Cancer Diagnosis
Compassionate support through diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and the challenges in between, including for loved ones navigating the journey alongside you.
A cancer diagnosis can change your world in an instant. Suddenly, life may feel filled with appointments, decisions, uncertainty, and emotions you never expected to navigate. Whether you've recently received a diagnosis, are undergoing treatment, adjusting to life after cancer, or supporting someone you love, the emotional impact can be significant.
At Lauren Mallon Psychotherapy, we offer compassionate cancer-related counselling and therapy, providing a space where you don't have to be strong, positive, or have everything figured out.
You may be here because:
You are constantly worrying about treatment, test results, recurrence, or what the future might hold.
Feeling fearful, angry, sad, numb, or experiencing emotions that change from day to day.
Feeling responsible for reassuring others or believing you always need to be strong.
Struggling with changes to your body, independence, relationships, or sense of self.
Finding it difficult to relate to others or feeling misunderstood by those around you.
Feeling overwhelmed by medical decisions, changing routines, or uncertainty.
Feeling anxious, emotionally exhausted, or unsure how to move forward when treatment ends.
Feeling overwhelmed by the emotional and practical responsibilities of supporting a loved one.
There is no right or wrong way to experience cancer. Your emotional response is personal, and whatever you're feeling deserves space and understanding.
Cancer can bring challenges that extend far beyond physical health. Therapy provides a supportive, nonjudgmental space to explore how these experiences are affecting your emotional well-being, relationships, identity, and everyday life.
Together, we can work toward:
Processing difficult emotions surrounding diagnosis, treatment, or recovery.
Managing anxiety, uncertainty, and fears about the future.
Developing coping strategies for overwhelming thoughts and emotions.
Navigating changes in identity, confidence, relationships, and independence.
Learning to communicate your needs and establish healthy boundaries.
Reducing the pressure to remain positive or strong for everyone else.
Reconnecting with your values, priorities, and sense of self.
Finding ways to move forward while acknowledging the challenges you've experienced.
Therapy isn't about forcing positivity or telling you how to feel. It's about creating space for your experiences while helping you navigate them in a way that feels meaningful and manageable.
How therapy can help with a cancer diagnosis:
What therapy may look like
Cancer can bring unexpected challenges, changing emotions, and uncertainty about what lies ahead. Therapy offers a supportive space to navigate these experiences at your own pace, using approaches that reflect your individual needs and circumstances. These may include:
Client-Centred Therapy
Cancer can bring uncertainty, unexpected changes, and emotions that shift from one day to the next. A client-centred approach means meeting you where you are, without pressure, expectations, or a predetermined path. Therapy moves at your pace, providing a supportive space to explore whatever feels most important to you.
Grief and Loss Support
Grief isn't always about losing someone. A cancer diagnosis can bring grief surrounding changes to your health, independence, identity, relationships, future plans, or the life you imagined. Therapy can help you acknowledge and process these experiences while making space for the complex emotions that accompany them.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cancer can bring many things that feel outside of your control. ACT can help you navigate uncertainty, develop a different relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions, and reconnect with what matters most to you. Rather than trying to eliminate fear or force positivity, the focus is on building psychological flexibility and finding meaningful ways forward, even when things feel uncertain.
Self-Compassion and Emotional Regulation
You may feel pressure to remain strong, positive, or resilient throughout your experience. Therapy can help you approach yourself with greater kindness, recognize your emotional needs, and develop grounding and coping strategies for moments of overwhelm, anxiety, or exhaustion.
ready to get started?
Lauren Mallon Psychotherapy offers therapy for cancer diagnosis virtually across Ontario with therapist Fiona Rea.