North London Cancer Network

Women Helping Women

Helping women cope
with gynaecological cancer

This is the home page for the “Women Helping Women” project, for women being treated for gynaecological cancers at University College London Hospital (UCLH).

The WHW project provides a telephone “peer support” service. Women who have completed treatment (“peer supporters”) provide support by telephone on approximately once a week, for up to three months. The service is available to women at UCLH during any stage of their treatment or after treatment has ended. The peer supporters are given brief training and are backed up by hospital staff.
The service aims to:

• Provide an opportunity for women to freely discuss their worries and concerns

• Reduce feelings of isolation

• Help women cope with their treatment

WHW has been set up as a clinical research project, funded by Cancer Research-UK, so that we can identify its strengths and how it can be improved. The research is being conducted through the Psychological Helping and Support (PHAS) research group at University College London (UCL). Dr Nancy Pistrang and Dr Sue Gessler are the principal investigators, in collaboration with other staff in the Hospital and at UCL.

This site contains information for current and prospective patients, and also for peer supporters. It also has material of interest to other health care professionals and researchers in this area. It is currently under construction -- feedback would be most welcome. Comments can be sent to Dr Nancy Pistrang using the link below.

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