Lots of people know about CSF Languedoc’s existence, but many are unsure what we actually do. Our classified advert says we provide “Emotional, linguistic and practical support to English speaking cancer patients and their families through our team of trained volunteers”.  Another classified advert talks about our Drop in Day, offering “support, fun activities and pampering”.

 

Clearer? Good.

 

Of course, classified adverts only provide headlines, so here’s a feel of what lies behind them…

   Some things we don’t do are:

• Fund cancer research

• Provide health care

• Provide counselling

• Judge people affected by cancer or advise them about what they should do

 

The list of things we do is a lot longer and depends on individual circumstances every time.  It might be a one-off hospital visit or it may go from diagnosis through treatment, through remission or to end-of-life and coping with the changes these stages bring.

   Many (but not all) of the things we do for clients are:

 

 • Provide translation and interpreting services for people relating to their health registration, doctor’s appointments, hospital appointments etc

 • Help people with the paperwork for all of the above

 • Attend health appointments with people as moral support

 • Provide information about the health service, local health services, hospitals etc

 • Provide links to approved websites regarding different cancers and their treatments

 • Give personal space to talk about the impacts (practical and emotional) of the cancer journey and help people work out what choices they want to make and how they want to manage things

 • Help with transport for medical visits

 • Liaise with GPs, pharmacists, consultants, home care teams etc

 • Provide information about complementary therapy options

 • Support people with palliative care arrangements

 • Support people to arrange Wills and Living Wills

 • Support people with funeral arrangements and coming to terms with bereavement 

 • Provide information about counselling services

 • Provide information about financial advice services

 • Help where possible to find temporary or permanent solutions for people’s pets if they can no longer be looked after

 • Provide a monthly Drop in Day to help break down feelings of isolation and to offer free complementary therapies and pampering where possible

 

Health care

A lot of English speakers living in France find the bureaucracy of the health system daunting and we often find that people are not registered in the system, have no doctor in France and are unaware that healthcare is free for someone with a cancer diagnosis. We deal with this all the time and it’s a lot easier for us because we’ve done it before.  

 

Emotional support

Everyone close to someone with a cancer diagnosis is affected by it. Family members often feel lost as to what to say and do.  

  People can work at being polite and positive or can have a hard time keeping going and saying anything.  People express opinions, (“If I were you I would/not do this/that/the other”), or try to bolster confidence, (“It’ll be fine”).  Then there are the people who give advice, either through experience (which can vary dramatically from one person to another), or because they are professionals and providing their professional opinion. It’s in the middle of all this that our Active Listeners provide the space and time for people to think things through without any opinion or advice being voiced.  We’re trained to ask open questions, confirm 

understanding, and provide information where it is sought.  We have a role of empowering people to manage difficult things in the way that best suits them, when they are ready to do it.  This is not counselling, but it can make a big difference.

 

Volunteers

Our Active Listeners, interpreters, food and pampering providers for Drop in Days and everyone helping in every other way with our activities are all volunteers.  We have two sets of volunteers:

1. Those that provide personalised support to people (Active Listening)

2. Those that help run activities, fundraising and awareness events etc, but do not undertake personalised support

   Both sets of volunteers are provided with training and information by CSF Languedoc, using a programme which has been 

recognised and rolled out by the CSF national body.  

   For those who do not take on Active Listening, there is a 1-day training course about the aims and practices of CSF and an introduction to Active Listening methods.  For Active Listeners, there is a two-day training course, with a one-day follow-up, periodic ongoing training days, regular and ongoing contact and practice with a ‘buddy’ (another Active Listener with whom the methods of Active Listening are practised with feedback for improvement) and a 

Mentor, who is available to talk things through and support the Active Listener with what can be very challenging work.

   As well as our focus on Active Listening – the heart of our work – we have a committee structure, a membership (including ‘Friends of’) and are constantly working to improve awareness of what we do amongst the English and French-speaking communities.  We have strong links and formal recognition agreements with local health services and links with La Ligue Contre le Cancer.

 

Awareness and Money

 We have strong and much-appreciated support from more English-speaking groups than we could mention, who raise funds to cover advertising costs, volunteer travel costs (by far the biggest cost we face), Drop in Day and training costs and more. We do not raise funds to be profitable – we raise them to do our work. Often the biggest benefit to us from fundraising activities is that people find out more about us, recommend us to someone in need, or are drawn to give their time and energy through volunteering. If, having read this piece you would like to know more, please check our website on:www.csf-languedoc.comor email us on: csf.languedoc@gmail.comWe always welcome enquiries from those who might benefit from our support, enquiries from possible volunteers, membership enquiries and offers to run awareness and fundraising events.

 

Clearer?

Good.