Make Your Voice Heard During Pain Awareness Month with a Letter to the Editor

Posted on August 24, 2026

September is Pain Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about the millions of Americans living with diseases and conditions that cause disabling pain.

Pain Awareness Month is an opportunity to shine a light on the millions of Americans living with migraine and headache disorders, and on the urgent need for greater recognition, research, and federal action.

This September, AHDA is asking advocates across the country to use their local voices to help move H.R. 5536, the bipartisan HEADACHE Act, forward.

One powerful way to do that is by submitting a Letter to the Editor, or LTE, to your local newspaper or news outlet.

You do not need to be a professional writer. The best letters are often short, personal, and written in your own words.

Before You Start

Choose a local publication

Start with your hometown or regional newspaper, community news site, or another publication covering your congressional district.

Check the submission requirements

Every outlet has different rules. Before you write, check:

The maximum word count
How the letter must be submitted
Whether they require your name, address, phone number, or other information for verification
Any rules related to advocacy or legislation

Many LTEs are quite short, so always check the word limit first.

Know your Member of Congress

Find out:

That will help you decide exactly what you want to ask them to do.

A Simple Way to Build Your Letter

A strong LTE can usually be built around four things:

1. Explain Why You Are Writing Now

Use Pain Awareness Month as your opening.

You might talk about:

Why Pain Awareness Month is personal to you
Why migraine and headache disorders need to be part of conversations about disabling pain
Why these diseases are still too often misunderstood or dismissed

You do not need a perfect opening. Just give the reader a reason to care about this issue now.

2. Tell Your Story

This should be the heart of your letter.

Think about the one thing you most want your community or Member of Congress to understand.

You might write about:

Living with migraine, cluster headache, or another headache disorder
Watching someone you love live with a headache disorder
The impact on work, school, family, or everyday life
Difficulty getting an accurate diagnosis or finding appropriate care
Challenges accessing treatment
What you see as a clinician caring for people with headache disorders
Why unanswered research questions matter
Why greater federal attention to headache disorders is needed

You do not need to tell your entire story.

One specific experience is often more powerful than trying to explain everything.

3. Connect Your Story to the HEADACHE Act

Introduce H.R. 5536, the bipartisan HEADACHE Act, and briefly explain why you support it. You can learn more about the bill here.

You might explain that the bill would establish a coordinated federal initiative focused on headache disorders and bring greater attention across federal agencies to research, diagnosis, care, education, data, and disparities. You might also mention it is the first standalone bill ever introduced for migraine and headache disorders and what that means to you.

You do not need to summarize every provision of the bill. One or two sentences is enough.

4. Make a Clear Ask

What you ask depends on your Representative.

If your Representative already cosponsors the HEADACHE Act

Thank them, and ask them to help move the bill forward.

Ideas you can adapt:

I am grateful that Rep. [NAME] has cosponsored the HEADACHE Act, and I hope they will now help push the legislation toward action.
I thank Rep. [NAME] for supporting H.R. 5536 and urge them to help move the bill forward before the end of the year.

If your Representative is not yet a cosponsor

Ask them to join the bill.

Ideas you can adapt:

I urge Rep. [NAME] to cosponsor H.R. 5536 and stand with people in our community living with migraine and headache disorders.
This Pain Awareness Month, I hope Rep. [NAME] will join the bipartisan effort behind the HEADACHE Act and help move the bill forward.

If your Representative serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee

Ask them to use their committee role to help advance the legislation.

For example:

As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. [NAME] is in a position to directly help move the HEADACHE Act forward. I urge them to support bringing H.R. 5536 forward for hearing or markup.

You can also encourage your Representative to support including the HEADACHE Act in an appropriate year-end health legislative package.

Keep It Personal and Local

Whenever possible, make your letter feel like it belongs in your community’s newspaper.

Mention your town, state, hospital, university, practice, or community when it naturally fits.

Instead of only talking about the millions of Americans affected, help readers understand that people living with headache disorders are their neighbors, coworkers, classmates, patients, friends, and family members.

Your Member of Congress should be able to read your letter and immediately recognize:

This is one of my constituents talking about an issue I can help address.

A Few Tips for a Strong LTE

Keep it focused. You do not need to explain everything about headache disorders or the HEADACHE Act.
Lead with people, not policy. Your experience is what makes the legislation meaningful.
Use your own voice. Write the way you would explain this issue to someone in your community.
Limit the statistics. One strong fact paired with a personal story is usually enough.
Name your Member of Congress but keep the tone positive. Do NOT make it partisan or political.
Make a specific ask.

Before You Submit

Did I follow the publication’s word limit?
Did I explain why I am writing during Pain Awareness Month?
Did I include a personal, caregiving, clinical, or research perspective?
Did I briefly explain the HEADACHE Act?
Did I name my Member of Congress?
Did I thank them if they already cosponsor the bill?
Did I ask them to cosponsor if they do not?
Did I ask them to help move the bill forward?
Does the letter sound like me? Is the tone personal and positive?

After You Submit

If it is published, send us the link so we can help amplify it!

You can also share the published letter on social media, tag your Member of Congress, and send the article directly to their congressional office.

Your Story Can Help Move the HEADACHE Act

Pain Awareness Month gives us an opportunity to talk honestly about the impact of migraine and headache disorders.

But awareness alone is not enough.

Tell your story. Name the HEADACHE Act. Ask your Member of Congress to act.

Your voice can help move H.R. 5536 forward!