Transcript Disclaimer – Please note that the following transcript has been machine generated by an AI software and therefore may include errors or omissions.

Robin Daly
Hello and welcome to the Yes to Life show. I’m Robin Daly, regular host to the show and founder of the UK charity Yes to Life that’s been flying the flag for integrative medicine for the best part of two decades. If you’re new to the show you may not know what integrative medicine is. Simply put, it’s the best of all worlds, an approach that brings together and combines all that conventional oncology has to offer with a mass of other approaches that have been developed to provide support in the broadest sense of the word in mind, body and spirit. The integrative approach is proving its worth in better outcomes and a vastly improved quality of life, so it’s well worth investigating should you be unfortunate enough to be facing a diagnosis of cancer. In this week’s show, nutritional therapist Kirsten Chick, who’s a regular and hugely popular guest here, introduces the double bill of events that Yes to Life has on offer this year to raise awareness of the breadth and depth of integrative medicine for cancer or integrative oncology as it is specifically called. I’m speaking to Kirsten over the internet at her home near the south coast. Hi Kirsten, brilliant to have you back on the show.

Kirsten Chick
Morning, Robin, it’s really lovely to be back.

Robin Daly
Great. So it has been a while and it is always such a pleasure to chat. Today’s show something of a warm-up for this year’s upcoming conferences that together go under the title of You and Your Cancer Team. So we’ve got two events. The first is an online event on the 17th of June and the second a real in-person event held in central London on the 7th of October. And the reason I’m speaking to you about it is that you’re in the key position of having worked to develop the concept and the content of both events with me. And you’re also playing a central role at both events. So massive thanks for all that. And to start out today, can you give us a kind of top level description of what the events are about and what the intention is behind them?

Kirsten Chick
Yes. So the whole theme, as you said, is you and your cancer team. And when we think of a cancer team, we normally think of the oncologists and the medical professions that they sit around the table with when they’re discussing somebody’s case with the person with the diagnosis, usually not in the room at all. But what we’re talking about here is building your integrative cancer team. So these are people who are that, you know, they might be cancer coaches, they might be nutritional therapists, exercise specialists, herbalists, massage therapists, people with expertise in working with people with cancer, who are on your team with you, if you, you know, if you have a cancer diagnosis, so they are there with you supporting you through every step of the way. So, and this is really important because one of the key things that has come out of various audit surveys and studies, including Dr. Kelly Turner’s radical remission project, is that it’s really crucial to have integrative care, so complementary support. And it’s really important to have a support team, to have people really giving you what you need through that, not being on your own with this. The whole journey from diagnosis three to years later, people do do a lot better when they’ve got a team. And so this is what we wanted to really promote is why it’s really important, the benefits of having this integrative cancer team and also introducing people to what that might look like. So we’ve got lots of people at both events who are going to talk about the benefits of various different therapies and modalities and approaches, but also give tasters. So there’s a lot of experiential workshops and sessions so people can really come along and find out more and find out some of the kind of science behind why this is all good and people’s learn about people’s experience of it, but also experience some of these things themselves. So they can, you can think, yeah, I’m really drawn to this, that nice but didn’t do anything for me, but now I’m really interested in whether it’s art therapy or reflexology or nutrition or any of the other things that we’re going to have at both events.

Robin Daly
Yeah so you know and very much of what you’ve just said underlines the fact that this is called you and your cancer team and so you know one person’s cancer team wouldn’t look like another one and it’s very much people finding the support that they feel is right for them and so we’re trying to help people with well knowing what’s out there so they at least know what their choices are and giving them a taste as soon as they might start to decide which for them.

Kirsten Chick
Which is brilliant because there is so much out there at the moment, but it’s still so difficult for many people to access. You know, back here, you and I’ve been both working in this field for what 20 years and I had cancer maybe 25 years ago. Back then, there were very few people working in that field. And and it was really hard to access it. I was quite lucky. I met one or two people who became part of my cancer team. And I don’t know if I’d have, you know, realized that was what was going on at the time, really early on. And it was just invaluable. I couldn’t have got through the the few years after diagnosis and treatment actually without them.

Robin Daly
OK, well we’ll hear a bit more about that later. OK, so we’ve got two events and you can actually book both together as a bundle. So what’s the difference between them and how does somebody choose between them and why might they want to go to both?

Kirsten Chick
Well the first one is Saturday the 17th of June and it’s online. The second one is Saturday the 7th of October and it’s in person in London. So already you might be thinking actually I can’t make it to London I’m just going to do the online one or I really love in person events so I’m going to go to the London one but not so wide about online but actually they do work really well together so if you’re up for doing both then that would be recommended and the first one is called building your integrative team a practical introduction to the resources available to those diagnosed with cancer and because it’s online there are it’s more kind of speakers than workshops but most of those speakers are going to be or all of those speakers are going to be giving practical tips or actual mini online tasters as well of what’s going on. So for example actually one of the sessions just before lunch time is with Hayley North who’s a holistic chef so she’s going to be giving some really good kitchen tips and also then sharing a recipe so you can either cook along and then have everyone will be having the same lunch or you can just you know have whatever you want to eat but save that as a recipe that you might want to do in the future. So at the online events I’m going to be speaking about different approaches to diet and nutrition we’ve got Scarlett Roberts talking about movement as medicine so looking at all the different types of movement and exercise. We’ve got Tracy Story aka Ten Sui looking at reconnecting with nature and rhythms. We’ve got the cook along session and safety trees coming to do a best work session so she’ll be talking about that doing some best work. Dr Catherine Zollman giving a really good overview of all the different modalities you can look at and we’ve got Isabelle Gagliano coming on to talk about Isabelle’s a health coach specializing in cancer so some really good cancer coach wisdom there and then we’ve got that really nice session at the end where we’re going to talk about how to really get started so you know often we come away from these online things don’t we and we’re like oh that’s great I’ve got loads of information and the next day we’ve gotten it all. So we’ll be going on that to happen so we’ve got a session where we’re going to really help you kind of get a plan and integrate the information. So that’s the online events and the in-person events in London so we’ve got a few main sessions in the main auditorium and then we’ve got lots of breakout sessions with lots of different workshops where people can get to grips with you know really experience a lot of these different things I think we’ve got maybe 15 or 16 different workshops over four different sessions in each session.

Robin Daly
So lots of lots of choice is an important point though, isn’t it? People are not railroaded into one particular workshop. They actually go up four to two from each time.

Kirsten Chick
So there is everything from exercise to art, to meditation, to juicing, to tea, to lots of different things, RTT, reflexology. And then we’ve got three sessions in the main auditorium to begin with. So again, we’ve got myself delivering a session on nutrition choices. And then we’ve got Sam Watts looking at lifestyle choices. And then we’ve got Patricia Pete talking about therapy choices. So we’ve got those three main sessions, nutrition, lifestyle, and therapies. All the taste is in between. And then at the end, again, we’ve got an integration session where everyone can come together. There’s an opportunity to reflect on everything that everyone’s experienced that day and learnt and any insights that they’ve had. And we’re hoping to get as many of the facilitators and speakers on stage as possible for that session as well for a Q&A session. So a really good rounding up. And then you’re going to come and talk about the next steps, what to do next.

Robin Daly
well there’s some great people in there many of them have been guests on this show of course so if you want to sort of check them out ahead of time just do a search on the show page of the afterlife website and you’ll be able to hear a bit of what they have to say okay so that that’s great and so the stories are both very full days basically lots of resources coming out of there so coming back to the kind of the basic questions that maybe you want to say a bit more about why someone needs to think about having a cancer team what’s it for you know why do we need one

Kirsten Chick
Well, there’s all sorts of benefits, psychologically and physically as well, actually. So, for example, going through treatments, there is evidence, both clinical evidence and anecdotal evidence to suggest that people who are looking after their nutrition in various ways, often report fewer side effects going through treatment. And that’s, I know more, obviously, because nutrition is my thing, that’s what I know more about. But I also know that there’s been studies into the benefits of various different things like qigong and yerugo and mindfulness, and not just on the kind of the ability to mentally and psychologically handle what’s going on. But we know, don’t we, that you can’t really separate out the mental and psychological from the physical. So we can keep the nervous system at the adrenals calm in the body that has lots of impacts on how digestion works, and inflammatory levels, inflammation levels in the body, how cells behave, how tissue behaves. There are lots of impacts there. So even if we’re purely looking at things like reflexology and mindfulness, and so on, as just calming everything down, that’s going to have beneficial physical effects as well, that are going to help a person’s physical recovery, as well as their mental, emotional, psychological recovery. So I think, you know, there’s emerging and growing research and evidence around all of that. And but also just knowing that you’re not on your own, you’ve got people who are actually rooting for you, who you are communicating with who are on your side.

