A cancer diagnosis can bring many difficult emotions, including fear, anxiety, and a feeling of isolation. Support groups connect you with others in a similar situation who may relate to what you are experiencing.

We offer diagnosis-specific support groups, such as a group for people affected by colorectal cancer, as well as specialized support groups, including groups for men with cancer, young adults with cancer, and parents of children with cancer.

CancerCare’s support groups are led by professional oncology social workers, and are available online, over the telephone, and face-to-face in our offices in New York City, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut. To learn more about CancerCare‘s telephone and face-to-face support groups or to register, call 800‑813‑HOPE (4673).

Online support groups are password-protected, and members must go through a registration process. After completing the registration process, members can participate 24 hours, 7 days a week. New online support groups will be offered starting February 1.

View all of CancerCare’s free support groups.

CancerCare Director of Clinical Services William Goeren, LCSW-R observes that many men who are diagnosed with cancer have a difficult time coping with their reduced income and its emotional and financial impact on their family.  Men with cancer are at a higher risk of being diagnosed with depression than women with cancer and the article offers tips for coping with these feelings.

Read the article.

CancerCare offers specialized services for men who are coping with cancer, including online, telephone, or face-to-face support groups (available in our New York City office).

Register to participate in a men’s cancers support group.

Leukemia

Explore CancerCare’s leukemia resource page to see the free services we offer for people affected by leukemia, which include a recent revision of a three-part fact sheet series on coping with chronic mylogenous leukemia.

Lymphoma

Our free services include an upcoming Connect Education Workshop series on living with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The first workshop will take place Wednesday, September 14 at 1:30pm EST. Register for the workshop.

Multiple Myeloma

CancerCare’s free resources include our new Connect booklet, Advances in the Treatment for Multiple Myeloma. If you have been diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma, you may wish to participate in a free support group for people affected by blood cancers. Learn more and register for this support group.

Prostate Cancer

Register for our upcoming Connect Education Workshop, “Caring for Your Bones When You Have Prostate Cancer” on September 16 at 1:30pm EST.

Ovarian Cancer

Read our new Connect Booklet, Medical Update on Ovarian Cancer. We’ve partnered with L’Oréal Paris and Ovarian Cancer Research Fund on a dedicated telephone counseling and referral service for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. To speak with a professional oncology social worker, call 1‑877‑OV‑HOPE‑1 (1‑877‑684‑6731).

Gynecologic Cancers

Learn more and register for an online support group for people affected by gynecologic cancers.

Thyroid Cancer

Listen to our podcast, “Treatment Update on Thyroid Cancer.”

Childhood Cancers

Learn more about CancerCare’s free services for children diagnosed with cancer. CancerCare also helps children who have a parent, sibling, or other loved one facing cancer. Read our e-booklet, Helping Children When a Family Member has Cancer. 

Zytiga, a pill that decreases the production of a hormone that stimulates cancer cells to grow, prolonged the lives of men with late-stage prostate cancer who had received prior treatments and had few available therapeutic options. Listen to the workshop.

Learn more about Zytiga.

CancerCare offers free support services for people affected by prostate cancer, including an online support group for men affected by cancer. We are also recruiting participants for a face-to-face men’s cancers support group. Register and learn more about CancerCare’s free support groups.

Men who are affected by prostate cancer may also be eligible to receive up to $5,000 per year in co-payment assistance through the CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation. Learn more.

CancerCare professional oncology social worker William Goeren, LCSW-R, is this month’s expert. Goeren recently responded to a question about treatment side effects and emotional issues experienced by a man affected by breast cancer —read his response.

Submit your own question for the chance to have it answered in this column. All posts are completely anonymous.

Support groups connect people in similar situations and provide an environment in which they can share their feelings and build a community of support.

CancerCare‘s online support groups enable individual participants to communicate via a password-protected message board that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Each support group is active for a 14-week period and each is moderated by a professional oncology social worker, who provides guidance, resources and reliable information to the participants.

CancerCare currently offers 25 different support groups online. Each is targeted to a specific population, such as people undergoing treatment for cancer, cancer survivors, caregivers and the bereaved.  Groups now recruiting include:

• Triple negative breast cancer patients
• Caregivers of loved ones with lung cancer
• Men with cancer
• Young adult caregivers of spouses and partners

 All support groups are completely free of charge, but registration is required.  Learn more.

Read about “game-changing” research in prostate cancer treatment in CancerCare’s new booklet, Your Guide to the Latest Cancer Research and Treatments.  You can order free copies of the booklet, along with publications such as Living with Metastatic Prostate Cancer and Caring for Your Bones When You Have Prostate Cancer.

Learn more about CancerCare’s free support services for people affected by prostate cancer.

While the majority of participants were prostate cancer survivors, the group also included men diagnosed with myeloma, head and neck cancer, colon cancer, and throat cancer.

Though their experiences were unique, a common thread binding the men in the group was their anxiety and uncertainty about the impact of their cancer and treatment on their sexuality, noted Goeren. 

“Men can often be hesitant to discuss their emotions and feelings,” he said.  “Once the ice was broken, though, the group really opened up and asked the questions they wanted to ask,” such as whether they would be able to continue or resume physical intimacy with their partner. The men also shared how they were affected emotionally by the temporary or permanent loss of sexual function due to their illness and treatment, and how that loss redefined their intimate relationships.

CancerCare will offer its professionally moderated men’s cancers support group throughout the fall and winter. Future discussion topics will include exercise and nutrition, work and careers, and how to talk to your children about cancer.

For more information about CancerCare’s programs for men affected by cancer, contact Goeren at 212-712-6141 or email wgoeren@cancercare.org.

CancerCare partnered with L’Oreal Paris and Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) to create a free telephone counseling and referral service for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer. 

Launched one year ago, The L’Oreal Paris OCRF Hopeline has proven to be a great source of support for many women facing an ovarian cancer diagnosis. The Hopeline is staffed by professional oncology social workers and operates Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Call the L’Oréal Paris OCRF Hope Line at 877-OV-HOPE-1 (877-684-6731).

CancerCare responded to the needs of men facing prostate cancer by publishing two new fact sheets: Caring for Your Bones When You Have Prostate Cancer and Prostate Cancer: What You Should Know About Screening and Diagnosis. 

For more resources on these cancers, including additional publications, support groups and archived connect education workshops, visit the diagnoses pages on our website.

Each of the three studies are seeking participants, who will receive a variety of  types of  educational information about their diagnosis, and will then be asked to participate in two brief telephone interviews with researchers over a period of nine months.  All information is completely confidential.

Healing Choice for Prostate Cancer is for men who have been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, but have not yet begun any treatment. The goal is to help men decide on the treatment that’s right for them.

Healing Choices for Women with Breast Cancer is for women who have been recently diagnosed with breast cancer, but who have not yet begun any treatment. The study’s purpose is to determine the best way to provide treatment information to women, and whether the information helped them in making decisions about their treatment.

Pathways to Recovery after Breast Cancer Treatment is for women who are just completing treatment for breast cancer or have completed treatment within the past six months. The goal is to find out the best way to help women get information about life after breast cancer treatment.

To find out if you are eligible to participate in any of these studies, please call 1-866-258-7981.

CancerCare offers free, professional support services to anyone affected by breast cancer or prostate cancer.  People affected by either diagnosis may qualify to receive up to $10,000 per year in co-payment assistance through the CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation.