Join A 3-Part Holiday Journaling Workshop

holiday banner

Lacuna Loft is excited to bring back this special holiday program!

It’s a Wonderful Life: Taking Care during the Holidays.  A 3-part online journaling workshop for young adult cancer patients and survivors.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like” an even busier time of year! The holiday season brings nostalgia (like a favorite song), connection to family and friends and an undercurrent of expectation. There can be an added layer of managing expectations to be positive and happy – even in the middle of treatment or when everyone appears to look “fine” when, inside, they are not.

Finding peace between the wrapping paper and the stuffing is within reach! Join us for a 3 part holiday journal writing workshop to design a plan for low stress, create or reconnect with meaningful traditions, and decorate your soul with a little TLC.

Where: Online video chat. We’ll send you more information about joining after you register. Please have a microphone headset and a webcam.

Who: Young adult cancer patients and survivors.

When: The writing group meets on Sundays at 2 pm PT / 4 pm CT / 5 pm ET for 2 hours each week, for 3 parts, meeting on December 1st, 8th, and 15th.  A commitment to attend every date is important to group continuity and in creating a safe space. Please be on time

The workshop is led by Jean Rowe LCSW, OSW-C.  She is a Certified Journal Therapist who has been in the field of oncology for 15 years and has crafted many journal writing programs for cancer survivors.

Join A Holiday Self Care Writing Program! It’s A Wonderful Life!

holiday banner

Young Survival Coalition and Lacuna Loft are excited to present a brand new program:

It’s a Wonderful Life: Taking Care during the Holidays

A 3-part journaling workshop for young adult cancer survivors

“It’s beginning to look a lot like” an even busier time of year! The holiday season brings nostalgia (like a favorite song), connection to family and friends and an undercurrent of expectation. There can be an added layer of managing expectations to be positive and happy – even in the middle of treatment or when everyone appears to look “fine” when, inside, they are not.

Finding peace between the wrapping paper and the stuffing is within reach! Join us for a 3 part holiday journal writing workshop to design a plan for low stress, create or reconnect with meaningful traditions, and decorate your soul with a little TLC.

Jean Rowe, LCSW, OSW-C, Certified Journal Therapist, is the Associate Director of Support Services at the Young Survival Coalition. Lacuna Loft and YSC are excited to offer this journal workshop online to young adult cancer survivors of any diagnosis.

Sundays, 4-6 pm PT / 7-9 pm ET: December 2nd, December 9th, December 16th.  Sign up below!

Where: Online video chat. We’ll send you more information about joining after you register. Please have a microphone headset and a webcam.

Who: Young adult cancer survivors.

When: The writing group meets on Sundays at 4 pm PT / 6 pm CT / 7 pm ET for 2 hours each week, for 3 parts, meeting on December 2nd, December 9th, and December 16th.  A commitment to attend each part is important to group continuity and in creating a safe space. Please be on time 🙂

Join A Brand New Writing Program! Lost and Found!

woman on bed

Update:  The initial session is now full.  Please fill out the interest form below to be notified when the next session is forming!

Sex, intimacy, and relationships after cancer can be scary, unchartered territory. It is normal (yes! normal) for young adult cancer survivors to not feel particularly sexual or physically attractive after treatment. It’s a real thing that’s been studied! Check that out here. Think about it. Your body’s changed. Your life has changed. Your feelings about your body and life have likely changed. That reduced or complete lack of interest in sex could be physiological* or it could be psychological. Or both.

Some young adult cancer survivors have expressed feeling like their bodies have betrayed them. Young adults ages 18 to 39 may still be coming into their own about sexuality when a cancer diagnosis shows up like a party crasher. Oncologists are not equipped to have conversations about how to sustain intimacy during or after cancer when a patient has an existing partner much less addressing this subject with single young adults. The realization that intimacy has skipped town may not show up until after treatment has finished. This can feel out of place and confusing and cause further isolation and fear.

Changes to body image can greatly impact sex and intimacy, particularly if there were pre-existing struggles with it. Bodily changes during cancer can deepen these struggles or new ones can surface for the first time. Young adults are fighting life-threatening illnesses, and, on top that, their self-esteem is impacted by changes, sometimes dramatic ones, which are outside of their control.

Questions like, “When do I tell someone about cancer?” often arise. The answer is simple: when you’re ready. I am not suggesting this is a simple conversation, and you have no obligation to tell potential partners about your cancer journey until and unless you’re ready. Hear me add this gentle caveat: If your clothes are coming off, you might want to stop and have a conversation.

Now what? Well, what if you decided to try something different? What if, with a generous helping of compassion, you decided to be a pioneer for what might be possible with your body and life as it is now, today? Knowing that the frontier will include some moments of feeling awkward and weirdness? Also opportunity and creativity?

Lacuna Loft and YSC invite you to explore that frontier by participating in Lost and Found: Re-Establishing Intimacy after Cancer, a six week online video journal workshop for young adult cancer survivors (women only). We hope to “see” you there!  Join other young cancer survivors (women only) who understand what you’ve gone through while learning how to reconnect, welcoming a compassionate understanding of your body now, and creating ways to open your heart to intimate opportunities after cancer.  Sign up below!  (P.S.  Check out our Awkward Auntie program to get all of your questions answered anonymously about sex and relationships after young adult cancer!)

Where: Online video chat. We’ll send you more information about joining after you register. Please have a microphone headset and a webcam.

Who: 15 young adult cancer survivors (women only).

When: The writing group meets on Sundays at 4 pm PT / 6 pm CT / 7 pm ET for 2 hours each week, for 6 weeks starting on Sunday, August 12th and going until September 23rd (we will skip Labor Day weekend).  A commitment to attend each week is important to group continuity and in creating a safe space.

*(ask your healthcare team if medicine you’re taking impacts libido and/or if there’s a tweak or addition in medication that might help)