Psychological Support for Women with Breast Cancer

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We are grateful for your continued support of our project, “Psychological Support for Women with Breast Cancer in Bulgaria.” Thanks to your generosity, we have continued to provide free psychological services to women diagnosed with breast cancer and their families, helping them navigate one of the most challenging periods of their lives.

During this reporting period, our psychologists provided 477 individual psychological counseling sessions to women with breast cancer and their loved ones, both in person at the “One in 8” Club in Sofia and remotely via phone, Viber, and Zoom. These services ensured that women from all parts of Bulgaria had access to professional support regardless of their location.

We also continued our group-based activities designed to reduce isolation and strengthen emotional resilience. 18 women participated in 2 professionally moderated self-support groups where they shared experiences, coping strategies, and mutual encouragement in a safe and confidential environment. In this period our psychologists worked with 10 family members and caregivers attended dedicated monthly support meetings, receiving guidance on how to better support their loved ones while also taking care of their own emotional wellbeing.

Our therapeutic workshops remained an important part of the program. Through art therapy, film therapy, laughter therapy, and emotion-focused workshops, participants were able to express difficult emotions, build self-awareness, and reconnect with sources of strength and hope. These activities created opportunities for meaningful social connection and emotional healing.

• 46 women with a diagnosis participated in our monthly art therapies and together with the therapists they created a visual board for the upcoming year, worked with clay, drew with their eyes closed, created an Easter egg as a symbol of inner light, breathed in color, imprinted their image while searching for their inner strength and learning new things about themselves.
• We held 4 workshops on emotions, where 38 women led by our psychologist explored anger, sadness, hope and fear and built strategies for managing negative emotions and learning how to recognize positive ones again.
• We organized 8 psychological workshops on various topics, in which 71 women with a diagnosis worked with various techniques - desire maps, vision boards, therapeutic reading, storytelling, therapeutic writing, self-reflection - as a path to self-knowledge and inner reflection.
• 2 film therapies took place at the One in 8 club, attended by 15 women, and after watching the films specially selected by our psychologist, they looked for themselves in the life situations of the characters.
• At the organized laughter therapy, 7 women, led by our therapist, learned the special technique that would help them release tension, restore harmony with themselves, and fill themselves with joy.

One of the most valuable aspects of the program has been helping women realize that they are not facing cancer alone. Participants frequently share that meeting others with similar experiences reduces feelings of fear and isolation and gives them confidence to move forward with treatment and recovery.

The need for psychological support remains significant. Many women continue to face anxiety, uncertainty, relationship challenges, and concerns about their children and families throughout the cancer journey. With your support, we are able to provide professional assistance that helps women regain a sense of stability, control, and emotional wellbeing.

In the coming months, we will continue delivering individual counseling, support groups, and therapeutic workshops while expanding opportunities for remote participation to reach more women and families across Bulgaria.

Thank you for standing beside women with breast cancer and their loved ones. Your generosity makes it possible to provide compassionate, professional psychological support exactly when it is needed most.

With gratitude,

The One in 8 Foundation Team