In 2008, along with Consultant Oncologist Dr Tamas Hickish and Nurse Consultant Mrs Lin Purandare, I set up a clinic at Royal Bournemouth Hospital to treat people who had physically overcome their cancer, but along the way had become psychologically scarred. Many of them had received successful therapy for their cancer and had been clear of any disease for 5 years or more, yet they were still suffering psychological trauma. Initially I thought that the main trauma would be receiving the diagnosis of cancer, but as we progressed with the clinic came to discover that cancer treatment has multiple traumas associated with it; chemotherapy, trying to find a blood vessel for the infusion, radiotherapy, loss of hair, loss of breasts for female patients, along with the continued fear of cancer recurring.
The main type of problem we treated was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but Panic Attacks, Phobias and Obsessions were all problems which could follow on from the trauma of cancer.
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I now continue to see cancer sufferers privately, helping them not just to overcome their traumas but to deal with the many other stresses, such as fear of recurrence