How Penny Brohn UK can help your patients
You may feel you don’t have as much time as you would like to spend with your patients, to listen and hear their story and concerns, to answer all their questions or to talk to them about all the things that could help them. This is where we want to help.
We can provide support in a number of ways:
- Help people process the shock of their diagnosis, and all of the other emotions that often come with hearing they have cancer;
- Give them an opportunity to talk to others who are having similar experiences, so they feel less alone;
- Prehabilitation – help them prepare physically and mentally for treatment so that they are more likely to go through it without any issues;
- Offer learning and support on how to keep well during cancer treatment;
- Rehabilitation – ongoing wellbeing support for people recovering from treatment to reduce likelihood of long-term side effects;
- Provide more support for those who are especially anxious or fearful about treatment or their cancer, in a group setting and also with 1:1 counselling;
- Offer 1:1 appointments to people who have more complex needs;
- Help people manage side effects and recover from treatment faster;
- Lymphoedema support – online resources and a support group to help people who are at risk of lymphoedema;
- Scar therapy – in-person therapy to help with movement, pain and sensitivty, as well as appearance and any emotional impacts the scar may be having on your patient;
- Supporting patient’s families and friends (over-18s only) – supporters are welcome to any of our online group sessions and to use any online resources, as well as our counselling service;
- By giving people time out, a change of scenery and some time to focus on themselves and their needs by coming to one of our supportive, expert-led Wellbeing Days or Resilience Retreats.
Evaluation and impact
All of our services are informed by evidence, including our own programme of rigorous evaluation. For more information on this, click here.
No matter the service or what we recommend, we always extensively research our advice. It is important to us that you feel confident recommending us to your patients. If you have any questions or concerns that are not answered in the above link, then please feel free to contact us on research@pennybrohn.org.uk.
Meet the team
Our multi-disciplinary and personalised approach sits at the heart of what we do. At Penny Brohn UK we have a team of qualified professionals and specialist experts, many of whom have a background in the NHS. They include:
- Doctors and nurse team;
- Counsellors;
- Physical therapists specialising in cancer rehabilitation, specialist oncology physiotherapy, and lymphoedema;
- Clinical psychologists and hypnotherapists;
- Complementary therapists;
- Dietitian and nutritionist team;
- And many more guest experts.
Online support
We offer support to people across the country by delivering evidence-based sessions that have shown to improve people’s wellbeing and reduce their concerns. We have two introductory group programmes that do this:
Treatment Support Programme
A 4-week, online, doctor & nurse led programme, for people to do at their own pace. It provides support with mental and emotional wellbeing, movement and exercise, nutrition, using self-care and complementary therapies safely and offers the opportunity to meet others going through treatment. The aim is to help people going through cancer treatment to develop resilience, support wellbeing, minimise treatment side effects and improve long term cancer outcomes
"It gave me an invaluable toolkit to support myself"
We offer a range of other online sessions based on different lifestyle approaches and strategies. These include a Welcome session, movement and exercise sessions, nutrition sessions and wellbeing sessions.
We also have a range of resources that your patients may find useful including free subscription to the Headspace meditation app, recipes, exercise tutorials, lymphoedema videos and more.
In person support
Wellbeing days
For people who would like face to face connection, we offer regular Wellbeing days at our national centre, just outside Bristol city centre. It is 5 minutes from the M5, we have free parking and people are given a delicious and nutritious lunch when they visit.
Retreats
We also offer supportive 3-day Retreats which offer a real opportunity for processing and recovery from the shock of diagnosis, recovery from treatment and learning how to move forwards from their experience. We have 26 ensuite bedrooms at our national centre and beautiful, peaceful gardens to give people a calm space in which to focus on their needs. We provide delicious, nutritious meals during their stay, plenty of time to relax on their own or with others, and supportive sessions with various themes.
One-to-one support
If your patient needs more one-to-one support then we have the following personal consultation options currently:
- Counselling – telephone or online
- Physical Activity – online only
- Nutrition (dietitian or nutritionist) – telephone or online
- Integrative doctor – telephone or online
- Acupuncture – at PBUK national centre
- Scar therapy – at PBUK national centre
The cost of our services
We believe that everyone should have access to free support when facing a cancer diagnosis and treatment. We need donations to support everyone who needs us, so we simply ask that people give what they can towards their support, if they can. All services are free to use, and we are very grateful if people can offer a regular or one-off amount of any value, and at any time. It may be that people aren’t in a position to even think about donating until they have finished using our services, or that they ask their friends and family to fundraise at a later date.
We are offering a suggested donation for each service, some will be able to afford it and some won’t, but people do not need to worry about this amount and can give any amount they would like or not at all. Most of our services are for people to book themselves onto online, and there are links for people to donate via the online booking. These links are shared again at the end of the session but there is never any pressure. The one-to-ones and in-person services are booked via our Client Support team and people might be asked when they book if they want to make a donation at that point, again with no pressure. You can reassure your patient that whether they attend an in-person Wellbeing Day or Retreat, a one-to-one or an online session, no-one will know whether they have donated or not.
Refer your patient
Please do talk to your patients about the ways in which we can support them. If you do have a patient who is interested then you can signpost them to our website or if you feel they need you to refer them directly to us, then with their consent you can contact us at clientsupport@pennybrohn.org.uk and we can give them a call.
Find out more or visit us
If you’d like to learn more about our services, we can arrange an online chat with a member of our team. They will explain our offerings in more detail and help you understand which services might best suit your patients’ needs. Additionally, we can arrange for you to shadow an online session and tour our centre, allowing you to see first hand the kind of experience your patients will have when they visit us.
To express your interest, please email our clinical lead claire.lynch@pennybrohn.org.uk
Evidence and impact
At Penny Brohn UK, we are committed to delivering services that are high quality and make a meaningful difference to people’s lives. We do this through the work of our Evaluation, Evidence and Insight team.