I specialise in providing support to people living with, or supporting someone with, a cancer diagnosis, or other long-term illness. Additionally, I have a 10-year history of research in this area and am currently completing my PhD within psychosocial oncology.
The impact of any diagnosis is going to be connected to the way you managed the news and the support available to you. There are so many factors which can affect this, such as the feeling of needing to be strong for people around you or having to endure a time of not fully understanding what the diagnosis means and what treatment might look like.
A life changing diagnosis can impose a barrier to sharing how you really feel with those around you, for fear of upsetting other people or being judged. I can offer you the room to be honest about the changes you’ve experienced, be it physical, emotional or shifts to your identity and roles.
If the diagnosis is life-limiting, we can also explore the grief this will bring up. There may be a sense of loss for yourself, but also this can open the door for previous losses to rise back to the surface. Working through your own feelings about the diagnosis can also help you to have the conversations you want to have with the people you care about.
If you are providing support to someone else, it may feel like there isn’t a space for you to talk about how you feel. Perhaps you think you aren’t justified in needing support because someone else has a medical diagnosis. However, you deserve the space to explore what’s happening to you and how it’s impacting your life as well.
