What is Psychosocial Support?
A cancer diagnosis can have a big impact on many aspects of a person's life. As well as the physical and practical challenges it brings, cancer can affect how someone feels about themselves, their relationships, their work, the activities they value, and the plans they may have for the future.
Cancer can also change how someone thinks and feels, influencing their mood, their confidence, and their overall wellbeing. It’s important to remember that cancer can also have a big impact on those close to the person diagnosed.
Psychosocial support helps people affected by cancer to manage some of these challenges, to manage their emotional and psychological wellbeing, to connect with others and to be able to engage meaningfully in the things which matter most to them.
To find out more about psychosocial support, watch our animation below:
What are the different levels of psychosocial support and what are the key services?
Psychosocial support should be personalised, based on individual needs, which can change over time. Psychosocial support should be flexible and inclusive, and tailored to the level of support each person affected by cancer needs.
There are three levels of psychosocial support in South East London. These are:
- Universal support: support that should be offered to everyone affected by cancer and personalised to their needs. This could include signposting to NHS or voluntary services, such as social prescribing, as well as personalised care planning, health and wellbeing programmes and support tools.
- Enhanced support: for those who need more psychosocial support, such as first-line support from their key worker (for instance their clinical nurse specialist or allied health professional). It may also include support from NHS talking therapies.
- Specialist support: support for those who experience persistent and complex distress because of cancer. This includes specialist NHS psycho-oncology services, with professionals such as clinical psychologists, counselling psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists. Specialist support can also include palliative care services and mental health services.
To find out more about the different levels of psychosocial support in South East London, watch our animation below:
More links section
How can I learn more about the psychosocial impact of cancer and psychosocial support?
Together with Guy’s Cancer Academy, our patient partners, those supporting them, and our staff, we have developed an online educational resource focused on psychosocial support.
The module is designed for anyone working in health and social care. In the module you can hear from people with cancer and professionals working in health and social care, and learn about the different psychosocial needs that often come up when someone is diagnosed with cancer. You can also learn about the different levels of psychosocial support and the services providing these in South East London.
You can access this resource by clicking the button below:
What psychosocial support services do we have in South East London?
For a full directory of psychosocial support in your area, please visit Cancer Care Map.
For an overview of the key psychosocial support services in South East London, you can download our interactive signposting toolkit here: