The Comfort Ability® Program

The Comfort Ability® Program workshops introduce cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for management of pain and functional symptoms, and are a routinely recommended intervention for kids and teens with ongoing discomforts. Workshops provide neuroscience education about how the brain works, offer social support, and they also provide hands-on skills training for kids and parents/caregivers. The workshops introduce an array of evidenced-based strategies for managing discomforts and symptom-related fear, as well as structured plans for improving sleep, school, and exercise.

The Comfort Ability® Program workshops are for kids and teens ages 10 to 17 who have ongoing pain, as well as their parents or caregivers. There are separate parts of the program for kids/teens and parent/caregivers. If a kid/teen has more than one parent/caregiver, it is recommended that both attend the workshop.

You do not have to be a current patient at Boston Children’s Hospital to attend a workshop at Boston Children’s. All families who are interested to attend a workshop at Boston Children’s will be screened by the Comfort Ability® Program at the time of registration to ensure that the workshop is a good fit for them.

For most children and adolescents, this intervention is covered by insurance.

If you live outside of Massachusetts, you can check to see if there is a Comfort Ability® Program workshop near you at our find-a-workshop page.

Kids/teens and parents/caregivers are in separate groups for the workshop.

• Adolescent group: The workshop for kids and teens (ages 10-17) provides a safe, comfortable space to connect with a small group who can really understand what it’s like to have ongoing pain and functional symptoms. Together, they explore the science of how the brain functions, learn strategies based in psychology that can help to improve comfort, and experiment with a wide range of mind-body skills that are proven to help with recovery. Participants also explore how to manage symptom-related stress like feeling different from their friends, school problems, lack of sleep, missing out on activities, and how to cope with feeling anxious or sad. Kids and teens get the chance to talk to a peer mentor who has learned how to manage pain and other discomfort and ask questions. At the end of the workshop, participants develop their own Comfort Ability® plan to guide their coping and long-term recovery.
• Parent/caregiver group: The parent/caregiver workshop focuses on parenting skills that help to boost a child’s sense of comfort and well-being. Parents also learn about neuroscience and about cognitive behavioral therapy. Parents and caregivers explore new ways to respond to the child’s discomforts, focus on how to improve day-to-day activities at home and school, and create a specific plan that will help to boost comfort for the child. Parents and caregivers also have time to connect with other parents in supportive ways and talk with a parent mentor who has successfully supported a child’s recovery.

A Comfort Ability® Program workshop can be attended in person or virtually. Workshops are offered once or twice per month. Workshops include 12 hours of intervention in total (6 hours for kids/teens, 6 hours for parents/caregivers). In person workshops provide the full intervention in a single day. These workshops run on a weekend day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Boston Children’s Brookline, 2 Brookline Place in Brookline. Virtual workshops provide the intervention in six sessions over the course of two weeks (4 sessions for kids/teens, 2 sessions for parents/caregivers). Registration for all workshops is done on a first-come, first-serve basis.

To join an upcoming Comfort Ability® Program workshop, please call 617-355-8297 or email us at TheComfortAbility@childrens.harvard.edu for our current availability.