The Wishing Well Axminster Cancer Support - Could it help you or a loved one?

“Wishing Well” – Axminster’s cancer support group

“Wishing Well” is a support group for people affected by cancer, and for their carers.

The group is hosted by Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre, Chard Street, Axminster on Thursday afternoons from 2.30 until 4.30pm and is open to all affected by cancer including families and carers.

We provide a safe, supportive and informative space where people experiencing cancer, including people who have recovered from cancer, can get together and share experiences and support one another.

We believe Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre is the perfect place to host this group, we are centrally located in the town and near to a car park.

 

We offer refreshments on arrival and a spacious and comfortable meeting room.

The Centre is also the venue for complementary therapy treatments.

Our complementary therapy practitioners are very supportive of ‘Wishing Well’ and many are happy to offer people attending Wishing Well the opportunity to receive treatments.

Complementary therapy treatments for Wishing Well have been made possible due to a bursary fund for cancer support which was awarded in part by Macmillan and in part by Devon Community Foundation.

Currently Wishing Well has 26 registered members and the group has enjoyed a range of talks and workshops on subjects including Nutrition, Yoga, Art and Breath.

We are always looking to expand what we offer so please get in touch if you are willing to run a workshop or deliver a talk on a health, wellbeing, exercise or art/ craft activity.

Feedback from our speakers/ workshop leaders and from our attendees suggests that ‘Wishing Well’ is a much needed and appreciated group.

‘I first went to Wishing Well whilst still on chemotherapy and found it a relief to be able to talk to other cancer sufferers without having to explain myself. We can all support each other with our varying experiences.

Attending talks and learning more about complimentary therapies and cancer specific dietary advice has been most helpful.

Through Wishing Well I was able to attend a mindfulness course which has proved very helpful during difficult times.

Knowing there is a local cancer support group in Axminster is very reassuring’.

Chris Edwards

‘I enjoyed the art session because it was good to speak to other women living with cancer. Having cancer and coping with treatment can feel isolating even if you have lots of friends and family around’

 Ruby Cole

'Wishing Well at Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre provides valuable support and a source of accurate information for clients. I valued meeting everyone at the talks I have given at this lovely meeting place and hope the nutrition advice was helpful.'

 Liz Bray - registered nutritional therapist at Axminster Health and Wellbeing Centre www.body-balance.co.uk

Pregnancy Massage and its benefits.

During pregnancy your body goes through great physical and emotional change. You may have a sore back, swollen ankles or feel a little apprehensive about the change a new baby will bring. 
Here are some ways that pregnancy massage may help you with one or indeed all of these challenges....

Physical benefits of the treatment can include:
Reduced swelling in areas such as ankles and feet by stimulation of the lymphatic and circulatory systems.

Pain reduction in areas of stress such as the shoulders, lower back, and legs by the use of specially tailored therapeutic massage techniques. 

Emotional benefits of the treatment can include:
The beginning of a positive bond between mum and baby by the production of the hormone oxytocin being stimulated during massage. 

Time out from your busy schedule to think about and concentrate on this new baby (this can be especially helpful if you already have children that often take up much of your time and attention). 

Emma is trained to the one of the highest levels of remedial massage available in the UK and even has a special couch where you are able to lie on your front (stomach and baby safely cradled) to relieve weight and pressure. If you would prefer a seated or side lying pregnancy treatment then this is also available. For more information or to book contact Emma on 07717310198. 

Couples Counselling - It started with words written.

Our journey began with words—words written down because talking was too tough:

I’m not happy.

You’re not happy.

I hate that you speak to me so disrespectfully and dismissively.

I hate that I respond in kind and I feel disappointed in myself every time I do so.

I feel angry—and I don’t want to feel angry.

I feel broken.

Enter Gillian.

With Gillian’s guidance, [Husband] and I have learned to communicate, to connect, to compromise and, in doing so, to reconstruct a relationship that we’d decided was done.

* * *

When we first met with Gillian, [Husband] and I had agreed to continue to cohabit for two more years—to provide a stable home life for our daughter while she completed college—and then, in all likelihood, to go our separate ways.  Two-and-a-half years on, we find ourselves committed to a marriage that may be stronger than it’s ever been.

There are many people who question the efficacy of relationship counselling or couples therapy and, granted, it can deliver results only if both parties are open and honest, and engage with the process.  To that end, I sometimes ask the (many) friends who tell me that they or their partners would ‘never go to counselling’ why they would visit a doctor if they were sick or had broken a bone, would take their car to the mechanic if something were rattling or the exhaust had fallen off, yet would never consider visiting a couples counsellor to help them to mend a fractured relationship?

The answer is sometimes that the impact of therapy can also be affected by the quality of the counsellor or therapist—and this is certainly true.  [Husband] and I had already experienced two constructive interventions and two that we’d found damaging by the time we found our way to Gillian; we were naturally wary of whether she’d prove the right ‘fit’ for us—even though she came highly recommended by a friend.

We needn’t have worried.  It may be that Gillian simply ‘gets’ us; I think it more likely that she gets the measure of most of her clients and adjusts her approach accordingly.  Either way, each of our sessions with Gillian—whom we see most often as a couple, but sometimes individually—has moved us ever farther from the hurt, angry, ‘broken’ place in which we were when she first met us, and ever deeper into the compassion, understanding and mutual support that [Husband] and I each want within our marriage.

That marriage remains a work-in-progress—and I would argue that it always should, since complacency and old (bad) habit can scupper the very best of intentions.  It’s also true that no relationship exists within a vacuum; hence the period during which we’ve been meeting with Gillian has seen [Husband] and I necessarily negotiating our way through issues including parenting a teenager entering adulthood, making difficult work decisions, and supporting the extended family through illness and incapacity.  In each of these regards, we’ve valued immeasurably the steer that Gillian has offered—and her gentle reminders to always keep ourselves and our relationship in sight.

* * *

Two-and-a-half years ago, had you told us that we would recover the love we’d lost—be able to speak to each other with compassion, understanding and respect—we may have found it hard to swallow such a tall tale.  Today, [Husband] and I may feel that we still have work to do before we believe that we’re ‘there’ (wherever and whatever ‘there’ may be)—but we both agree that, thanks to sensitive therapy, we’re walking that path hand in hand.

If you are looking for a couples/relationship counsellor contact Gillian Perrow on

01297 32530 / 07877721297

gillianperrow@btinternet.com

www.axminstercounselling.co​.uk