatric Pain Rehabilitation Center at Stanford, and a former Assistant Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Though she now lives in Denver, CO, she still serves as Adjunct Faculty for Stanford, providing supervision and teaching. As a consultant for the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, she directs projects on the integration and innovation of pain management using tech-based intervention. Her passion for bringing together the power of medical science, technology and design to transform the way we think about kids and pain led her to her current focus but it’s her role as a mom of two that solidified her path in creating the Meg Foundation.