Psychological Support

Learning that one has cancer can often lead to a crisis of the body, mind, and spirit. Along with fears about treatment, survival, and the impact on one's family, many newly diagnosed people find themselves feeling stressed, overwhelmed and isolated. While excellent resources are available for fighting the disease on the medical level, people and their families have often had difficulty finding the emotional and psychosocial support they so urgently need.

In order to fill this void for our patients and their families, Consultants in Medical Oncology and Hematology provides an innovative and creative approach to the overall care of the whole person. Our goal is to preserve and improve life quality for our patients, based on their individual needs, working within and complementing their medical treatment.

Our philosophy: As a practice, we are aware that people with cancer and their families are often experiencing difficulty adjusting to the demands of treatment, even if they have never experienced significant depression or anxiety in the past. Others have suffered from common psychological problems, which can become worse in the face of illness. Our approach to psychological care focuses on improving patient adjustment to their illness. We are dedicated to providing patients and families with compassionate support and helping them to solve problems related to cancer.

Our staff of counselors are doctoral level clinical psychologists who are licensed by the state, having demonstrated their expertise and dedication as clinicians. They have received extensive training in health psychology and stress management, and they bring a broad range of clinical experience, knowledge and wisdom to their work with cancer.

Individual Counseling: individuals with cancer can benefit from consultation with one of our staff clinical psychologists in a variety of ways including:

• learning to better cope with stress .receiving support to relieve depression and anxiety
• being better prepared for diagnostic and treatment procedures
• receiving information and help in making decisions about their medical care

Family Counseling: since illness affects not only the patient, but also the patient's family in important ways, we provide experienced, compassionate counseling for spouses, children, and other family members over the course of medical treatment and recovery .

Supportive Group Therapy: We currently offer groups for women with breast cancer and short-term stress management groups, in addition to the general support group provided by the hospital. Click here for more information.

(Please visit our Friends For Life Forums for community-building!)

Resource Library: our counselors stay informed on the latest advances in psychological support for cancer care. They maintain a library of new and classic work, both books and articles, that are available for loan. We understand that the informed patient is better equipped to manage the challenges of cancer.