Thriving with pain & purpose
Writer, speaker and advocate living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Lorraine helps organisations understand and support people with chronic conditions, while sharing her story as the author of The Surrender Agenda.
LATEST NEWS The Surrender Agenda places THIRD in the NON-FICTION category at the INK BOOK AWARDS
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"I have always believed that stories heal in their own way, and The Surrender Agenda is an example of just that. With ballet-like precision, strength, and beauty Lorraine linguistically navigates a variety of complex and challenging topics. This book is a must-read for anyone feeling alone in what it’s like to really live in a hypermobile body."
- Alexandra Orfanides, M. Ost. BA (Hons) Hypermobility Specialist Osteopath
"Lorraine uses a variety of analogies to help the reader relate to a life lived with chronic pain and her journey to love her pain and work with her pain on a daily basis instead of trying to shut it out. I recommend this book wholeheartedly for those experiencing chronic pain and for their loved ones as a tool to understanding and self-help."
- Dr Lori Beth Bisbey, psychologist, speaker & author
"It is by embracing our truth and sharing it with the world to help others feel seen and heard that gives us purpose. This is what Lorraine has achieved with this book. She has distilled her unique insights into chronic pain with such clarity and humour that you will realise you are not alone. I hope this book inspires you to turn your pain into purpose so you can share your story to help others so they are inspired to do the same."
- Jake McNeil, Creative Hackers
“Lorraine has a way of changing the very foundations of how a community functions.”
Time to Thrive
I’m Lorraine Ansell, content creator, writer, and speaker living with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a chronic genetic connective tissue condition and author of The Surrender Agenda, a memoir exploring life with chronic pain and hEDS in a witty way.
Living in pain has given me a unique perspective on resilience, communication, and thriving under challenge. Alongside writing, I speak to audiences about invisible illness, chronic pain, and the lived experience of navigating systems that aren’t designed for conditions you can’t easily see.
I create, talk, and write about what I know:
pain, perseverance and human experience.
This lived experience, combined with my skills in storytelling and communication, allows me to help organisations, teams, and leaders understand and support people with chronic and invisible conditions through talks, workshops, and consultancy.
My background sits between personal narrative and communication work and translating lived experience into language that resonates beyond those who already understand it.
Because one of the biggest gaps in this space isn’t information.
It’s understanding.
Condition Insights
Stories, guides and reflections from my life with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and other conditions.
I share what I know about thriving in pain and how I use my creative resilience to offer insight, inspiration, and practical tips for anyone navigating similar challenges.
Talks & Coaching
Engaging, interactive sessions rooted in lived patient experience, designed to build empathy and understanding around invisible illness, communication, workplace wellbeing, alongside practical consultancy to improve inclusion, internal communications, and supportive workplace structures.
Press & Media
Check out the latest press and media features and interviews, sharing my lived experience perspective on invisible illness, empathy, and workplace wellbeing, and how these raise awareness, shape more inclusive and supportive workplaces. From press to podcasts, I love to talk about my experiences.
Social Media Awareness
Lorraine often posts about pain in a whimsical way using melodies and snippets from film, TV, media
to highlight her journey with chronic pain and lived experience of chronic conditions.
Sometimes she even goes viral. But most of the time, posting is her way of processing a life full of pain.
Check out her pain posts
Enter her world of pain on instagram and on Tiktok