The Telephone Helpline and Other Support
Telephone Helpline
The Telephone Helpline is “the lifeline” of CanSupport. It provides information and emotional support to callers as well as facilitates networking and coordination with service providers for callers’ cancer and palliative care related needs. This is a confidential service that overcomes the barrier of physical distance and seeks to support the caller both empathetically and practically.
The Helpline is manned by trained counsellors who are equipped with information related to financial support, blood banks, cancer detection centres, hospitals, nursing bureaus, wigs, medical equipment and prostheses, ambulances, chemist shops, and other modes of assistance that may be useful to cancer patients, caregivers and families. The Helpline also provides prompt referrals to Palliative Care consultations and Home Care services. Our counsellors are available on the Helpline from Monday to Saturday (9:00 am to 6:00 pm).
CanSupport’s Palliative Telemedicine, launched in August 2022, offers palliative care consultation over phone/video calls to support patients who are outside our operational service geographies. The idea was based on the successful experience of the use of telemedicine by CanSupport during Covid and considering that India has very limited palliative care centres in North India.
CanSupport Helpline:
011 – 41010539 | +91 9899011212 (Monday to Saturday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm)
National Palliative Care Helpline Saath Saath:
Or write to us at: helpline@cansupport.org
Bereavement Counselling
Often, people who have experienced the death of someone who was very important in their lives, find it very difficult to adjust to the immense life changes that occur with bereavement. Grief can shake everything up – one’s beliefs, your personality, and even the sense of reality.
Bereavement is the time one spends adjusting to loss. There is no standard time limit and there is no right or wrong way to feel during the bereavement period – everyone must learn to cope in their own way. Grief, although normal, can manifest in a huge range of unexpected ways. Some people get angry, some people withdraw further into themselves and some people become completely numb. Sometimes, grief can turn into something more serious – like depression.
Talking about the loss often allows a person to adjust to their new life and eventually find acceptance. Bereavement counselling may be able to provide support during these very difficult times.
Rashmi had become anxious and depressed and sought help after her husband passed away. A conversation with the counselor revealed that she had been the only caregiver for her husband who had been ill for years and required near full-time assistance. She was the only one earning in the family. She realized she had never had the time or emotional energy to mourn her husband’s death that had just occurred within the past month, and for which Rashmi felt terribly guilty.
This conversation allowed her to face the great feelings of sadness and loss she was experiencing and slowly dissolved her anxiety. After a time of rest which allowed her to fully grieve, Rashmi could return to work. With the constant support of a counselor at CanSupport and a close friend, she found the strength to rebuild her life.
CanSupport Helpline:
011 – 41010539 | +91 9899011212 (Monday to Saturday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm)
Or write to us at: helpline@cansupport.org
Peer Support
Cancer is not only traumatic, it can also be very isolating. Not being able to share one’s pain and anguish with one’s family in order not to upset them further, adds to the enormous suffering and stress of the disease. Research shows that Peer Support, especially from cancer survivors, is highly therapeutic, and people are better able to deal with their illness and treatment when supported by others who have walked this road themselves.
CanSupport provides Peer Support in two ways – through facilitators and other survivors over the phone or in Peer Support Group Sessions organised on request. Here, patients can share their personal experiences, pain, fears, anxieties and stress resulting from the cancer without any inhibition with other survivors in a confidential and non-judgmental setting. It is our effort to handhold patients and help them cope with their emotional and spiritual issues by understanding their own condition better.
We also provide Peer Support to caregivers and family members coping with the intense and multiple responsibilities of care giving.
Thank you for the warm and friendly advice. I am already feeling less afraid and more hopeful of tomorrow’s possibilities.
CanSupport Helpline:
011 – 41010539 | +91 9899011212 (Monday to Saturday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm)
Or write to us at: helpline@cansupport.org for further information about Peer Support.