Now tell us what you think. She began coordinating Time to Heal Cancer retreats in 1996, patterning them after a successful Commonwealth Cancer Help Program in Northern California. The retreats, which are held at a campground near Dallas, offer a way for cancer patients to develop complementary healing skills and explore existential issues that accompany a cancer diagnosis. It brings together small groups of cancer survivors, about eight to 12, and gives them an opportunity to learn complementary healing skills, to explore some of the issues that cancer has brought to their lives, and most importantly, to develop a sense of community with each other. We have people from many different disciplines working in a supportive environment, including an art therapist, music therapist, a psychologist with a master s degree in divinity, a yoga instructor, and several nurses who are registered massage therapists.
Cancer gives people an opportunity to look at life in a new way.
We help them get a sense of control. When they take yoga and learn they can control the breath and get a sense of peace and calm, that s a really powerful message. We use art, writing, sand tray, and music primarily to look at the psychological, social, and spiritual issues of cancer. Because it s holistic, everything we do has an element of the physical, spiritual, and psychological in it. The retreat makes a tremendous difference in their sense of hope not just for survival, but in their quality of life and sense of control.