Free Chronic Pain Support Group — Ocean Park, ME | PSG Southern Maine
The Pain Support Group of Southern Maine has been meeting for years in Ocean Park, serving the Saco, Biddeford, and Old Orchard Beach communities. The group describes itself as a safe place where people with chronic pain can support one another, develop friendships, share ideas and thoughts, obtain information about their condition from professionals and each other, and learn coping skills in a nonjudgmental and caring atmosphere.
What to Expect
Meetings are held on the first and third Thursdays of each month in the Hospitality Room at The Pines in Ocean Park, Maine. Sessions blend open peer conversation with occasional guest presentations — the group has hosted clinicians, researchers, and policy staff on topics ranging from pain treatment to opioid regulation, and members are invited to share their own experience of treatment and relief during those discussions. The group has a long public track record: it has partnered with University of New England students on chronic pain documentation projects, been featured on public radio, and been covered in the Portland Press Herald’s series on chronic pain. Meetings are open to the public and free of charge.
Who This Group Is For
Adults living with chronic pain from any cause — arthritis, injury, neuropathy, fibromyalgia, post-surgical pain, or an undiagnosed condition — are welcome, and so are family members and supporters. There is no diagnosis requirement, no referral, and no membership. Everyone is welcome to attend. This is not a treatment program and does not replace medical care; it is a place to be among people who already understand what a flare costs you.
Why Peer Support Works
Chronic pain is unusually isolating because it is invisible and because it wears down the patience of people who don’t have it. Many members arrive after years of being doubted — by employers, by family, sometimes by clinicians. A room where the pain is simply assumed to be real removes an enormous amount of daily labor. Beyond validation, members trade the practical knowledge that rarely fits into a fifteen-minute appointment: which specialists listen, how to pace a good day, what actually helps with sleep. The friendships that form often outlast the meetings themselves.
How to Join
Attendance is free and open to the public — no registration required. Because meeting details are occasionally updated, contact the group before your first visit. Reach Evelyn at (207) 937-5020 or Jane at (207) 934-4189, or email supportgroup@gwi.net. Current meeting information is posted at painsupportgroup.org and on the group’s Facebook page.