Kirsten Chick
It’s changing, but there’s that whole relationship with oncologists and medical professionals traditionally, where it just feels like a them and us and not much communication, not much compassion or empathy, not much inclusion in decisions. Just really, just on a convey about going through the process of, oh, you’ve got this type of cancer, we do this, then we do this, then we do this. Whereas when you’re working with a team that you’ve chosen of people who are on your side and communicating with you and you’re leading everything, you’re piloting your shit, there’s something really very different about that and it’s self empowering. But also, it does seem to be emerging that that is important for recovery on lots of levels.

Robin Daly
And I think, you know, there are particular reasons to talk about this whole topic today in light of the environment of the UK, because of course it’s different wherever you go as to what the setup of healthcare is and without a particular one, I think there’s particular reasons to put a lot of emphasis on having a team. Do you want to say a bit around that?

Kirsten Chick
Yeah, I mean, there are aspects of the NHS that have made a real effort to include integrative support. But it’s very hit and miss. And there has, like I said, it is changing. But there has been a general attitude of suspicion and or dismissiveness. Or, you know, real negativity against things like the benefits of nutrition and body work and herbs and other different therapies. So it’s usually dismissive. So if somebody asks their oncologist or their doctor, should I should I change my diet? Should I should I meditate more? Should I do some breath work? And there’s normally either Oh, no, don’t worry about that. Or maybe a little bit of scorn or derision or maybe an active No, you absolutely shouldn’t. Which is really tough. It’s really tough to be faced with no nothing you do is going to make any difference, especially when that’s simply not true.

Robin Daly
Absolutely.

Kirsten Chick
And obviously the NHS is in a really difficult place at the moment, so where there has been some strides forwards in these areas, actually it’s really struggling with the resources to do what it does day to day, let alone what can be perceived to be add-ons. There are other countries where it’s perceived to be much more at the heart. I was looking at an interesting study where, there’s been a few actually, there’s one called Integrative Oncology International Perspectives, and this was just a couple of, well this was 2019, and they were comparing integrative oncology services and use in the United States, Canada, Australia, Italy and Western Europe and the UK. And actually the use in the UK seems to be a little bit higher than I thought, so it’s between 22 and 45% and 23% of public services at that time were offering integrative medicine approaches. But that’s not all NHS, that’s also private sector as well. And while there was high advocacy, so they looked at the culture, so high advocacy from patient associations, but variable acceptability by physicians. Whereas if you compare that with America for example, there was 50 to 60% use, so that’s higher, and most of the 45 comprehensive cancer centres offered integrative oncology. So mostly mind and body practices, consultations, natural products and lifestyle. And a lot of that was funded through philanthropy. Everyone’s really, you know, the patients and the physicians and the increasingly more supportive of that approach. The main criticism or concern in the America seems to be that there is a lot of unregulated information and advice out there, but generally the attitude is a lot more positive. And then you’ve got other areas like Italy where in the north 58% of public cancer services offer integrative medicine, but not South Italy. I didn’t know that. It’s very much in the culture there. And there are, you know, there are certain places in the world where we’ve kept hold of that cultural attachment or the cultural wisdom of what’s come before. Whereas in the UK with savage ties with that, and it’s hard to bring that back in again once you’ve severed those ties.

Robin Daly
hmm absolutely okay so um there’s going to be listeners at all stages of uh cancer listening uh some people may have just been diagnosed other people that may have been finished their treatment but ideally when would you be thinking about getting yourself a tea and is there a wrong or a right time

Kirsten Chick
there’s no wrong or right time to do it. I mean, ideally, pre-diagnosis, which, you know, sounds a bit ridiculous, but there’s one example that I think I’ve shared with you before is somebody who came to see me a few days before she had her breast cancer diagnosis. And what was really wonderful about that was she knew she had this lump, she didn’t know what the diagnosis was going to be. But we talked about the different options, and we talked about what she could do. And then she said that when she went in and had the diagnosis, she knew she had a plan. And that made a difference in terms of her response to the diagnosis.

