Class Schedule
Beat the Odds A Comprehensive Cancer Survivorship Program
Program Schedule:
Class 1 : Increasing strength and vitality
- Discovering what you already do to effectively deal with stress
- Increasing energy with mindful breathing and natural relaxation
- Identifying activities that increase meaning, joy, deep fulfillment and peace of mind
- Belief Work: resolving emotional distress
Class 2 : Imagery: Transforming fear into peace of mind
- The use of the imagination in health
- Exploring beliefs about: the disease, treatments received, healing systems of our bodies
- Practice of guided imagery
- Opening a door to the exploration of our non-conscious health attitudes
Class 3 : Developing and strengthening hope and trust
- Understanding hope as a belief that desirable things are obtainable regardless of the remoteness of the probabilities
- The role of ritual in developing trust and faith and in maintaining hope
- Protection from doubt and despair
- Exploring spiritual/religious/philosophical/existential beliefs
Class 4 : Stress management, meaning of illness
Homework Assignment
- Insurance for recurrence – what to do?
- Exploring individual patterns of adapting to changes in our lives
- Understanding benefits of illness as the needs we allow ourselves to meet only in disease
- Exploring the meanings of illness
- Addressing attachment to outcome
Class 5 : Integrating health and illness, life and death
- The purpose of this class is to increase our energy for living life today
- Exploring beliefs about death and dying
- Replacing fear and other negative emotions with peace of mind
Class 6 : Strengthening support and communication skills
Homework Assignment
- Clarifying the role of the supported and the supporting
- Communicating concerns while resolving fear
- Dealing with hopelessness
- Balancing care and attachment to outcome
Class 7 : Developing a Personal Health Plan
- Getting priorities straight and healthy
- Setting healthy goals
- Balancing life and exploring the role of:
- Play
- Nutrition
- Creative thinking
- Social support
- Physical activity
- Purpose in life
- Developing a fail-proof health plan to help understand what I can do today to move in the direction of health
- Play and Unconditioned Laughter
Class 8 : Symptom Self-Management
- How to effectively handle pain, nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, etc
- Comfort with no deprivation and no fight
Class 9 : Common Negative Emotions
- Effectively resolving of worry, fear, despair, resentment, anger and guilt
Class 10 : My Path – Moving Forward
- Review of cognitive neuroscience and psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) in Beat the Odds
- Revision of 2-Year Health Plan
- Evaluating and using your available resources
- Recognizing the health value of people around you
- Finding the support that suits you
- Protecting hope and energy
- Utilizing support groups
Evidence
- Cancer and stress: counselling the cancer patient
- Effect of psychosocial treatment on survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer
- Malignant melanoma
- Impact of psychotherapeutic support for patients with gastrointestinal cancer undergoing surgery
- Psychologic intervention improves survival for breast cancer patients
- The Science and Practice of Beat the Odds