Cancer can affect so many people other than just the patient. And that’s a key reason Baptist Hospital East offers counseling to individuals with breast cancer and those who are in relationships with them. The program is designed to offer support to these individuals as they adjust to their illness and the impact on their lives, particularly in respect to their relationships – whether those relationships involve family or friends. Individual and group counseling is also offered to family members and loved ones affected by the impact of breast cancer.

The counseling sessions are being made possible through a grant from Links for Life, a fundraiser of the River City Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. Previous grants to support Baptist East's breast cancer program have included massage services for breast cancer patients, a library of books for children of young mothers with breast cancer and educational materials for post-operative breast cancer patients.

The program is designed based on the employee-assistance model to counseling: up to three counseling sessions are provided. The person is then referred to other existing resources within the community if further counseling is needed. For these individuals, and their loved ones, it fills a need for short-term counseling when they are in a state of crisis.

The program broadens the scope of support already offered through Baptist Hospital East’s existing support groups: Survive and Thrive (an education/support program for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients), Healing Choices (an education/support program for women with advanced breast cancer), and Living Beyond (for graduates of Healing Choices). While each of these target women who have had breast cancer, they are geared to the individual. The counseling sessions are designed to encompass not only the patient, but those who love her, as well.

The goal is for the survivors to leave with a sense of empowerment and with options for next steps.  

For more information on breast cancer counseling services – offered on an ongoing basis through Baptist East’s Cancer Resource Center – call (502) 896-3009.