Kirsten Chick
But not everybody’s going to come there at that, and ideally at diagnosis, I often get emails or messages from people saying, oh, I’ve just had a cancer diagnosis, I’ve been recommended to come and see you, but I’m going to wait till after I’ve had my treatment.

Robin Daly
It drives me mad that one.

Kirsten Chick
Yeah, absolutely. And I kind of get it because there’s so much going on. And, you know, they might not have the headspace to take on more than what they’re actually going through and all the information that they’re dealing with at that time. But actually, that’s the ideal time to start building a cancer team, even if it’s just one or two people supporting you through that process. Because as I was saying before, there’s lots of evidence out there showing that various interventions like exercise can help reduce the side effects of treatment and various nutritional protocols, whether it’s fasting or fasting mimicking or, you know, certain medicinal mushrooms. There’s lots of evidence there that actually can support you. And within my experience, so I’ve worked with, you know, so many people going through treatment over the years. And to be honest with you, Robin, and I’m not the only person who has said this, but when I go to conferences and the conference where people are talking about the side effects of their treatment, I’m often quite shocked because most of the people I work with, obviously, everyone gets some sort of side effects, but not nearly as severe as people who aren’t doing anything. It seems to me, you know, that’s not I haven’t done, you know, double blind placebo control, you know, study around this, but for my observations, and from the observations of other nutritional therapists and naturopaths, I’ve spoken with, and herbalists as well. So, you know, there’s definitely a benefit. And also knowing that, again, you’re not going through treatment on your own. And whatever treatment you choose to do, you’ve got people who are not judging you, they’re not telling you what you should be doing. And they’ve got a level of support that you can, you know, you can really trust in, and they’re really helping you to trust yourself and trust your own body through this as well.

Robin Daly
Very important. Yeah I think if people had any idea of the kind of battleground they were going into with conventional treatment and going in kind of naked if you like with no resources to actually do anything about the things that we’re going to have to suffer through they would think again but I think too often people think well you know as you say they’ve got too much on their plate, they’ve got too much to think about already just you know with what’s being laid at their door from the oncologist and all the life changes that are going to go around going through treatment you know just logistically doing it and that yeah another thing see it seems like an extra burden but of course it’s anything but that this is actually the major major resource to support them in a very difficult time so yeah so anybody who’s listening is might be thinking of that I’ll start when I finish treatment thing please listen up

Kirsten Chick
get some support from somebody who knows what’s appropriate during treatment. He’s got some experience with this so that they can really, you know, somebody who really knows what’s what’s safe to recommend, what isn’t safe to recommend, and, and has got the the knowledge and experience to work with people going through treatment. So work whatever you’re looking at. Yeah. And, and take things at your own pace as well. So with things like, you know, there’s so much information around exercise. And if you’re working with somebody who is a specialist in this, so we’ve got Scarlett Roberts, for example, at the June online session. And we’ve got Kieran at the October 17 session as well. They’re both very experienced with this. So if you’re working with somebody like that, they can help you pace yourself. So you’re not, so you’re doing enough, but you’re overstretching yourself, you’re doing the right things, you’re focusing on the right kinds of exercise, and you’re not over pushing certain types that, you know, might not be appropriate for you right now.

Robin Daly
All very important, yeah. I think, you know, you could go for a minimalist team, really, if you just really can’t cope with much. If you had either an exercise professional who understands cancer, trained in cancer, or a nutritionist who’s likewise with a long experience of supporting people through cancer, and you have some, at least one person who will just help you practically, you know, the real day-to-day stuff of actually what’s got to be done to get through all this. That’s a good start. That’s a really good team and could do an awful lot to help you.

Kirsten Chick
Yeah, everyone is kind of a PA or a, or a buddy, doesn’t they? Yeah, we’ve even actually got a session on that in the October, at the October events, you know, how to be a really good cancer buddy and you know what to expect. So the events aren’t just for people who have a cancer diagnosis, they’re also for people that want to get involved supporting people. And you know, and for people like me, so I can go and find out more. So you know, I currently have quite a few people that I refer people, got herbalists that I refer to, I’ve got mindfulness experts and counselors and hypnotherapists I refer people to and it’s just an opportunity for me to broaden my referral team. So that oh yeah, I hadn’t thought about that. That would be really good, I think, for this person that I’m working with currently. And yes, lots of perks there. So I’ve digressed a little bit. That’s fine.

