NCCS offers a wide range of psychosocial services to help patients make informed and effective decisions, communicate well and bond with their loved ones, and maintain as normal a lifestyle as possible.

At NCCS, we believe in:

	holistic management.
	high quality of life for patients and their families.
	offering a comprehensive series of education and support programmes.
	collaborating with other cancer-related agencies to help patients and their families “live their best”.

Current programmses and services available include:

	Patient counselling on treatment, acceptance,lifestyle changes and interpersonal relationship issues,
	Family counselling on illness-related, grief and bereavement issues, as well as caregiver/ family support,
	Psychological services such as psychological assessment, managing sleep disorders, depression counselling for cancer patients with psychological and psychiatric history, and sexuality counselling,
	Patient education and patient support programmes (link to programmes below) that cover psycho-education, therapy groups, training of group work facilitators, and patient leaders' growth and development, and
	Other care-related practical assistance services such as financial assistance, employment and education issues, housing and shelter for crisis.

Type of Programmes

Self-help Group Programmes

These are social groups organized along tumour-types such as Breast Cancer Support Group, Lymphoma Support Group, NPC Support Group and O & G Support Group. Other self-help groups are organized along common cultural needs such as the Mandarin and Malay Support Groups. ‘The Revival Connection’is a group catering to the needs of patients with advanced and recurrent cancers and ‘The Growth Club’ is a self-help arm of the grief-in-recovery programme to support families who have lost their loved ones.

These groups are mainly led by patient leaders and supported by professional staff. The focus is on sharing of information on cancer treatment and management, caring for a loved one, issues with readjustment and healthy lifestyle. Groups will plan activities that will enrich participants coping with cancer and provide an avenue for them to obtain support from other patients / family members with similar concerns.

Enrichment, Developmental & Therapeutic Programmes

Developmental & Therapeutic Programmes are designed to strengthen a patient’s coping by:

Currently, National Cancer Centre Singapore has been running the developmental and therapeutic programmes in three languages: English, Mandarin & Malay.

NCCS has organized cancer retreats (a residential programme) and the STEER programme (a community-based programme that support through enrichment, empowerment and resourcefulness). The main focus of such programme is to impart relevant knowledge and skills in coping. In addition there are developmental or therapeutic goal related to emotional healing and growth.

The Childrens’ Therapies Programme helps children and youth as they cope with living with a very ill parent (Camp Encourage) or to grieve over the loss of a parent (Bereavement Programme). The Grief-in-recovery programme is a time-limited therapeutic programme that helps surviving spouses and families to grieve and mourn the loss of their loved ones. ‘Brushes in Action’, ‘Look Good Feel Better’ and ‘Cansurvive’ are other psycho-educational programmes run by professionals to support cancer patients and their families.