About Soula Mantalvanos

“I felt I had lost my independence, I could not communicate and express my personal experience and that no one understood me.” Soula combines her many years of chronic pain with her professional design experience to advocate about misdiagnosis and injured Victorian workers. Soula founded pudendalnerve.com.au and PainTrain My Health Summary to help raise the quality of care for those enduring and treating chronic pain.
March 14th, 2023 8:29 pm

Here and There, art exhibition at Queenscliff Gallery

By |2023-03-14T20:29:28+11:00March 14th, 2023|Categories: About, Blog, Creativity|Tags: , , |

Here and There exhibition: paintings, drawings and etchings of Venice by me at Queenscliff Gallery. It's thrilling to be writing this post. To my friends and followers further afield than Melbourne, I will have a virtual tour of the exhibition published on the Queenscliff Gallery (QG) website where you can view the works forming the exhibition and some of my other available artworks. Here and There is a culmination of my recent trip to Venice... to date!

March 7th, 2023 6:07 am

Soula Mantalvanos in Times News Group’s Women in Business International Women’s Day 2023 Edition

By |2023-03-06T20:09:22+11:00March 7th, 2023|Categories: Advocacy, Blog, Help, My Health Story, News, Online|Tags: , , , , |

(Image: Soula Mantalvanos, founder My Health Story features in Women in Business, Bellarine Times International Women’s Day special edition 2023) Feature, Women in Business, Bellarine Times International [...]

February 25th, 2023 11:06 am

Introducing Nerita Lewis, Founder of Jaspen, a new social platform

By |2023-02-25T11:11:25+11:00February 25th, 2023|Categories: Blog, Learn, Professional Resources|Tags: , , , |

In 2011 when I built pudendalnerve.com.au, the internet was starved of helpful communities and resources. It was the very reason my advocacy began. I didn't want anyone to be as lost as I was on my search for important health information. There were few online portals where people could connect, and the only health information available was through science journals – no individual could understand them! Health orgs that did have a web presence seemed not to have a dialogue with the consumers they claimed to exist for. Thank goodness that's changing, but we still have a way to go as the usual questions remain; What is chronic pain? How can we manage chronic pain and its symptoms and effects? What are the best treatments, and why is there such a lack of understanding? etc This is where Nerita Lewis comes in with her idea to democratise healthcare with Jaspen.

February 12th, 2023 1:25 pm

Soula’s Coconutty Granola

By |2023-02-25T10:46:28+11:00February 12th, 2023|Categories: Blog, Living|

I am skipping more breakfasts; my body manages far better (cutting out goat's feta on the seedy cracker). The less work my body does in the morning, the happier it seems. No pressure! An empty belly is no pressure on the gut. Feeling hungry does not cause pressure and is easier to deal with than the pain effects. I treat myself a couple of times a week to a croissant. On those days, I avoid carbs for the rest of that day. Carbs have to be in very little moderation for me. So finding a non-carb lunch is important, and it had to be easy to put together. Cereal! Well, most cereals have loads of carbs. Granola! A great idea; make a batch and just add fruit. But wait! Most granola mixes have heaps of sugar (and pepitas, which I am allergic to).

November 27th, 2022 12:35 pm

WorkSafe Victoria Instructed to Treat Injured Workers With Dignity and Respect

By |2023-01-24T16:11:05+11:00November 27th, 2022|Categories: Blog, Workcover|Tags: , , |

WorkSafe Victoria Instructed to Treat Injured Workers With Dignity and Respect My letter has arrived informing me that I am one of the 1,500 long-term injured workers WorkSafe is contacting.  So, I had to learn what this was about. It would be best if you were prepared in these distressing situations even though you anticipate the return to the fire pit.  A letter from WorkSafe is never a simple letter. It will never be pleasant, never hopeful and nor will it ever be about justice, support or care. Letters from WorkSafe are about WorkSafe and steered at ticking their boxes.  Injured workers now have to help WorkSafe clean up their mess.

October 4th, 2022 2:30 pm

WEBINAR: Can visualising the personal health experience lead to better care and understanding?

By |2022-10-04T14:30:46+11:00October 4th, 2022|Categories: Advocacy, Events|Tags: , , , , , , |

Can visualising the personal health experience lead to better care and understanding? You all know what I think and believe about this. But now, I'm aiming to inform the rest of [...]

September 24th, 2022 11:50 am

My Lived Experience at CODA Conference

By |2023-02-25T11:08:42+11:00September 24th, 2022|Categories: Advocacy, Blog, Events, Learn, Professional Resources|Tags: , , , , |

The Primary Care workshop at this year's CODA Conference was my favorite lived experience contribution to date! The workshop approach was more effective than my other 'standup gigs'. Something has clicked with me lately – I've stepped out of chronic illness's emotional and physical sides and more often partaking in health education. I like it! We must believe that twitches, spasms, toilet function-changing effects, noise, screaming, soreness, stabbing, burning, itching, fatiguing, and draining effects of chronic pain can be controlled. If you had told me this between my first and 4.5-year mark, I would have felt angry and said, 'My issue is severe, far more serious than everyone realises, and my healthcare practitioners are all missing the terrible thing in my body, and I am going to die from it.'

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