Robin Daly
like a bit of digression. So you know I think it’s good that people realize the context we have here because not everybody does is that you know in the UK integrated medicine for cancer hasn’t really happened as such you know there in other countries you can go to one place where they’ll offer you all these things under one roof which of course is ideal because all the people are genuinely working together referring to each other as to the best course of treatment for this one person which things are going to work together best so that’s the idea we haven’t got it so the next best thing is you yourself being the central point if you like and connecting to a whole range of different people in your team one of whom is your oncologist of course and and then building your own integrative care package from that with all the advice you’re given so yeah that’s kind of the picture where we’re dealing with here in this country

Kirsten Chick
So we’ve talked about diagnosis and during treatment and what we haven’t talked about is post treatment. Right. Thank you. And actually this and so this is kind of like the immediate post treatment, which includes recovery from treatment. So for example, if somebody has been through radiotherapy, they may not have been described to them just how tired they might feel for the next few months, for example. Not everybody does, but that can very much be a thing. And you know, other aspects, you know, coming out of chemotherapy, for example, different people will come out of that with different things that they may need support with physically. But actually that’s often when the kind of the emotional, psychological tidal wave hits. Because although going through treatment is really tough and comes with its own issues, there’s also a structure to it. And there’s, oh, this is what I’m doing today. And there’s, you know, there’s appointments, there’s things to do, there’s things to focus on. And once that goes, and you’re on your own out there post treatment, it can suddenly be quite a weird space to be in. So this is where often, and everyone has a completely different experience. So this isn’t going to happen for everybody. But often I see it’s post treatment that actually the emotional fallout happens. And that might be depression, it might be anxiety, it could take it could look like a lot of different things. But it’s often unexpected. And also friends, family, like we’re here, you’re through treatment, now life just gets back to normal. But it’s not, it really isn’t. And it’s so hard to explain to somebody who hasn’t been through cancer diagnosis or treatment, whether it’s, you know, surgery or whatever the treatment has been. It’s really tough to explain that actually, it’s not all happy days are here again, afterwards. There’s a new, there’s a really is a new normal to navigate. And that’s not just in the short term, either in the long term, there’s like, you know, you might be having three monthly scans or annual scans for a few years. And there’s the whole scan anxiety that can build up for a few weeks coming up to the scan and just be horrendous waiting for the scan results. And then general health anxiety for years afterwards, you know, that, you know, a little niggle, oh, is that cancer is often the first thought for many years afterwards, it’s really, you know, and it’s not something that is easy to explain or understand if that’s not what’s going on, you know, if you’ve never been through anything like that. So you need a lot of resources to carry on helping with that. And, and in terms of mindfulness and yoga and sound healing and all of those, that that can be really useful. And but also with things like, you know, with nutrition, for example, it’s not just about, oh, well, I’m doing the right things, I’m, you know, giving myself the best chance of staying healthy. It’s also about keeping blood sugar stable so that actually needs are easier to balance.

Kirsten Chick
And you can really navigate and manage, you know, stress resilience through nutrition and through exercise as well. So the short term and long term post treatment as well, it’s still important to have that team and that team of people that understand that it’s not all over now.

Robin Daly
Hmm. Okay. Well, you know, you have experienced both sides of the fence here. You’ve been a cancer patient and you’ve already alluded to how amazing it was to inadvertently get yourself a team back 25 years ago. But of course you’ve been on so many people’s teams as well since. So do you want to just tell us a bit about the experience from both sides and, you know, really why you set so much still by it?

Kirsten Chick
Yeah, so when I was going through my experience, that I wasn’t offered, actually, that’s not entirely true. I was referred to a pain management clinic where they did actually provide me with a chakra meditation tape, which was wonderful. But there was very little other than that. There was, and I was asking around and that there was just nothing. But I came across this wonderful woman, Kichisava, who is an expert in a form of shiatsu-like treatment called Seiki. And I worked quite closely with her for a number of years. And she helped me process so much physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically, through this amazing modality. Was kind of like a bodywork modality. And that was really special. And I, yeah, and there were, you know, I got into yoga and qigong and meditation. And I couldn’t have done it without all of those things. And I was lucky because I lived in Brighton and it was all here.

