Cope Well to Live Well - The Emotional Journey through Cancer Survivorship
Mrs. North
Dakota International 2016 – Ashley Rae Klinger
Cope Well
to Live Well - The Emotional Journey through Cancer Survivorship
Hello, everyone! Hope you’re all having a wonderful week! Thank
you for taking the time to check out my latest blog post. Today, I’m going to share
some information with you about the emotional journey through cancer
survivorship, as it relates to my personal platform; The Cope Well Foundation.
For those of you who may not be familiar with my platform, The
Cope Well Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the emotional
recovery of cancer survivorship. As the emotional affects of cancer are often
times overlooked, ignored and even misunderstood, the main
mission of Cope Well is to help those who have been affected by cancer ‘cope’ affectively
with the emotional challenges of cancer survivorship…while bringing awareness
to ALL survivors of ALL cancer types.
As the Founder of The Cope Well Foundation, it was my
own unexpected diagnoses of Melanoma Skin Cancer in 2008, and my personal
journey with cancer survivorship, that sparked my initial passion to start a
foundation that could have a positive and long-lasting impact on those it
supported, while also having relevance to my own experience. After thoroughly
exploring the emotional affects that cancer had on my life and those close to
me, as well as the emotional affects that cancer had on other survivors and
their support systems, The Cope Well Foundation eventually came to life and
became available to cancer survivors all around the country in 2011.
Through my explorations, I came to many important
realizations of cancer survivorship. The most important realization being the
true emotional affects that cancer has on so many people, regardless of the
type, stage or treatment level of their cancer. More so, there’s a tremendous
amount of focus put on physical affects of cancer, but the emotional affects
are often times overlooked, ignored and even misunderstood; even though they
too can have a long-lasting impact. Also, because not everyone knows how to
recognize and effectively cope with the emotional challenges of cancer
survivorship, nor do they know where to turn for help due to the lack of
emphasis that has been put on the issue, efforts of ‘coping’ with these
challenges on their own can be less than successful.
For those reasons, I found it to be critical to provide cancer
survivors with an outlet that could help them recognize, cope with and overcome
the emotional challenges of their own survivorship journey, so that the emotional
affects of their journey would have a positive impact on their lives instead of
a negative one. However, because each survivor has their own unique set of
survivorship needs and copes differently with the emotional affects, I realized
very quickly that it’s important to provide survivors with a variety of coping
outlets. Just as there are a variety of options to address the physical affects,
there equally needs to be a variety of options to address the emotional
affects. Therefore, Cope Well offers three different programs with the hopes of
giving cancer survivors the freedom to create their own unique set of resources
to help them ‘cope well’ during their survivorship journey. And, each program
is completely personalized to their unique experience and survivorship needs.
·
Mentorship – This
program aims to build connections and support systems for survivors on a more
personal level and in a comfortable and relaxing environment. We do this by
connecting survivors with trained Cope Well Mentors and even other survivors.
Whether it be a conversation over a cup of coffee or on the phone, or even just
having someone by their side while sitting in a movie or out on a walk, there
are no limitations to the support that Cope Well’s Mentorship Program can
provide to survivors.
·
Activities – This
program aims to help alleviate stress associated with cancer survivorship by rejuvenating
a survivor's overall emotional well-being! It serves as another coping outlet
that gives our members the option to get involved with an activity in the
community of their choice. Whether it be going to a movie, taking a pottery
class, getting a massage or taking in a sporting event, this program is the
perfect way to temporarily free a survivor’s mind of their survivorship worries.
·
Counseling – This program serves as yet another
coping outlet that aims to help survivors cope with the emotional challenges of
their cancer survivorship on a deeper level and in a more formal environment.
We do this by connecting survivors with Certified Counselors in the community
who are equipped with knowledge and have experience pertaining to the overall
affects of cancer survivorship. Although not for everyone, counseling can
provide survivors with an in-depth look at their survivorship journey and the
affects cancer has had throughout the different areas of their lives.
Although not diagnosed, the affects of cancer also have an
emotional impact on those who support those in need. Therefore, Cope Well’s services,
which are all free, are available to those individuals as well to show how
grateful we are for their continued support and commitment.
With more than 28 million people affected by cancer around
the world, and close to 11 million new cases that are diagnosed each year, this
is an obvious issue and cause that can’t be ignored. Therefore,
the core principles of The Cope Well Foundation are based on the emotional needs
of those affected by cancer and the challenges they face throughout their
survivorship journey. It’s those individuals, and the true difference that Cope
Well is making in their lives, that is the continued driving force behind the
foundation, and it’s Cope Well’s ultimate goal to help those who have been
affected by cancer ‘Cope Well to Live Well’.
In the future, Cope Well
would love to add additional focus areas to our organization that would provide
our services to those who are going through different types of survivorship journeys, as emotional recovery
isn't limited to Cancer alone!
Until next time, continue to ‘make a difference’ and
remember, together, we can ‘cope well to live well’.
Ashley Rae Klinger
Mrs. North Dakota International 2016