For cancer patients who are committed and able to stay physically active it can be challenging to find a space that feels like it could cater to their specific needs.
An upcoming program at the West Vancouver Community Centre called Cancer Thrivers is hoping to remedy that with a series of sessions designed to offer movement therapy, an exercise regime, education and social connection under one umbrella for those going through, or have recently gone through, cancer treatment.
“It’s something that’s needed on the North Shore,” said Dave Thomson, a rehabilitation program co-ordinator with the community centre. “There are a lot of options within Vancouver, we know this group is very busy with other appointments and things that they need to do, often not a lot of energy – so we’re trying to create something on the North Shore and create that community feeling.”
The program, which begins in January, will feature one yoga session per week, a personalized exercise training program done in a private group setting twice per week, in addition to weekly educational sessions such as music therapy, expressive arts therapy, mindfulness meditation and a cooking class, as well as four sessions from supportive cancer care organization non-profit InspireHealth, noted Thomson.
Participants are welcome to attend as many sessions as they can or would like each week, he added.
“If somebody really just wants to go to yoga then that’s awesome, if they want to go to only the exercise component that’s fine. They can come to as much as they would like to come to,” he said.
Cancer Thrivers is designed to promote health, strength and recovery, said Thomson, as exercise has been shown to improve the quality of life in cancer patients in a myriad of ways. But, he added, perhaps the program’s most important component is social, a chance for cancer patients to share their experience with one another while maintaining their own physical health to the best of their abilities.
“Nobody understands unless they’ve gone through it, and to have everybody together – whether it’s in the yoga class, the social, the exercise component – they can be free to talk to each other and be comfortable,” he said.
The Cancer Thrivers programs starts Jan. 7 with a yoga class, but participants are free to sign up for the program whenever they want. For more information about the program, contact Dave Thomson at 604-921-2169 or dthomson@westvancouver.ca.
