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The Healing Journey
(4 weekly, 2-hour sessions, 14th September-5th October 2010)
The Healing Journey is a well-tested and researched programme that helps people with cancer, and their carers and family members, to improve their quality of life.
It does this by teaching approaches which give participants an increased feeling of control over what is happening to them and helps them to relieve the anxiety, depression, fatigue, and other forms of distress that often accompany a cancer diagnosis.
It’s also very helpful for the partners of people with cancer and we encourage them to come on the course at the same time.
The Healing Journey programme has been refined and improved by Professor Alastair Cunningham in Toronto for over 25 years. The Centre has been so impressed by the quality of the programme that we have decided to put it on in the UK for the first time ever.
Getting a cancer diagnosis can impact on many aspects of your life. However there is much you can do by taking an active approach so that you regain a sense of control over your life and can begin to reduce the distressing feelings that often arise from the diagnosis and from living with cancer.
That’s where the Healing Journey programme comes in. It’s a step by step programme teaching self-help methods to enhance well-being, and providing group support. The programme has several levels which build on the new skills acquired.
Level 1 teaches relaxation skills, how to manage your thoughts, how to communicate feelings, mental imaging techniques, and setting goals.
Among the topics covered are:
As part of the course we will give you a free workbook so that you can review everything you learn in your own time and at your own pace.
There are four key techniques taught in the course:
You will be given two CD’s with these exercises on so you can practice them at home.
The course consists of four 2-hour sessions held in the relaxed surroundings of the Centre.
The content has been developed over many years to help participants learn most effectively and to give them momentum as they start their own healing journey.
The facilitators will give presentations on the key ideas and then there will be an opportunity to try out some of the techniques.
Everyone will have a chance to ask questions during the sessions but if you want more personal support, there will be an opportunity to speak individually to the facilitators at the end of each session.
If you haven’t been to a cancer group before, then please don’t worry. It will be a safe and welcoming environment. The emphasis in Level 1 will be on learning new tools and there is no pressure for any participant to talk about their experiences if they would prefer not to. Everything said in the course sessions will be kept confidential.
When you are given a diagnosis, the options for enhancing your well-being can seem overwhelming. There are so many books, CD’s, courses and retreats promising so much that it can be hard to decide on an appropriate approach.
Professor Alastair Cunningham has investigated many approaches in his development of the Healing Journey programme. As he has included only the most effective approaches in the programme, it means that you don’t have to waste your time experimenting with different methods that may or may not work.
The Healing Journey programme is all about helping participants begin a journey of healing. Healing in this context doesn’t mean a cure although some participants who have continued to the most advanced levels have also lived much longer than expected.
Instead it is about experiencing yourself and the world in a new way, and feeling a greater sense of harmony between all the different parts of yourself.
The purpose of Level 1 is to begin increasing your quality of life. If you are looking for ways to reduce stress and feel more in control of your life, then the course will be of benefit to you.
However if you want to learn additional tools and to integrate the new approaches into your life, Level 2 takes you further. Levels 3 and 4 enable you to take your healing journey to a much greater depth.
There are two main reasons why we encourage partners and other supporters to participate. Firstly, they often feel a great deal of anxiety and distress themselves and the tools given in Level 1 can help anyone reduce their levels of stress and increase their quality of life.
Secondly, when you're trying to introduce changes into your way of life, it’s often easier if you have the co-operation and support of people close to you.
Professor
Alastair Cunningham, who developed
the Healing Journey programme, started as a research immunologist
in the 1960's at the Australian National University.
He then moved to the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto in
1977.
He gained a 2nd PhD in clinical psychology and started conducting group classes and therapy for cancer patients, and then evaluating their effects. The Healing Journey programme arose out of this work.
In 1987 he developed a serious (Stage III) colon cancer and was treated with surgery and chemotherapy. He then went to a retreat centre where, with a group of trainee yoga teachers, he spent 10 hours a day, 7 days a week for 3 months working on his own psychological and spiritual growth.
As his prognosis was only a 1 in 3 chance of long-term survival, he was strongly motivated to find a healing path for himself.
He has published widely having written 3 books and 21 papers and articles in the psycho-oncology field.
Professor Cunningham has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of Canada’s highest civilian honours. The citation described him as "a groundbreaking researcher and a man of immense compassion", "a pioneer and world leader in this field [of psycho-oncology]".
In 2007, he won the prestigious Canadian Dr Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
He has been very supportive of our work to introduce the Healing Journey programme into the UK.
The course will be held on 14th, 21st, 28th September & 5th October 2010 – all Tuesday evenings (all Tuesday evenings) from 6.30pm-8.30pm.
It will be held at the Centre, which is a few minutes walk from Clapham Junction station so it will be convenient for people in south, central and west London as well as Surrey and Sussex.
There are a limited number of places on the course so we recommend you book as soon as possible to guarantee your place.
Click here for booking details.
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