Cancer support groups

When you're campaigning or advocating for yourself or someone else, it can help to share your experiences and connect with others. Support groups can help.

Creating a safe space with others

When advocating for yourself or a loved one, it can often be helpful to reach out to people who are going through a similar experience, so that you know you’re not in it alone. By sharing experiences, you may be able to find out about different services that are available to you or you might even find yourself joining forces to campaign together. Teaming up with other people in the community can be a powerful way to get the attention of those in power, for example healthcare professionals and politicians.

Creating a safe space could be as simple as having a conversation with someone on social media or joining a support group.

Raising Your Voice toolkit

Finding cancer support groups

You can find out about the different support groups in your area.

If you don’t feel like your experiences or your identity are represented in an existing support group, you could try setting up your own.

For inspiration for setting up your own support group, you can download Judith’s story.

You can also join a cancer patient representative group. Every cancer alliance and many hospitals have one. They can call for action and try to improve future patient experiences. These groups are a good place to take concerns, including:

poor experiences
problems with information
problems with communication from healthcare professionals that have affected you.

Our Online Community is a digital forum where people affected by cancer can connect with others for support 24/7. Users can ask questions, discuss experiences and even share poetry.