Full Cancer Living

Janneke van
Beusekom, LCSW

The Healing Journey is proud to offer a new professionally led cancer support group designed to address the psychological, social, and spiritual issues that are normal to people living with cancer. Cancer and its treatment place significant demands on relationships, on psychological and emotional wellbeing, and on sense of life purpose. Addressing those challenges head on, living fully with cancer, or Full Cancer Living is what this group is about. It is now well known in the medical world that providing tools for mindful living and bringing together people facing similar challenges can have a significant positive impact on quality of life and possibly length of life.

The group is a structured time-limited one that will meet for six sessions for an hour and a half each.  All cancer patients and a loved one are welcome at any time. You are encouraged to come to all six sessions since the subjects covered build on each other and you will feel more connected to the other participants. A specific topic will be covered each session and (with hand-outs as appropriate) followed by an invitation to participants to share their thoughts and experiences. Sometimes optional experiential exercises will be offered.

Living fully with cancer is about responding with resilience rather than resistance. It is about being fully present for what is happening in your life like a tree that bends and moves with the force of the wind. In this first meeting we will experiment with and talk about how to nurture a mindful and compassionate approach to responding to the challenges that cancer brings.

Taking Charge and Taking Care

A fundamental part of being human is the ability to make decisions and take action. Let’s look at how you can use this ability to take charge as a way of taking good care of yourself. We will discuss how to build on the strengths you have by figuring out what you can control, what you can’t and then acting on what you can. Taking good care of your self is especially important now and the first step in doing so is taking charge. Possible specific subjects where the issue of taking charge might come up include the issues of researching your diagnosis, eating right, working, asking for help, and having fun.  

The Power of Relationships

From early childhood on, people find that their connections with others are a source of great joy and sustenance.  In fact, people who are well connected typically report higher levels of happiness. In this meeting, we will talk about how having cancer sometimes changes relationships, some for the better and others for the poorer. Developing new ways of communicating often can be helpful in deepening connection and avoiding disconnection. We will look at different relationship styles and discuss ways to respond that increase your satisfaction in your important relationships.

Feeling Your Way

Emotions are responsible for much of the color and vibrancy of life. Experiencing them fully provides the energy and sustenance of living; this is true for the so-called negative feelings (such as sadness, anger, and anxiety) as well as positive ones (such as appreciation, courage, and hope). Furthermore, recognizing and acknowledging your feelings can provide a useful guide to action. We will take a close look at the many different feelings that can come up in response to the cancer experience while seeing how they can inform you and encourage you in your healing journey.

Thinking It Through

Reason and rationality bring order to living and help us create sense out of confusion. At the same time, stress is the perfect situation for creating distorted thinking. One way to make sense out of it all and to create a clear path is to distinguish between your feelings and your thoughts. Both are important in making good decisions but they need to work together (and not against each other). Coping with cancer requires caring thought. We will discuss how to create an environment in which you can think things through empathically and productively. 

Building Meaning

Important events in life have a way of getting us to ask big and important questions about the meaning of our lives. We ask questions about why we’re here, why our lives are what they are, and what makes our lives significant. It can be very empowering to identify what the purpose of your life is and facing cancer can open the door to doing this important task. For some people (but not all), spiritual beliefs are an important part of asking and answering these questions. In the context of valuing all belief systems, we will explore the many questions and answers that contribute to building a meaningful life.

Meeting Dates and Times

Thursday, September 15 5:00-6:30
Thursday, September 29 5:00-6:30
Thursday, October 13  5:00- 6:30
Thursday, October 27  5:00-6:30
Thursday, November 10 5:00-6:30
Tuesday, November 22 5:00-6:30

Meeting Place

Reception Room of the Lancaster Cancer Center, 1858 Charter Lane, Lancaster, PA

Registration

Please call Janneke van Beusekom at Life Management Associates (394-6688) to register and to let her know you’re coming. For questions contact either Janneke or staff at the Lancaster Cancer Center.