Selfcare Workshops for Young People with Cancer

As we write this report, we are preparing for another in our self-care series of workshops for young people fighting cancer.

Self-care is so important for everyone, but particularly for these young people who are stripped of their confidence and unable to see their future beyond their illness.

In the digital sessions, the young people sign up to the event, and are sent a self-care pack containing skin care essentials – gentle products recommended for skin care during and after treatment.  The products are intended to soothe and restore, repair and rejuvenate the skin. 

When the beneficiaries join the digital session, they learn skin care techniques and the importance of both the skin care regime to hydrate their skin and the importance of creating a protective barrier in all weathers and in the home setting.  They also learn the importance of taking time for themselves, to improve their mental and emotional well-being, reduce their stress and anxiety and to boost their self-esteem.

These sessions, ensure that the young people have the opportunity to meet others, to offer mutual support, and share their own stories.  Hearing the young people telling each other the importance of self-care, encouraging each other to create and maintain healthy relationships with themselves, and offering suggestions for simple things they can do to look after themselves, from regular sleep and a healthy diet through to having a warm bath and reading a book or listening to music, is heart-warming, and shows how very special this little Community that you have helped to create is.  The support they offer each other crosses the boundaries of age, it crosses the boundaries of gender, ethnicity, religion, social class, and education.  Their strength lies in the thing that unites them, their common experience – facing a life-threatening illness in their teenage and young adult years.  And these self-care opportunities demonstrate this with abundance.

Thank you to everyone who has helped to create this very special community supporting young people fighting cancer.

As we write this report, we are preparing for another in our self-care series of workshops for young people fighting cancer.

Self-care is so important for everyone, but particularly for these young people who are stripped of their confidence and unable to see their future beyond their illness.

In the digital sessions, the young people sign up to the event, and are sent a self-care pack containing skin care essentials – gentle products recommended for skin care during and after treatment.  The products are intended to soothe and restore, repair and rejuvenate the skin. 

When the beneficiaries join the digital session, they learn skin care techniques and the importance of both the skin care regime to hydrate their skin and the importance of creating a protective barrier in all weathers and in the home setting.  They also learn the importance of taking time for themselves, to improve their mental and emotional well-being, reduce their stress and anxiety and to boost their self-esteem.

These sessions, ensure that the young people have the opportunity to meet others, to offer mutual support, and share their own stories.  Hearing the young people telling each other the importance of self-care, encouraging each other to create and maintain healthy relationships with themselves, and offering suggestions for simple things they can do to look after themselves, from regular sleep and a healthy diet through to having a warm bath and reading a book or listening to music, is heart-warming, and shows how very special this little Community that you have helped to create is.  The support they offer each other crosses the boundaries of age, it crosses the boundaries of gender, ethnicity, religion, social class, and education.  Their strength lies in the thing that unites them, their common experience – facing a life-threatening illness in their teenage and young adult years.  And these self-care opportunities demonstrate this with abundance.

Thank you to everyone who has helped to create this very special community supporting young people fighting cancer.

During what can only be described as a strange and difficult year for the whole World, we have all experienced some of the isolation and loneliness that the young people we support experience every day – isolated by their illness they have faced further isolation with the need to shield.

And, while we have not been able to get them together for our normal workshops and activities, we have been doing all we can to ensure that they stay connected with others who genuinely know what it is like to face cancer in your teenage and young adult years.

We have transitioned our Positive Steps program to online delivery, and rather than delivering an activity three or four times each month, we have been delivering online four times a week.

The young people have still been able to take part in our beauty workshops, designed to help them tune in to their new look following their diagnosis and treatment. Ahead of the sessions, we have posted them the items they’ll need for the session, then they have clicked a link and connected with our professional service delivery teams who have shared their knowledge and supported the young people with skin care techniques as well as make up application techniques.

Each week we have hosted online sessions where the young people have been able to come together, learn new skills and be part of a community. They have been able to chat and relax and spend valuable time with friends old and new.

We thank you for your continued support of our work, ensuring that more of the seven young people who, every day in the UK, hear the words “you have cancer”.