Therapy After Cancer Diagnosis
A cancer diagnosis can turn life upside down. It often brings fear, uncertainty, and emotional pain that can feel overwhelming. While medical treatment focuses on the body, therapy offers essential support for the mind and emotional wellbeing — helping you navigate one of life’s most challenging experiences.
In therapy, I provide a safe, supportive space to talk openly about what you’re going through. Many people experience shock, anxiety, low mood, anger, or fear of the unknown after a diagnosis. Therapy can help ease these emotional burdens and support you through each stage of your journey. Using a cognitive and solution-focused approach alongside mindfulness, therapy can help you regain a sense of calm, control, and balance during treatment and beyond.
Therapy is not only about managing distress — it’s also about building resilience and hope. I support clients to recognise their strengths, develop helpful coping strategies, set realistic goals, and find steadiness during uncertain times. Together, we work toward creating space for meaning, perspective, and emotional healing alongside medical care.
A cancer diagnosis can also affect relationships with partners, family members, and close friends. Couples therapy or family therapy can improve communication, reduce guilt or tension, and help loved ones support one another more effectively. Couples therapy is not only for romantic partners — it can be equally valuable for parents and children or close friends who are navigating this experience together.
Therapy after a cancer diagnosis supports the whole person — emotionally, psychologically, and relationally. By addressing the impact of cancer beyond the physical, therapy can help you feel less alone, more supported, and better equipped to move forward with strength, compassion, and hope.
LIFE
There are moments when it feels completely overwhelming. Everyone struggles with its complexities and from time to time, we all need someone who will listen, will understandand and will help us to get things back on track.
My name is Rafael, and I have been a professional counsellor for over 20 years.
With the right help, I’m convinced that everybody can make change happen and improve their quality of life – even in a short period of time.
It might be something specific, but equally you might not even know what’s wrong at the moment, just that something is.But no matter what your situation, I’m here to provide you with the safe, non-judgmental and confidential space you need to explore your thoughts, feelings and behaviours and the experiences which may have led to them.
Together we will find a way forward, so if you or someone you care for need support or you would simply like to discuss the options then do get in touch.
Our Approach
Initial Assessment
First we have an initial assessment. This is an opportunity for you to talk about what you want to get from counselling, to ask questions and ultimately to decide if I am someone you feel comfortable talking to and can trust and be open with.
An Individual Approach
We then decide on the best approach for you as an individual, through either a fixed number of sessions, or on an open-ended basis.
We will typically see each other once a week, usually face-to-face. Sessions by telephone or video calling are also possible.
Costs: Sessions cost from £80 per hour for individuals and £120 for couples.
Your Regular Sessions
Each counselling session is designed to be a relaxed space where you can talk openly and we can discuss the things that are important to you, safe in the knowledge that you are not going to be judged in any way.
You can share as much or as little as you choose, everything we talk about is confidential.
Counselling Techniques
I use what’s known as an integrative approach – integrating the affective, behavioural, cognitive, and physiological systems within one person, as well as addressing any social and spiritual aspects.
That simply means that I work with each client as a whole person and use a variety of techniques.
Goals and Outcomes
Our shared goal will be to make sure that you spend as little time ‘in therapy’ as possible, so that you can focus on implementing the changes that will improve your life and starting to enjoy life more as you move forward.
Review and Progress
We regularly review our work together to ensure you are getting what you need from the sessions. This helps us track your progress and adjust our approach if necessary to best support your journey.
We will work together until you feel ready to move forward independently.
Initial Assessment
First we have an initial assessment. This is an opportunity for you to talk about what you want to get from counselling, to ask questions and ultimately to decide if I am someone you feel comfortable talking to and can trust and be open with.
An Individual Approach
We then decide on the best approach for you as an individual, through either a fixed number of sessions, or on an open-ended basis.
We will typically see each other once a week, usually face-to-face. Sessions by telephone or video calling are also possible.
Costs: Sessions cost from £80 per hour for individuals and £120 for couples.
Your Regular Sessions
Each counselling session is designed to be a relaxed space where you can talk openly and we can discuss the things that are important to you, safe in the knowledge that you are not going to be judged in any way.
You can share as much or as little as you choose, everything we talk about is confidential.
Counselling Techniques
I use what’s known as an integrative approach – integrating the affective, behavioural, cognitive, and physiological systems within one person, as well as addressing any social and spiritual aspects.
That simply means that I work with each client as a whole person and use a variety of techniques.
Goals and Outcomes
Our shared goal will be to make sure that you spend as little time ‘in therapy’ as possible, so that you can focus on implementing the changes that will improve your life and starting to enjoy life more as you move forward.
Review and Progress
We regularly review our work together to ensure you are getting what you need from the sessions. This helps us track your progress and adjust our approach if necessary to best support your journey.
We will work together until you feel ready to move forward independently.
Initial Assessment
First we have an initial assessment. This is an opportunity for you to talk about what you want to get from counselling, to ask questions and ultimately to decide if I am someone you feel comfortable talking to and can trust and be open with.
An Individual Approach
We then decide on the best approach for you as an individual, through either a fixed number of sessions, or on an open-ended basis.
We will typically see each other once a week, usually face-to-face. Sessions by telephone or video calling are also possible.
Costs: Sessions cost from £80 per hour for individuals and £120 for couples.
Your Regular Sessions
Each counselling session is designed to be a relaxed space where you can talk openly and we can discuss the things that are important to you, safe in the knowledge that you are not going to be judged in any way.
You can share as much or as little as you choose, everything we talk about is confidential.
Counselling Techniques
I use what’s known as an integrative approach – integrating the affective, behavioural, cognitive, and physiological systems within one person, as well as addressing any social and spiritual aspects.
That simply means that I work with each client as a whole person and use a variety of techniques.
Goals and Outcomes
Our shared goal will be to make sure that you spend as little time ‘in therapy’ as possible, so that you can focus on implementing the changes that will improve your life and starting to enjoy life more as you move forward.
Review and Progress
We regularly review our work together to ensure you are getting what you need from the sessions. This helps us track your progress and adjust our approach if necessary to best support your journey.
We will work together until you feel ready to move forward independently.
Rafael Dupré
Counsellor
Xandra Kike Spence
Counsellor
Ellen Wardren
Counsellor
Rafael Dupré
Counsellor
Xandra Kike Spence
Counsellor
Ellen Wardren
Counsellor
Rafael Dupré
Counsellor
Xandra Kike Spence
Counsellor
Ellen Wardren
CounsellorNext steps
Contact me for a free initial assessment session
Rafael Dupre
TESTIMONIALS
Ellen Wardren MBACP
Counsellor
Sarah Thorne MBACP
Counsellor
Nikki Hockey MBACP
Counsellor