Holistic Cancer Coaching: Choice, Comfort & Control
by Susan Silberstein, Ph.D.
There are coaches for basketball, football, business, career and life. Of all the areas addressed by coaches, the cancer experience can be the most challenging. People’s worlds are turned upside down when they discover they have cancer. They need physical, mental and spiritual support, as well as help connecting to resources, making informed decisions and finding ways to hope and cope.One of the most pressing issues faced by cancer patients is quality of life, or lack thereof. Millions of U.S. cancer survivors have a lower-than-normal quality of life. Many struggle with fatigue, compromised immune function, anemia, malnutrition, weight loss, digestive disturbances, anxiety and depression, a sense of isolation, fears about the future and even the challenges of daily living.
Over the last 37 years, the Center for Advancement in Cancer Education (BeatCancer.org) has coached nearly 30,000 cancer patients nationwide. Their individualized nutritional, immunological and psychological guidance has empowered patients to take charge of their health and their life, minimize treatment side effects and significantly impact quality of life, risk for recurrence and survival.
Patients seeking to enhance their ability to heal are often hampered by physical, geographic or financial limitations. BeatCancer.org’s unique model of no-fee telephone counseling makes this potentially life-saving assistance accessible to all. They work to help filter the complexity of informational resources and guide patients to simple, practical and manageable solutions while considering their particular limitations and belief systems.
This year, BeatCancer.org launched its online holistic cancer support educator course. This training helps health professionals and patient advocates understand the complex world of complementary and alternative approaches for cancer; learn key ways to improve patients’ nutritional, immunological and psychological status; and guide patients to improve quality of life, prevent recurrence and extend survival. Natural Awakenings readers can receive a special discount of $100 off the regular course price. Request the coupon from [email protected].
Susan Silberstein is founder and president of BeatCancer.org, an international speaker on nutrition and cancer and author of Hungry for Health and Hungrier for Health. September 2014.
