News

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Leader’s Induction Day

We will be holding our first Induction Day for people who want to become Healing Journey leaders on Saturday 9th October in London.

If you’re interested in coming, please subscribe to our Health Professionals newsletter and we will be able to send you more details soon.

Alastair Cunningham in the UK

On Wednesday 7th July,  Dr Alastair Cunningham, the founder of the Healing Journey programme, will be giving a talk at the London School of Economics to launch the new UK edition of his book The Healing Journey: Overcoming the Crisis of Cancer.

Petra Griffiths, the Development Co-ordinator of Healing Journey UK and the Director of the Paul D’Auria Cancer Support Centre, will also be giving a talk about the Healing Journey courses that have been run in the UK, the participants’ perceptions of how their lives have changed for the better, and the induction and support available for new Healing Journey leaders through Healing Journey UK.

Time: 6.15 to 8.30 pm

6.00pm                   Doors open

6.15-7.30pm         Talks and questions

7.30-8.30pm         Reception with wine and canapés

Venue: Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building, London School of Economics, 54 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ

A limited number of tickets are available. If you would like to attend, please call Petra Griffiths on 020 7738 1333 or email her on petrag@healingjourney.org.uk.

More information about Alastair Cunningham’s book The Healing Journey can be found here.

Alastair will also be giving a keynote speech at the National Conference of Cancer Self Help Groups in Manchester on Friday, 2nd July and Petra Griffiths will be talking about the launch of Healing Journey UK.

In addition, Judy Benson and Francesca Hannah are running an introductory workshop on the Healing Journey on Friday 1st July, and Pauline Withers-Born and Petra Griffiths are running an introductory workshop on Saturday 2nd July.

The Conference is on from 1st-4th July but tickets for individual days can be bought.

More information about the Conference here.

Healing Journey video

We’ve produced a video introduction to the Healing Journey with interviews with three people who participated in the first UK courses and with Pauline Withers-Born, a course leader.

Click here to watch it.

Healing Journey in Northumberland

August 2009 – the Cancer Support Group in Northumberland put on a Healing Journey course for their members in October.

Jenny Lorigan wrote before the course:

“I had been increasingly aware of the need to address the emotional and spiritual issues raised by my own cancer diagnosis three years ago, but was struggling to know where or how to start. As soon as I read about the Healing Journey on the Paul D’Auria Cancer Support Centre website, I recognised its potential, not only to move me forward on my personal cancer journey, but also to fill an important gap in what we can offer members of our cancer support group based in Hexham, Northumberland.

Whilst the suggestion was welcomed positively by the committee, we immediately recognised it presented a number of practical difficulties, the most problematic being that none of our volunteer therapists are qualified in counselling so how could we ensure that participants were being held safely.

Everything seemed to fall into place at the National Conference of Cancer Self Help Groups in Manchester in July, when we were able to arrange a residential week at the Sandville Self Help Centre near Bridgend in South Wales) and to persuade Francesca Hannah and Judy Benson (who were looking to run a pilot) to facilitate it.

We have decided that doing it together as a committee will be hugely beneficial to each of us as individuals and potentially has the added bonus of bonding us as a team. We will get the chance to experience first hand what the Healing Journey has to offer our members and we hope that, by the end of the week, we will have a much clearer idea of how best we can take it forward.

New website

August 2009 - we’re excited to launch our own independent website, having had pages on the Paul D’Auria Cancer Support Centre website since July 2007.

End of first pilot

July 2009 - 8 people finished our first pilot of all 5 Levels of the Healing Journey Programme. We’re delighted with the feedback, which you can read about on the Testimonials page.