Zest for Life is a free 6-week programme led by a Cancer Focus NI facilitator.

The course is designed for people who are on a survival and recovery period in their cancer journey.

Zest for Life will explore personal development and there will be a strong emphasis on health and wellbeing, as well as making lifestyle adjustments to improve physical and mental health.

Sessions will include:

· Goal setting

· Understanding and managing stress

· Identifying personal values and needs

· Developing strategies to have these needs met

· Using techniques to encourage positive thinking

· Relaxation techniques

Please email carolinehart@cancerfocusni.org or call 07773 129 599 for further information.

Thrive is a community and safe space for younger women to connect with and support each other.

We also offer a 6-session peer support group for younger women who have had a breast cancer diagnosis and are ready to begin to ‘Thrive’ again. The sessions run once a week for 6 weeks and are led by a Cancer Focus NI facilitator with an emphasis on Health and Wellbeing.

The programme is packed with tools and techniques to help you reflect on where you are now and how you might want to move forward in a positive way.

It will provide a safe space for you to share your story, if you feel comfortable doing so, with other women who have had similar experiences to you.

Sessions will include:

• Goal setting
• Exploration of common emotions
• Managing different types of thinking
• Managing stress and boundaries
• Values and needs recognition
• Consideration of physical health

For more information on Thrive and to join our private Facebook community, please contact Caroline Hart on 07773 129599 or carolinehart@cancerfocusni.org.

Do you enjoy singing?  Would you like to sing with a choir and make new friends?

Our popular Sing for Life community choir, based in Belfast, has a membership of well over 100 people with an average weekly attendance of around 50.

Joining the choir gives you the chance to meet others living with cancer and to share time together in a friendly, supportive environment. You don’t need previous musical experience, and friends and family are welcome too.

Cancer Focus Northern Ireland offers two writing groups which give cancer patients the opportunity to write and speak about their cancer experiences.

These workshops are facilitated by counsellors from the Cancer Focus NI counselling service.

Why write about the pain and struggle that comes with cancer?

Studies have shown it can be good to do so.

Writing offers a safe place to unearth and express what you think and feel.

When you begin to shape those thoughts and feelings into story, or stories, it helps to make sense of things.

“Writing is a form of creative self-expression that is readily available to anyone who wants to do it. All you need is a pen, paper (or laptop) and the freedom to express what resides in your heart and mind.”

(Taken from the website Writing Through Cancer by Sharon Bray)

The two writing groups are called:

• Writing My Cancer Journey
• Poetry and My Cancer Experience

The first of these workshops takes the group on a chronological journey through their cancer experience. It begins with life before cancer and goes through to the present day.

The second workshop takes a look at cancer experience through the use of poetry, and writing one’s own poems.

“From the beginning of time, poetry has been a means for people to express their deepest emotions. Because a poem has a border, a frame, or structure, as opposed to prose, the form itself is a safety net.”

(Taken from The Therapeutic Benefit of Poetry by Phyllis Klein, LCSW, and Perie Longo, PhD, MFT.)

Each group offers written exercises with the opportunity to discuss explore and talk with fellow members of the group.

One successful and beneficial feature of the group approach is the invitation to read aloud what has been written and this is offered as a choice.

What our clients say:

‘You created a lovely safe and non-judgmental place to be and to create’

‘Apart from learning about poetry, this has been very therapeutic and healing for me and thoroughly enjoyable’

For further information and to book a free place on one of our groups, please contact the Cancer Focus NI Care Services Secretary: Tel: 028 9066 3281/ Email: care@cancerfocusni.org