Cancer patients in Causeway area urged to Look Good Feel Better

The Northern Health and Social Care Trust in partnership with the charity Look Good Feel Better are currently offering free skincare and make-up workshops for people coping with the side-effects of cancer treatments.  The 2 hour workshops take place on a monthly basis and are run by a team of trained volunteer beauty therapists and make-up artists.  Up to 12 people from across the Northern Trust area can be accommodated and workshops are held at Clotworthy House in Antrim.

This is the second location in Northern Ireland where Look Good Feel Better workshops are run, following in the footsteps of the Cancer Centre in Belfast which has been running the workshops for some years now.

Eileen Deery, Cancer Services Lead Nurse for the Northern Trust, commented: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Look Good Feel Better to offer this service to people living throughout the Northern Trust area. We hope that those living with a cancer diagnosis will benefit from having access to these workshops within their local area.”

Lisa Curtis, Head of Look Good Feel Better Programme Services, said: “The therapeutic and psychological benefits of women wearing make-up have been well documented.  In particular, faced with adversity, the desire to look good remains.  Nowhere is this more apt than for women coping with the visible side-effects of cancer treatments such as losing their hair, eyebrows and eyelashes.”

“The aim of Look Good Feel Better is exactly what it says to build confidence and give those living with the side effects of cancer the ability to keep going with their ‘normal’ lives”.

Feedback to date has been extremely positive with one participant on the December workshop commenting : “It definitely lifted me!  I would certainly recommend it to others.  The pampering and getting together is great!”

Forthcoming dates for workshops are 6 March, 7 April and 1 May 2014.  To find out more about a Look Good Feel Better workshop please contact the Macmillan Unit on weekday mornings and one of the volunteers will be glad to provide more information, or book your place on a workshop.  Contact Macmillan Unit on 028 94 424394.

19th February 2014