New insights into chronic pain and illness
Our team
Penny George, Founder & Director
Penny developed extreme fatigue along with brain fog, shortness of breath, and huge energy crashes after a bout of shingles in 2017, and was diagnosed with ME/chronic fatigue syndrome 15 months later. Thankfully, just 2 years after becoming ill, she learned about the neuroplastic approach from a Buddhist nun, and started to understand that her symptoms were directly related to recent significant stresses, including a highly toxic work environment and the loss of two friends to suicide. She made a rapid recovery, also resolving 15 years of arm pain; left the job and has worked ever since to help spread the word on recovery being possible. She founded Living Proof in summer 2022.
Dr Sarah Hadfield GP, Medical Advisor
Sarah has been practising as a GP in the UK since 2008. For the past 10 years she has been training in methods regarding psychological and emotional health and exploring how these are related to the emergence and treatment of physical health conditions. She now works with patients using the neuroplastic approach alongside her usual GP work. She is also working with other healthcare professionals in the UK to integrate the mindbody approach into NHS services and is involved in educating doctors about mindbody medicine.
David D. Clarke MD, Medical Advisor
David is President of the Psychophysiologic Disorders Association in the US (EndChronicPain.org), and Clinical Assistant Professor of Gastroenterology Emeritus at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. He has successfully treated over 7000 patients whose pain or other symptoms were not explained by diagnostic tests, and has published three books on this approach to medicine - 'They Can't Find Anything Wrong!', 'Psychophysiologic Disorders', and most recently, ‘A Diagnostic Guide for Psychophysiologic Disorders’. He lectures across North America and Europe and has appeared on over 100 television and radio broadcasts, helping to spread the word.
Dr Barbara Phipps GP, Medical Advisor
An NHS GP for over 20 years, Barbara teaches on the University of Edinburgh's postgraduate MSc in Pain Management and is a Trustee of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine where she leads the Chronic Pain Special Interest Group. In 2020, Barbara created a chronic pain management programme for patients in her local area in Edinburgh, based around lifestyle medicine and a mindbody approach. Following positive outcomes this programme now looks set to expand to other areas of the city. Barbara has recently trained in Pain Reprocessing Therapy and is also interested in the role of breath work in pain management.
Charli Hilton, Living Proof Ambassador
Charli recovered in 2021 from 3 years of widespread pain including hip, back, and jaw pain, as well as IBS and severe dry eyes, using a neuroplastic approach. Since then, she has chosen to dedicate her career to teaching others how they can help themselves out of chronic symptoms, and is currently doing this through her Pilates teaching and educational workshops on pain science. Charli featured in the first Living Proof film, made in 2021, and she is now hosting Living Proof’s Mindbuddy London peer support group.
Carolyn Neeson, Living Proof Ambassador
Carolyn has over 20 years’ experience as a Chartered Physiotherapist within the NHS and private sector, and now runs her own practice near Glasgow. Pursuing an interest in how the body and mind influence each other, Carolyn is now also certified in Pain Reprocessing Therapy, and a qualified SIRPA practitioner. During her SIRPA training Carolyn inadvertently overcame her own symptoms of fibromyalgia as well as resolving chronic headaches and nausea which she had experienced since childhood. She is passionate about sharing a message of hope with those living with persistent symptoms as well as health professionals, and is supporting a range of Living Proof projects alongside her own work.
Sarah Howarth, Living Proof Ambassador
Sarah was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis in her early 20s. She experienced 24/7 pain for over a decade, which frequently left her bedbound. She exhausted conventional treatments (medications, surgeries and even a spinal stimulator) with little lasting relief. In her 30s she started ‘collecting’ additional conditions including debilitating pain in her surgical scars, pelvis and low back. Eventually, questioning the role of her nervous system, she started to read about how neuroplastic pain can be ‘learned’ (and thankfully unlearned!). She embarked on a long and bumpy pain reprocessing journey with life-changing success. Today, Sarah enjoys a full life as a busy mum of young boys and mindfulness coach for chronic pain.
Dan Hindsley, Living Proof Ambassador
Dan was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in his 20s following an MRI scan, and was sent away to 'manage' the pain. He suffered with severe sciatica and back pain for around 15 years before discovering the neuroplastic approach which helped him link the symptoms to repressed grief and anxiety. Following Georgie Oldfield's book Chronic Pain: Your Key to Recovery, he made a full recovery which culminated in him completing an Ironman 70.3 Triathlon in 2019, after years of believing he was unable to run. Dan co-produced both the Living Proof short films with Penny, and is now sharing his story of recovery whenever he can to help inspire others.