Robin Daly
A good centre for that, yeah.

Kirsten Chick
But I was very aware, my treatment was in London and I was up, yeah, there didn’t seem to be much there at the time. So I know how important all of this is. When I then qualified and trained in nutrition and started working with people with cancer, I started working with Dr. Andre Young-Snell at the vision of Hope Clinic in Brighton, which I still do. And that’s been amazing because we do refer to each other and when we do, we share notes, we have regular meetings where we discuss our insights and what we think is going to be the best kind of support. I’ve learned so much from Dr. Andre along the years that he was looking at a functional medicine test before functional medicine was the thing, so I’ve got some early learning in there. So yeah, it’s been really amazing to have that and for me actually to have somebody like that, to be on the team with somebody like that has been hugely beneficial for my progress as a nutritional therapist and just to have somebody, his opinion I trust and value to bounce things off. So that’s been really great, but it doesn’t always work like that. Usually there will be people that I’ve referred people to or maybe they already have somebody on their team. So there’s a wonderful woman I’ve been working with for years now and she has a medical herbalist on her team and she has a couple of other people that support her in kind of spiritual ways and I don’t have direct contact with her medical herbalist but she shares with me what he recommends and why and I don’t have direct contact with her oncologist but she shares all the paperwork with me and tells me about all of the meetings. So I can make sure that I’m working within what’s going on with the rest of her team rather than overloading her with too much or suggesting stuff that’s working against what she’s doing with other people. So the way I work is I’m very respectful of what’s going on and I just try to work harmoniously and synergistically with whoever that person has chosen for their team rather than try and take it over or just overload her with so much to do and so many supplements on top of all of the herbs and everything else that she’s doing that she doesn’t know that her day is just about popping pills and doing.

Robin Daly
Yeah, I’m sure that’s hugely important to take that kind of balanced approach to things. Anyway, there she is. She’s acting as that kind of central point in that she’s collecting out all the information and making sure that other people have all the information and therefore can fit in appropriately. So that’s an important position, isn’t it?

Kirsten Chick
It is, but it’s also a full-time job, actually, and if you’ve got somebody who can help you with that, then that’s, I mean, that’s gold dust, isn’t it? And somebody who can help you, who are really supporting you, not trying to direct you or tell you what to do, but just supporting your decisions, that’s really priceless. One thing I will say is that I very, very, very frequently find myself directing people to the Yes To Life website. So many resources on there for people and so many opportunities to help find and put together their, that’s great.

Robin Daly
yeah we like to hear that we’re trying to be useful here okay so maybe we could finish off just give a little bit of a sales pitch for the in-person event the end of the year reasons for people to get on that train or whatever it is to get to London to go to the event there’s more than just the talks and the workshops but maybe you tell us a bit more about the workshops because there’s plenty of those and what else could people expect when they’re there

Kirsten Chick
Okay, well, the community. Community is so important, isn’t it? So, whether you are somebody with cancer diagnosis or somebody who’s a practitioner or who wants to be a practitioner or who is supporting somebody through their cancer journey, just having that opportunity to meet people, to connect, to share insights, wisdom, learn, I mean, that’s all very crucial. In terms of the actual workshops in the breakout sessions, we’ve got sessions on RTT, reflexology, hypnotherapy, qigong movement and sound, therapeutical teas, groups and one-to-one support, which is Shafir and Sarah from the Yes to Life.

Robin Daly
important sessions to find out about how much there is on offering those that’s another fantastic resource to have a group you’re part of where you have like-minded people you can share things with huge importance

Kirsten Chick
Yeah, and how to make the most of that kind of group.

Robin Daly
And also the one-to-one for people who are maybe not ready for a group yet, you know, that’s similarly fantastic support.

