YourShoes™ 24/7 Breast Cancer Support Center

The Heart of Breast Cancer Network of Strength’s Mission to Ensure No One Faces Breast Cancer Alone

“You have cancer.” Those three words may be among the most frightening words a patient can hear a doctor utter. They may leave someone feeling alone, afraid and hopeless. But having information and knowing where to turn for support can help patients regain a sense of hope and control.

For newly diagnosed individuals, support is crucial and it helps to talk to someone who’s been through the same experience, a “peer.” Peer support is the cornerstone of Breast Cancer Network of Strength® (formerly known as Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization®).

Sharing knowledge and providing peer support has always played an important role at Network of Strength. The organization’s premier peer support service, the 24/7 breast cancer support center, dates back 30 years to when it was founded around a kitchen table by two patients.

People want to speak with someone who has been in their shoes. We’ve often heard from people who call us that they feel immediate emotional relief when they talk to one of our peer counselors because, as breast cancer survivors, they truly understand what a caller may be going through. Since this is such a meaningful concept, we named our peer support services YourShoes™.

“Even though my family is a great support system, I needed to talk to someone who had been in my shoes.”
--Quote from a Breast Cancer Network of Strength caller

YourShoes includes the 24/7 breast cancer support center staffed by peer counselors who are breast cancer survivors. Calls are handled in more than 150 languages through real-time interpreters. It also includes e-mail-based support, match programs, and survivor-facilitated support groups.

Breast Cancer Network of Strength’s peer support model is unique in the breast cancer patient advocacy environment and is the model for all of our key programs and services. Focusing on the experience of talking, meeting with, or e-mailing another survivor helps us fulfill our mission to ensure, through information, empowerment and peer support, that no one faces breast cancer alone.

Peer counselors replace fear with facts. They provide objective information and resources and can match callers with someone who’s had a similar experience with breast cancer. All are rigorously trained and certified. They don’t give medical advice—they are not medical professionals—but they can help people make educated decisions by providing information about procedures and treatment options. And they empower patients to be knowledgeable players on their health care teams.

Since breast cancer affects not just the patient but the whole family and circle of friends, anyone touched by breast cancer or who is concerned about breast health can use the Network of Strength’s confidential and free services.

Breast Cancer Network of Strength, an organization of survivors helping patients, understands the value of peer support—talking to someone else who has also heard those devastating words, “You have breast cancer.” We are here to ensure that no one faces breast cancer alone.

YourShoes 24/7 Breast Cancer Support Center peer counselors take calls around the clock and interpreters are available in more than 150 languages at 1-800-221-2141. They also respond to e-mailed questions from www.networkofstrength.org.

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