The Cancer Wellness Program at Greenslopes Private Hospital marks its ninth year this year, and for the nearly 10,000 patients who pass through the hospital’s doors for cancer treatment each year, it remains a vital part of what the Greenslopes community offers.
Funded by Gallipoli Medical Research, the program has been running since 2017 as a free, donor-supported resource for cancer patients and their families. It does not treat the disease itself. What it treats is everything else: the fear, the isolation, the exhaustion, the sense that life has been picked up and shaken. For nine years, it has been putting people back in the room with others who actually understand what that feels like.
What the Program Actually Does
The Cancer Wellness Program is committed to equipping patients and their families with the advice, resources and support they need for a smoother pathway through treatment and beyond. When a patient feels supported, informed and empowered to focus on their wellbeing during a time of illness, the entire outlook of their cancer experience can change dramatically.
In practice, that means peer group sessions, survivorship education, expert-led workshops and hands-on creative activities that range from kokedama workshops to petting zoos and pony rides. The program operates on a simple but powerful insight: that people who have been through cancer treatment understand each other in a way that even the most caring friends and family sometimes cannot.
Jenny Chaves joined the program in 2023, after chemotherapy and surgery for cancer. Now in remission but still living with the lasting effects of treatment, she describes what the program gave her in plain terms.
“Cancer changes every aspect of your life during and after treatment,” she said. “This program helped me get back on track. The peer support from people who understand my experience has been absolutely vital to my health journey.”
“People around you often expect things to go back to normal after your treatment ends. But it doesn’t work like that. In this group, everyone gets it. It’s a safe space where we are supported and can be ourselves.”
The Bit That Often Goes Unspoken
One of the things the program has understood from the beginning is that cancer treatment does not end when the last chemotherapy session does. The side effects, the anxiety, the recalibration of identity and daily life, all of that continues well into remission and beyond. The survivorship education sessions the program offers address that reality directly, giving participants the knowledge and resources to navigate what comes after the acute phase of treatment.
“When treatment starts, you’re just trying to get through each day,” Jenny said. “The survivorship session was fantastic. It gave me knowledge to navigate my health journey and resources to get back on track.”
The creative workshops serve a different but equally important function. Kokedama, craft stalls, ANZAC Day poppies, all of it pulls participants out of the hospital-and-side-effects loop that cancer can create, back into something that is just theirs for an hour.
“Cancer is all-consuming. Your world shrinks to hospitals and side effects. Doing something creative pulls you out of that space. It brings you into the present moment and helps restore some balance,” Jenny said.
“We have such a good laugh. That sense of humour, of being seen and understood, is a real tonic. It lifts your spirit.”
Where Nine Years Gets You
After nine years, the program’s reach across Greenslopes is significant. With close to 10,000 patients receiving cancer treatment at the hospital every year, the community of people who could benefit from it is large and constantly renewing. Former participants like Jenny have gone on to give back to the program, helping run stalls and workshops that both raise funds and keep the sense of purpose alive.
“It felt amazing to tell people that buying these crafts helps support someone like me,” she said. “It might seem small, but it gave us a real sense of purpose.”
A Program That Belongs to Greenslopes
Nine years is not an accident. Programs like this survive because communities sustain them, through donations, through volunteering, through local artisans who offer their time to run a workshop, and through the participants who keep showing up and bringing new people in.
For Greenslopes and the surrounding southside suburbs, having a hospital that offers not just treatment but genuine human support for the people going through cancer is something worth knowing about. Whether you or someone you love is currently in treatment, in remission or just starting to look for what comes next, the Cancer Wellness Program is worth a phone call.
To find out more or register interest, contact the program coordinator on 07 3329 4860, email cancerwellnesscoor@ramsayhealth.com.au, or click this link. To support the program through a donation, visit gallipoliresearch.com.au/donate. Local artisans interested in running a workshop for participants are also warmly welcomed to get in touch.
Published 30-March-2026.
Featured Image Credit: Greenslopes Private Hospital/Facebook
