Cancer Counselling
If you are reading this page, you are likely affected by cancer or chronic illness. You may be recently diagnosed, recovering from treatment or close to someone who is unwell.
I have many years of experience supporting individuals affected by cancer and chronic illness, both as a counsellor with Macmillan Counselling Services and in my private practice, Brighton Cancer Counselling.
Sometimes these individuals have been mid-treatment. Often, they are seeking support after treatment as they begin to make sense of what happened and look ahead to what might be. I have also had the privilege of working with individuals as they approach end of life.
Here to support you through cancer and chronic illness whether you’re ill, recovering
As a patient, your health is cared for by a medical team, but your emotional wellbeing can get missed. Speaking with a counsellor who is outside your friendship group or family can help.
You can air difficult feelings in confidence, ‘let off steam’ and give voice to what are often contradictory emotions. Together, we can begin to understand all the ways your illness has impacted you.
Through steady support, you can feel lighter, calmer and more resourced.
Cancer and chronic illness also impact everyone who cares for or relies on that individual – partners, children, friends, colleagues.
When you are caring for someone with cancer or chronic illness, or simply close to someone who is unwell, you can get overlooked. Yet you are also living with uncertainty, fear, shock and sadness.
In addition, you may be expected to be supportive, patient and loving at a time when you are struggling.
This can be an enormous burden to carry.
Getting the right support while also supporting a loved-one is important. That vital caring role cannot be underestimated, but for to be able to perform it, you need to be cared for too.
What I can support you with
Through confidential, thoughtfully paced work we can explore your experience of serious illness, or of living alongside someone who is unwell
Coping with treatment
Anxiety about recurrence
Questioning longevity, aloneness and meaning
Making sense of a serious diagnosis
Physical changes and chronic pain