Raising Your Voice toolkit

The relevant decision makers will be different depending on which area you live in.

For example, in London, the Greater London Authority is made up of the Mayor of London, the London Assembly and City Hall. The Assembly investigates issues of importance to Londoners such as health, publishes its findings and recommendations, and makes proposals to the Mayor.

You could write to an Assembly Member to tell them about the issues you are facing in your cancer care and treatment and to ask them for help or to investigate your issues. Some Assembly Members represent all of London, while others represent specific areas.

Social media accounts have the potential to reach a wide audience.

You can use Instagram to connect with people through photos, videos and captions to share your story and raise awareness of the issues you are facing.

Twitter allows you to connect with key people such as MPs and hospital board members. You can use the platform to share text, photos and videos.

Free blogging sites like WordPress are great tools for you to share your cancer journey with other people. Sharing your story through blogs can help raise awareness of the issues you are facing and help you escalate the situation further.

Kris Chadwick, one of the co-creators of this toolkit and founder of Chadders' Cancer Club, shares some advice about blogging and how it empowers her when facing challenges in her cancer care and as a carer.

'Traditional blogs are relatively low in reach & people have to Google keywords or have the link to come across your blog. But as my blog reached more people, opportunities arose to get my message to people with whom it could resonate.' — Kris Chadwick

'In 2020, I was approached to speak at a palliative care conference as a result of someone reading my blog. Through this, I was able to share a patient and carer's perspective of uncertainty in cancer directly to the doctors who are on the frontline of providing cancer care.' — Kris Chadwick

Kris's top tips for writing blogs

• Blogger and WordPress are both free blogging sites. WordPress has more functionality than Blogger.
• Blog regularly. Set a routine to post on the same day at the same time.
• A good length for a blog post is around 750 words.
• Blog posts should include an image and links to previous posts from your blog as well as external links.
• If you have a story or experience to share but you’re not sure about starting your own blog, then you could write a guest blog for an existing charity or cancer support group. Quote reputable sites, those based on science and research like Macmillan or Cancer Research UK.You can watch Kris's video Uncertainty, Another Symptom of Cancer on YouTube.

Support networks within your local community can be used to help you resolve issues you are facing in your cancer care or treatment.

If you are involved with any local groups or communities, such as a religious group or sports team, you can ask to speak at one of their meetings about your cancer journey and the issues you are facing to raise awareness with the public.

You can include some information about the issues you are facing in any messaging that goes out to the group, for example in a newsletter.

If people wish to support you, you can ask them to write to their MP to ask them to support your requests, such as writing letters to your hospital about your treatment.

If you find other people in your local community who are experiencing similar issues in their cancer treatment or care to yourself, then you could unite to start community organising. The more voices that speak about an issue, the more likely it is to change.

Craftivism is a type of activism that uses different forms of craft, such as knitting or crochet, to influence decision-makers. The crafts encourage people to engage thoughtfully with issues to reflect on the key problem statements and to converse with other campaigners.

The crafts can then be put up in people’s home windows and shop fronts, or even sent to decision-makers directly. Using social media and the a hashtag will help you to promote your craftivism more widely.

If your craftivism is popular in your local community, your local radio station or newspaper might want to do a piece on you.