Mental health researchers at the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the University of Newcastle have developed a new online forum to help brain cancer patients and their families and friends find support.
With a grant from the Mark Hughes Foundation (MHF), the MHF Breathing Space app offers cancer patients, friends, and family members a safe space to access support from mental health professionals and people with lived experience of brain cancer.
MHF co-founder Mark Hughes says while his family were a big support when he was diagnosed with brain cancer, he still wondered, "Who was there for them?"
"This app will provide access to a vital online community that families and friends who are going through the brain cancer journey also need," Mr Hughes said.
The trial for MHF Breathing Space is looking to recruit 100 people to join and experience the app so it can be refined ahead of its launch to a wider audience.
The app is just one part of a larger research project from a team of mental health professionals which will help develop an online program to offer support and strategies for coping with the broader affects of brain cancer.
MHF co-founder Kirralee Hughes wants the MHF Breathing Space app to provide a safe and supportive online space for the family and friends of people with brain cancer.
"It's a really lonely place when someone's first diagnosed or when they do pass away from brain cancer," Mr Hughes said.
"You sometimes think you're the only person in the world that it going through what you're going through."
Breathing Space has already been trialed over the past month with people of the brain cancer community, some who have lost someone and some who are carers of those recently diagnosed.
"It's a space where carers can go on, like social media, but its a private site - you have to be a carer for or a family friend of someone diagnosed - where you can just talk about anything," Ms Hughes said.
"You can get on [the forum] and share your feelings, ask questions, and, because its other people who have gone through or are going through the same emotions that you're going through, a lot of people are finding that it helps that they're not the only one going through it."
Breathing Space is available to eligible users via the Apple Store and Google Play.
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| MHF Co-Founder Mark Hughes. |
