The Guelph YMCA-YWCA's Encore program is a free eight-week course for survivors of breast cancer. Submitted photo 
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It’s not a support group, not strictly an exercise program, and it’s quite different from an aquafit class.
But the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph’s Encore program contains those elements and more, and has proven to fill a void for women who have undergone treatment for breast cancer.
After the surgery and treatment and fear and worry, this program offers the tools to cope with the aftermath.
“After surgery you get a bag of stuff – information about what to eat and what to do,” said Stephanie True Allin, a personal trainer and group fitness instructor at the Y. “But often a woman can’t process that information in the moment. A few months down the road, she may be ready.”
True Allin and Kim Carere, a registered nurse, have led the program for four years. Meetings are Tuesday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. and run for eight weeks.
Typical meetings begin with social time, a guest speaker, and then gentle exercise in the pool, True Allin said.
Exercise helps build healthy bones and is essential after taking cancer drugs, which often lead to weaker bones. It helps regain mobility in the chest and shoulders. Working in the pool is beneficial because the water provides natural compression for those with lymphoma. The water provides resistance to work the muscles but also buoyancy, True Allin said.
“You can do things in the pool you can’t do on land,” she said. “Whatever your ability, you gotta' move. Not moving is bad.”
Guest speakers for this session include a registered dietitian, a certified trauma specialist, a wellness coach, registered physiotherapist, registered massage therapists, and sessions about stress management and laughter yoga.
“Some people haven’t laughed in a long time,” True Allin said. “Whether they laugh artificially or the laughter is real, it has equal physiological and psychological benefits.”
Discussions about relationships are also important and are often the most emotional of the sessions, True Allin said. Relationships often change when serious illness enters the family Some friends and family might not be able to cope and seem to withdraw. Intimate relationships often change.
True Allin said her mother died of cancer at age 48 in an era when cancer was relatively new and wasn’t talked about. It was isolating for the patient and for their family.
Research, better therapies and more awareness since then allow cancer survivors to be better-grounded emotionally and that leads to richer lives.
“After treatment, you’re not the same you anymore,” she said. “Women come out with the tools for the next part of their lives. Often they come out with new friends too.”
The program is free to women who have experienced lumpectomy, mastectomy or breast reconstruction and are six to eight weeks past surgery. The next session begins Sept. 27.
To register, visit www.guelphy.org under the “community” tab, or call 519-824-5150.
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