Status: 17.07.2024

The Klaus Bahlsen Center for Integrative Oncology (KBZ) at the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the MHH has been organizing the naturopathic group program "Strengthen your self-healing powers" for several years now. The therapy concept was initiated by Professor Dr. Diana Steinmann, Head of the Klaus Bahlsen Center for Integrative Oncology, contact person for naturopathy and complementary medicine advice and specialist in radiotherapy at the MHH.

The group program is aimed at patients during or after cancer treatment who are looking for new ways to optimize the course of their disease. The focus is on various offers in the areas of exercise, relaxation, meditation, nutrition, stress management and self-help strategies. The program takes place with 10-12 participants in a fixed group and lasts for a period of 10 weeks. There are a total of 3-4 sessions per year. The idea of meeting up again after a group program has come up from time to time in the last few sessions. Now it has been put into practice.

Refreshing old knowledge and taking away new
45 patients took part. The aim was to create a platform for seeing or getting to know familiar and unfamiliar faces, exchanging ideas and getting new impulses, ideas or suggestions. In addition to a welcome and morning exercise, the day's agenda included an exchange on everyday life with elements from the group program as well as meditation exercises and Qi Chong. "Today's meeting is good for the soul and the mind. I've forgotten a lot of what I've learned, so this refresher is just what I need," said one participant. Another participant said that she would always see some of the faces again, for example at rehabilitation sports at the MHH or in the mindfulness courses at the KBZ. "But that is certainly also due to the suggestions from the group program, because I might not have come across the exercise classes otherwise," she said.

Meetings to take place regularly
"Today, we have taken up many elements of the group program again in a very concrete way. It was important to us not only to address self-help strategies in theory and provide participants with tools for self-care, but also to incorporate practical exercises as a priority," explains the head of the Klaus Bahlsen Center, Professor Dr. Diana Steinmann from the MHH. The plan is to implement the format at regular intervals. A new date has already been set for December 2024.

"I can recommend the group program and the program day today to all patients with cancer. It is a low-threshold offer with an uncomplicated registration process. That makes it easy," says one participant.

Group programme "Strengthening self-healing powers"
As a holistic therapy concept, the group programme aims to demonstrate and internalize how side effects of conventional therapy (chemotherapy, radiotherapy) and possible late effects, such as fatigue syndrome, can be alleviated with the help of self-help strategies. In addition to oncological treatment, patients can actively strengthen their self-healing powers and learn how to better deal with the disease and the resulting effects on their environment. You can find more information here.

Participation in the group program is free of charge. A program for men only is currently planned.

If you are interested, please contact the general center coordination directly:
☎ 0176 1532 3792
✉ klaus-bahlsen-zentrum@mh-hannover.de

Text: Jana Illmer-Krüger