Eighteen months ago, Toronto resident Laura Hughes was navigating a recent Stage 2 cancer diagnosis feeling scared, alone, and unsure about what to do next. Then she connected with Brooksong Retreat and Cancer Support Centre in Haliburton.
The facility, located on the grounds of Abbey Gardens, offers a variety of in-person and virtual retreats and programs creating healing spaces and a sense of community for people affected by cancer.
Hughes was a year into her diagnosis when a friend told her about Brooksong. She reached out and signed up for a new online offering, figuring at worst she might learn something new. Instead, the results were life-changing, Hughes said.
“I felt so special, heard, understood, and, most of all, included. I had been home for a really long time and finally I had something to look forward to other than appointments,” Hughes said.
She was one of the first participants in a new six-week program titled ‘Re-Shaping Our Cancer Stories’. Through live online gatherings, video segments and supporting materials, participants integrate the natural world, art making, yoga, sound therapy, and discussion circles as they travel through their stories to chart a fresh path forward.
Hughes later took part in Brooksong’s ‘Take a Thread and Follow It’ course, which, over the course of seven weeks, used simple stitching and other art-making mediums to find ways to mend, repair and renew.
Both offerings were completely free, with Brooksong funding the initiatives through a $122,800 Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) grant received in 2022. Executive director, Barb Smith-Morrison said the money has allowed the retreat to provide virtual support to an additional 100 cancer patients this year.
The programs are led by trained facilitators like Fay Wilkinson and Ken Little, who both spoke during a virtual recognition event Nov. 29. Smith-Morrison noted the OTF money also supported the training of 12 facilitators.
Wilkinson is a registered expressive arts practitioner, who said she uses stitching to help patients re-thread pieces of their life post-diagnosis. Little said he uses sport, movement and sound to inspire people.
It had been a year of torment for Amber Young before she found salvation through Brooksong. Diagnosed with NonHodgkins lymphoma in 2023, Young had a five-inch tumour growing on her spinal cord with cancer also taking residence in her spleen, around her lungs and in her bones.
The Ottawa resident was referred to Brooksong through a friend, who had participated in a retreat following a breast cancer diagnosis a couple of years ago.
“Cancer changes your life… one of the biggest things through this program is that, after a year-and-a-half of my life being completely different, I felt like I landed in a room with people who actually saw me and understood what I was going through,” Young said. “Thank you to Brooksong and OTF – the programs being virtual meant I could take part.”
Smith-Morrison said the new virtual offerings have been a great addition to Brooksong’s programming, thanking OTF for its support.
“Not only has this increased the number of people we’re able to support, but it’s also allowed us to develop a new accessible website, create a series of videos to tell the story and impact of our cancer support mission, strengthen our internet capabilities and make our organization more accessible virtually,” Smith-Morrison said. “This is vitally important as our waitlist for our unique cancer support offerings continues to grow.”
The waitlist now sits at more than 200 people.
A third online offering ‘Healing Circles’ will start soon, connecting cancer patients and caregivers monthly via Zoom to share stories and foster connection. For more information, visit brooksong.ca.
