Let’s Talk About It: Breast Cancer (Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired)

Individuals with breast cancer can join Julie Larson, LCSW and peers via video or phone to talk about topics such as “Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired”. Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most challenging treatment-related side effects. Your level of cancer-related fatigue may vary from day to day or last for extended […]

Part III – Cumulative Grief: Learning how to honor the many losses that occur in a brief period of time

Cumulative grief, also known as compounded grief, is grief that occurs more than once in a brief period of time. As a person with cancer, a caregiver or professional in this world, we are often met with confronting grief on a frequent basis. So often, we may be unable to process fully the loss that […]

Let’s Talk About It: Ovarian Cancer (Mental Health and Wellness Top 10: The Resources that Help)

Cultivating self-care strategies that are helpful to you as you cope with a cancer diagnosis is important. And, the needs we have often change along the cancer trajectory. Sorting through resources or learning what is available to you can be a daunting task. Let’s talk about the resources, such as books, groups, Instagrammers, organizations (in […]

Let’s Talk About It: Breast Cancer (Survivor’s Guilt)

The question of “Why me?” often exemplifies the experience of survivor’s guilt. Feeling survivor’s guilt is more common than you may think and can be triggered in different ways. Your positive news at a follow-up visit, regaining strength when treatment ends and manageable side effects are all events that may counter-intuitively lead to stress or […]

Part II – Body Grief: Losing parts of ourselves and our identity before, during and after cancer treatment

When cancer is diagnosed, there is a common experience for people to feel under attack or betrayed by their own body. Some even experience distrust and dissociation with their body. The multitude of losses that come along with a cancer diagnosis are sometimes met with well-intended but insensitive feedback from those around you. Grieving for […]

Let’s Talk About It: Breast Cancer (What is Mindset and Does it Really Matter?)

Your mindset is the way you make sense of the world around you. This lens influences the way you think, the way you feel, and how you might behave in certain situations. Let’s talk about mindset myths that can get us into trouble and ways to cultivate a mindset to support your cancer survivorship in […]

Let’s Talk About It: Ovarian Cancer (The Emotional Toll of Treatment Decision Making)

Making treatment decisions is stressful. The work of understanding complex medical information, crafting questions for your medical team, and trusting oneself is hard. We break down this intense time in ways that might feel more manageable and help you regain a sense of calm as you work hard to care for yourself at each turn […]

Part I – Anticipatory Grief: Experiencing grief before the loss has happened

Anticipatory grief is the emotional experience when there is an impending loss that will occur. Often, people associate loss and grief with death, this is just one area in which grief and loss can occur. Anticipatory grief is often a slower grieving process marked by intermittent, small or large losses. In the world of cancer, […]

Let’s Talk About It: Breast Cancer (Communication, Intimacy, and Sex… Oh My!)

Changes to your body are normal to experience related to a cancer diagnosis. But the grief and the learning to live with a changed body take time. But what if you share your body with someone else? What if finding pleasure and connection through intimacy feels like an overwhelming or insurmountable obstacle on your road […]