Welcome The Dorset Cancer Centre Counselling Service is supported by Forest Holme Hospice Charity and Macmillan Cancer Support Opening hours are:
9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday, we can provide some flexibility for early morning and early evening sessions.
Our address is:
Forest Holme, 5 Seldown Road, Poole BH15 1TS
Telephone:
01202 448096 or 01202 448514
Forest Holme Hospice Charity (registered number 1038021) works in partnership with Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust to help meet the needs of patients and clients in the Poole, Wimborne and Purbeck areas.
For more information on how you can support the vital work of the charity, please contact 01202 670644 or visit our website: www.forestholmehospice.org.uk
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When to refer to the counselling service We recommend, wherever possible, that you telephone the counselling service yourself. However, initial referrals can be made by Healthcare Professionals in the hospital or the community. We offer support and counselling to: •
People living with a diagnosis of cancer and who are being seen by a consultant and treated at Poole hospital
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People with a life-limiting illness who have been referred to the palliative or end of life care teams at Poole hospital
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Partners, children and families of patients at any stage of the illness
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Partners, children and families who are affected by someone who has died from cancer or who was known to the palliative care teams
We appreciate that making the first contact may take considerable courage. This is especially the case if you have not previously talked about personal issues to someone outside of your friends and family.
We will normally offer six counselling sessions. There is no charge for this.
To make an appointment to see a counsellor please call 01202 448096 or 01202 448514. If we are not available, we will return your call as soon as possible within 48 hours, during our opening hours. If you call outside of these hours please leave your name, a brief message and times when you are available so that we can return your call.
For radiotherapy patients there is a dedicated counselling service. Their telephone number is 01202 448020. 3
The counselling team The counselling and family support team includes a psychotherapist, counsellors/psychotherapists, student counsellors on clinical placement and trained and supervised volunteers.
We offer:
• Confidential listening, one to one support and counselling • Facilitated group support • We hold regular coffee mornings for patients with a cancer diagnosis to socialise with others and to help them look at ways to manage the emotional affects of their diagnosis
We can see you in the counselling rooms, on the wards in Poole Hospital and in Forest Holme 4
What is counselling? You may well already be in contact with nurses and doctors who are supporting you through your illness or treatment and for many people this is sufficient. However, sometimes additional support is helpful and we have a dedicated counselling service that can offer support to you and your family. Talking about what is happening can help with painful and distressing thoughts, feelings and emotions that you may be experiencing. Counselling is a confidential relationship between you and the counsellor and may help you to: •
Manage a stressful situation differently
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Cope better in times of crisis
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See things differently
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Find ways to manage feelings of loneliness and isolation
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Improve communication with family, friends and health professionals
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Feel supported
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Find a level of acceptance and increased understanding of your deepest concerns
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Make small changes that may improve the quality of your life at this time
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Explore your feelings in a safe environment
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When to access the service? Having an illness may bring up different emotions: •
You may feel anxious and have questions about the future
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You may feel in shock and feel your life is out of control
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You may worry about how your family will react to your illness
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Sometimes small things may seem too much and you may feel overwhelmed and unable to cope
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You may not feel yourself
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Your life may seem unreal, and you may feel irritable and unable to concentrate. Coping with your daily routine may feel a struggle
End of treatment may be a time when patients hope to feel some sense of relief to have completed their treatment, or at least to return to some kind of normality. Instead, they may be left feeling anxious, isolated and facing overwhelming feelings of loss. It can be reassuring to find that these are normal feelings.
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Just as the body needs to heal, so does the mind and each person will do this in their own time.
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You may feel isolated and fearful of upsetting people close to you when talking about your illness and be more sensitive to what others say to you
Before and after bereavement Bereavement is something that most of us will experience at some time in our lives and we all react to loss in different ways. The grief of a bereavement may be accompanied by strong and painful feelings and it may help to find out that what you are going through is normal. Even when death comes at the end of a long illness and it is expected, you may feel numb and in a state of shock. It may be helpful to acknowledge your feelings and expressing them can be part of the healing process.
You may experience some of the following: • Shock • Anger • Pain
• Irritability • Guilt/Regrets • Anxiety
We offer a range of support and counselling to adults, children, young people and families, including face to face counselling and therapeutic bereavement support groups.
• Relief • Despair • Memory lapses
• Lack of concentration
For further general health-related information, please ask the relevant department for an Information Prescription or contact: The Health Information Centre Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Longfleet Road Poole Dorset BH15 2JB Telephone: 01202 448003 www.poole.nhs.uk
We can supply this information in other formats, in larger print, on audiotape, or have it translated for you. Please call the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 01202 448499, text 07758 272495 or email pals@poole.nhs.uk for advice If you wish to make any comments or to ask about any research evidence used to write this leaflet, please contact the Patient Information Team confidentially: phone 01202 448003, write to the Health Information Centre (address above), or email patient.information@poole.nhs.uk 7
Contact details of related services Age Concern Poole Telephone: 01202 666195 www.ageconcernpoole.co.uk Macmillan Benefits Adviser Poole Citizens Advice Bureau Telephone: 01202 670716 www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/howwe-provide-advice/advice-partnerships/ cancer-support-service/ Gingerbread, for single parents Freephone: 0808 802 0925 www.gingerbread.org.uk
Mosaic (for bereaved children and their families) Telephone: 01258 837071 www.mosaicfamilysupport.org.uk Child Bereavement UK (for bereaved families) Telephone: 01494 568900 www.childbereavement.org.uk
WAY Widowed & Young Telephone: 0300 012 4929 www.widowedandyoung.org.uk
Macmillan Cancer Support Freephone: 0808 808 0000 www.macmillan.org.uk
Winston’s Wish (for bereaved children, young people and their families) Telephone: 0845 2030405 www.winstonswish.org.uk
Motor Neurone Disease Association Telephone: 0845 3751831 www.mndassociation.org
Phoenix Widowers Fellowship for Men www.mylifemycare.com/article/419594/ Phoenix-Widowers-Fellowship
Multiple Sclerosis Society Telephone: 01202 570300 www.mssociety.org.uk Samaritans Telephone: 01202 551999 www.samaritans.org Riprap: When a parent has cancer www.riprap.org.uk Cruse Bereavement Care Telephone: 01202 302000 www.cruse.org.uk www.cruse.org.uk/children www.hopeagain.org.uk (designed for young people by young people) 8
The Jolly Dollies for Ladies www.thejollydollies.com Shine Cancer Support for Younger Adults Email: dorset@shinecancersupport.org www.shinecancersupport.org Forest Holme Hospice Telephone 01202 448118 www.forestholmehospice.org.uk Date: September 2017 Review date: September 2020 Version number: 0.1 Head of Department: Andrea Moxham, Matron for Cancer Services and Specialist Palliative Care