Cancer support centres and hospice day centres

Cancer support centres

You may well already be aware of the cancer support centres in your local area, as all have to undertake numerous fundraising events each year and are probably regularly featured in your local newspapers. If not, you can quickly discover them through an internet search using your location and the search terms “Cancer Support”, or your local library or GP surgery should also hold information.

These centres provide support services and complementary therapies from the day that you are diagnosed with a low-grade glioma; you do not have to wait until treatment begins.  For example, some people find life coaching incredibly useful if that is on offer, as they decide what to do about career and personal life choices.

All services are equally open to patients, carers and often other family members as well.  Some offer specialised staff who can help children process their emotions if one of their relatives has been diagnosed with a brain tumour, or can help you if you are wondering how much information to share with the children in your family.

Support Centres are an excellent way to link in to other sources of support close to your home supplied by other agencies such as the council, and often they have benefits advisors on site.  Local knowledge in your own area can make a huge difference, on both an emotional and a practical level.

Maggie’s Centres are available in some major cities, and are designed by architects to provide inspiring spaces for support and information. Their aim is to help patients, their families and their friends to address all aspects of living with cancer. Their website will give you an idea of the kind of services you can hopefully find in your own area, if you are not lucky enough to live close to one of the relevant cities.

Hospice day centres

Whilst it may feel like a big step to contact them initially, your local hospice can also provide invaluable support from the day that you or a member of your family is diagnosed with a low-grade glioma. Hospice day centres are very much about “living with cancer,” and patients can access them even when they are still working full time. The emotional challenges of living with a low-grade brain tumour diagnosis are usually very well understood, and support is also offered to other family members, as of course a brain tumour diagnosis affects them too.

Just as at other Cancer Support Centres, carers are offered support regardless of whether or not the patient chooses to access the help available.  Free services range from counsellors to art therapists and reiki, or help with applying for financial benefits. Family Support Workers are a vital source of support if you are worried about how children are coping with an adult in their family being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

You can find your local adult hospice via https://www.hospiceuk.org