Program Leader: Rachel Kampf Cancer can be debilitating in many ways.  Patients cope with nausea, fatigue, pain and difficulty thinking, while worrying about the next treatment, their Program Leader: Rachel Kampf

Cancer can be debilitating in many ways.  Patients cope with nausea, fatigue, pain and difficulty thinking, while worrying about the next treatment, their families, finances and the future. The Healing Journey is a multi-level program researched and developed by Dr. Alastair Cunningham. Beginning with level 1, Coping with Cancer Stress, this program guides participants through their cancer journey with coping skills, information, and support that improves quality of life, relieves cancer-related symptoms, and helps some patients live longer. 
 
The Healing Journey has been shown to provide participants with substantial improvements to quality of life, most notably reducing anxiety and depression while providing people with more sense of control.  Evidence from related research, supported by Healing Journey studies, shows that this type of program can prolong life beyond the medical prognosis and even bring about unexpected remissions in some cases. 
 
Healing Journey Level 1: Coping with Cancer Stress introduces you to a range of techniques and coping strategies, such as relaxation, healthy thought management, visualization, expression of emotions and goal setting. 
 
“The Healing Journey helped me learn to talk to my body in a different way, and that helped with my pain.  Everything started to improve.  I am so grateful that Wellspring offers this program online.” 
  
Karla Stephens Tolstoy, stage 4 cancer patient with chronic pain and fatigue, and participant in The Healing Journey through Well on the Web 
 
“The Healing Journey is an amazing program. It along with so many of the other Wellspring programs have helped me beyond words. Physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It is an amazing program that everyone with cancer and their caregivers should go through.” 
 
“Healing Journey was so helpful to me as a Caregiver. I learned a lot from those suffering cancer and it helped me manage and understand my sister's situation. I specifically learned that the cancer patient wants to feel ‘normal’. I changed my ways of being with my sister, which was really helpful to her.”  - Lorna Gold 
 
What to expect 
 
Healing Journey Level 1: Coping with Cancer Stress is a four-week program, with weekly 90-minute sessions. 
 
This program is open to both cancer patients and caregivers. 
 
Once you have finished Level 1 of the Healing Journey you may apply for Level 2. 
 
Common benefits 
 

• Increased overall well-being and ability to cope 
• Improved pain management 
• Reduced anxiety and depression 
• Increased sense of control 
• Reduced isolation through the creation of connections with other patients or caregivers 
• Emotional wellness 
• Improved health outcomes 

 
Related research 
 
Since 1982, the program has been developed and researched at a large cancer treatment and research centre. Published research on the Healing Journey, together with the research of other scientists, shows that using these methods regularly can significantly diminish anxiety and depression, restore a sense of control, and relieve symptoms like fatigue, nausea, and pain. 
  
There is also published evidence that when people with advanced cancers get very involved with helping themselves psychologically and spiritually, they may live longer than medically predicted. Many factors are involved with these findings, and not all are well understood. Although extended life cannot be guaranteed, ongoing research will hopefully one day shed more light on this possibility. 
 

• It is common for a diagnosis of cancer to challenge the spiritual wellbeing of cancer patients and caregivers. As such, spiritual care has been identified as an important element of supportive care in cancer (Connolly & Timmins, 2021; Puchalski et al., 2019). 
• Healing Journey is a practical program designed to address spirituality and existential issues in people living with cancer, and it is inclusive of all religions and belief systems. An early version of this program showed promise in improving mood, self-efficacy, quality of life, purpose in life, and spirituality in cancer patients (Cunningham et al., 2005). Since then, more recent research has shown that meaning centred psychotherapy programs for cancer survivors similar to Healing Journey can improve quality of life, psychological distress, psychological well-being, and mental adjustment to cancer in both the short and long term (Breitbart et al., 2015; da Ponte et al., 2021; Holtmaat et al., 2020; Jafari et al., 2013; Rosenfeld et al., 2018; van der Spek et al., 2017).  One recent study has also shown that a meaning centred psychotherapy program for cancer survivors was cost effective (van der Spek et al., 2018).