As part of our new drive to support local charities, each week we are highlighting the vital work they do and the difference they make to the lives of people in our communities.
Star Throwers, the south Norfolk based charity, provides support to people with cancer and their carers.
About Us
Star Throwers is a local cancer support charity based in Wymondham, dedicated to supporting people with cancer and their carers, from diagnosis through to life after cancer.
The Star Throwers centre is a safe haven for those affected by cancer to get the support that the body and mind needs during diagnosis, treatment, palliative care and remission.
One of the vitally important services we provide are cancer information sessions, which support people to take control of their cancer journey, helping them become well-informed about their diagnosis and all of their treatment options – including clinical trials and alternative treatments.
Free complementary and supportive services are available to help people cope with the effects of their cancer and its treatments.
Our wellbeing services include one-to-one therapies: fatigue management, massage, facials, reflexology, reiki and hypnotherapy and our group therapies include: writing for wellbeing and an informal ‘connections’ group.
We have weekly counsellors available to offer talking therapies, including bereavement counselling.
These therapies can help improve the overall wellbeing of cancer patients and their carers – relieving stress, anxiety, side effects such as fatigue and pain relief.
Our regular nutrition talks are available for those with a cancer diagnosis, giving evidence based guidelines around nutrition and healthy eating, one-to-one advice is available to help support patients nutritionally during a diagnosis and post-treatment.
“I think that Star Throwers are the best. Saying the word ‘normalise’ to me, by the Nurse, was a turning point for me, it really was. Instead of thoughts going around my head a million miles a second, that one word did it for me.
And her clear explanations and diagrams, helped me enormously.
The counselling I had was marvellous, I found that I could talk to the counsellor, she listened and understood, I could cry, tell her anything I wanted to, to let it all out.
The same for the nutrition one-to-one, I had lots of questions about soya, fruit, and the information I received was so interesting and helpful.” – Sue, Service User 2021.
If you or a loved one are in need of support during a cancer diagnosis and beyond, please visit our website for more information: www.starthrowers.org.uk or contact us for a chat with our friendly team: 01953 423304 / info@starthrowers.org.uk
Impact of COVID-19
Star Throwers supports people with any of the 200 types of cancer. Our services continue to be in high demand, in 2020 and 2021 we supported a total of 296 patients and carers with 1,426 individual and group support sessions.
A shocking 1 in 3 people have had their treatment impacted by the effects of COVID-19 on the health services. Star Throwers has seen an increasing number of patients at later stages of the disease seeking support.
A huge 7 in 10 people who have experienced delays feel frustrated and anxious and this has seen an increase in demand for our counselling and wellbeing services.
Over the past 24 months and since the initial lockdown was announced in March 2020, we have adapted many of our core support services to be delivered remotely. Embracing this new method of delivery has meant that we have been able to continue to support those who are unable to attend the centre or are geographically further afield.
We will continue to offer both in-person and remote services in the future so that we can support even more people affected by cancer.
We hope that 2022 will bring about a continued return to ‘normality’ for our services, we are currently operating appointment-only sessions, but we hope as the year goes on we can open our drop-in service once again.
2022 will also be a year of growth for the charity as we seek to employ an additional Cancer Information Nurse to deliver our cancer information sessions and a dedicated Lymphoedema Therapist to increase our lymphoedema support.
We will be expanding our existing nutrition support service to include nutritional care packages –these will offer an extra level of support in starting people on their way to embrace nutritional changes.
If you are looking for a charity to support this year, why not help us achieve our goals by joining us at one of our upcoming events: Skydive Day 26th June, Royal Parks Half Marathon 9th October, Golf Day 19th October or our Charity Ball 26th November contact us to find out more: info@starthrowers.org.uk.
Vacancy – Cancer Information Nurse
Following the important impact our cancer information service has had at our charity over the past 13 years and the increase in demand for this service, we are now recruiting for an additional Cancer Information Nurse.
This position will support the delivery of vital information and its interpretation to our service users and their families.
This is a new additional role which will work alongside our current Lead Clinician Coordinator who is responsible for delivering our information sessions.
This is an incredibly unique and valuable role where you will get the chance to support people affected by cancer and make a real positive impact on their lives. You will help people understand the information they have been given by their medical team.
This is a very rewarding role where you can make a huge difference to people at any stage of a cancer diagnosis and beyond.
Find out more on our website: https://www.starthrowers.org.uk/vacancies/
Registered charity number: 1162237
*If you want your charity featured in our weekly focus please contact Sarah Ravencroft at sarah.ravencroft@archant.co.uk.
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