Kirsten Chick
Yeah, I would have loved something like that. With work, there’s yoga, there’s mushroom science, and arts for cancer, so art therapy, plant-based nutrition, superfoods, exercise, and also we’ve got a really lovely session on funding as well, because some of this stuff you can access for free or low cost, but some of it actually can cost quite a bit of money for some of the people that you might want to have on your team, and not everybody has that. One thing that I’m really passionate about is accessibility on all sorts of levels, and one of those levels is financial accessibility. I think it’s really important to have that session on how to fund all of this.

Robin Daly
Absolutely. OK, well look, I’m very much looking forward to both events. I think they’re going to deliver a lot to people who are, you know, needing to find resources. Been really brilliant working with you on developing both these programmes. Completely delighted with what we’ve put together. So, yeah, big thank you to you for your unstinting support of Yes To Life and of these events and helping to make them the best they can be.

Kirsten Chick
Oh, you know, it’s such a joy to, to work with a charity that is so open heartedly supported of integrative medicine. And, and, you know, you’ve worked tirelessly over the years, Robin, to help educate and further the education of people to empower people to support people to nourish people in lots of different ways. And I just love everything about the yestolife charity. So that’s, that’s why I’ve always wanted to do everything that I can to support it. And it’s actually a real privilege to be such a huge part of this year’s annual conference. It is a real joy. So I’m really grateful to be able to do this. Thank you.

Robin Daly
Great. I look forward to sharing the platform with you. thank you very much Kirsten.

Robin Daly
Both conferences are available to those in need at below-cost prices, especially if you book now and take advantage of the early bird prices, and also if you book both events at once. We’re able to offer such low prices due to the support we receive from a raft of businesses and other organizations that are attending or simply supporting the events. To read more about the speakers and facilitators, the program or any other details, you can look at the dedicated website, that’s YesToLifeAnnualConference.org, or you can also get there via the events section of the main YesToLife website, that’s YesToLife.org.uk. Once on the dedicated website, of course, you can book your place at one or both of the events, and I do hope you all want to come to both. The dates again are the 17th of June for the online event and the 7th of October for the in-person event in Euston, London. I also want to tell you about next week’s YesToLife show. It’s a special extended edition called Pioneers of Integrative Oncology. In my work with YesToLife, I’ve been fortunate to be introduced to many of the people who were the bright lights pushing the frontiers of what was possible in cancer care, well before YesToLife was even thought of. And when I say well before, I mean something like 20 years before. These people are all my heroes and it’s a privilege and a pleasure to be able to count them amongst my friends now. The extended show is the result of an idea to bring six of them together through the wonders of modern video calling and host a panel event combining the wisdom of these giants of the integrative oncology space. Featuring in the show, we have Dr. Bernie Siegel, author of the groundbreaking book Love, Medicine and Miracles, and tireless campaigner for Mind, Body, Medicine. Ian Galer, author of another hugely influential book, You Can Conquer Cancer, another huge advocate for mind, body, medicine, and particularly meditative techniques. Ralph Moss, science writer and researcher, recognized the world over for his forensic exposes of the pharmaceutical sector through seminal books such as The Cancer Industry, Questioning Chemotherapy, and more recently Cancer Incorporated. Dr. Keith Block, appropriately described as the father of integrative oncology for his bold stance in the 1980s in combining conventional oncology treatment with a raft of natural and lifestyle approaches. Michael Lerner, founder of the revolutionary Common Will Center in California, an author of the first book on complementary and lifestyle approaches to cancer that was well received by the medical establishment for its rigor and its circumspect approach, Choices in Healing. He’s also a pioneer of the hugely informative web resource Beyond Conventional Cancer Therapies, relaunched and vastly expanded in 2022 as cancerchoices.org. And finally, Patricia King, who’s been inspiring and supporting people with cancer through her books, courses, and public events, both at the Quest for Life Center in Australia and internationally for 14 years.

Robin Daly
Truly, a powerhouse lineup brought together for the first time to answer questions about the progress of integrative oncology sent in by current practitioners whose work rests on the shoulders of these pioneers. This is a unique event and not to be missed. Whether you’re someone benefiting from the power of integrative oncology who’d like to hear directly the accumulated wisdom of these trailblazers, or are a practitioner or other healthcare professional whose every day is deeply rooted in their work, make a point of tuning in next week to listen. Thanks for listening today. I look forward to bringing you this special edition of the show, Pioneers of Integrative Oncology, next week.