Workshop
Sometimes it is simply not enough “just” to get information or advice, you need to actually feel and experience it before something can change. It is important for you to regain confidence, particularly when it comes to feeling at home in your body again and dealing with the changes. It’s a big help if you can become reacquainted with your body so you can start believing in yourself again. That might sound really good and also simple, but sometimes it can be very difficult. This is why we would like to stage workshops on a range of bodily topics with practical exercises and experiences in small groups. We have all kinds of different cooperation partners working with us, such as circus artists, yoga instructors, artists, etc.. The topic of sexuality is also simple in theory, but in everyday life it is often difficult to put advice into practice on your own, especially if your body is “on alert” or has taken up more of a defensive position due to fear or negative experiences. These are totally normal and sensible reactions from the body as it tries to protect us. This is why it is important that we first get to know each other gradually, to know how things feel to then be able to open up somewhat and be able to think about letting a partner into our lives. We are thus planning on developing workshops on various topics in small groups with sexual therapists. We could perhaps even develop workshops for pairs or partners. The sky’s the limit as far as the variety of possible topics is concerned and we would therefore be very grateful to receive your suggestions, wishes and ideas. Tell us about the topics that particularly interest you and we will see what can be organised. And that is something we want to work on with you! You will find an overview of our workshops in the section Current activities, which we will be adding to permanently.
Communication workshops for health care professionals
Cancer patients need to have a contact person from their immediate care environment. Nurses play an important role in this context because their relationships to cancer patients are perceived as much more intimate due to the amount of time they spend with them which in turn gives rise to an increased number of opportunities to address sensitive issues. In presentations of our project in Switzerland to staff on oncology wards, there was always great interest in the subjects of body image and sexuality. The significance of these topics was both noted and stressed again and again. When we asked why these subjects are not addressed, carers said the main obstacle was not having sufficient training on how to talk about such issues without asking too much both of the patient and of the caregiver themselves. Therefore, we want to offer communication workshops in which we mediate in practical exercises with small groups with the aim of helping everyone become more confident and making it possible to let everyone, the care staff and the patients, feel comfortable to talk about such issues in conversation. The aim is not to turn everyone into sex therapists, but to be open and not be afraid to address such sensitive issues. We hope we can help further lower that barrier by giving patients the opportunity to forward more complex questions and issues to our justASKus project so that such sensitive topics are actually talked about. If you or your ward is interested in this kind of communication workshop, please get in touch so that we can determine what you would like to focus on or what you need. We can then put customised workshops together in a joint effort and determine the time frame.