A Global Movement for More Human Cancer Care
Cancer care has made remarkable advances in diagnosis and treatment. Yet for many people, the experience of cancer extends far beyond the disease itself.
Fear, uncertainty, stigma, changes in relationships, financial pressures, isolation, altered identity and the emotional burden of treatment can profoundly shape the cancer journey.
The Global Movement for Cancer Psychosocial Care (GMCPC) exists because these experiences deserve to be recognised as part of cancer care.
Caring for the Person. Beyond the Disease.
Why GMCPC Exists
GMCPC grew from a simple but important realisation:
Treating cancer is not the same as caring for a person living with cancer.
Across different countries and healthcare systems, we continue to see the importance of medical treatment. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and other advances have transformed cancer outcomes.
But people do not experience cancer as a tumour, a scan or a laboratory result.
They experience it as human beings.
They experience fear before treatment.
They experience uncertainty while waiting for results.
They experience changes in their bodies, relationships, work and identity.
Families and caregivers experience their own forms of worry, exhaustion and loss.
For some, cultural beliefs and stigma shape how they understand and respond to cancer. For others, socioeconomic circumstances determine whether they can access support.
These realities led to the emergence of GMCPC.
We believe psychosocial care should not remain an optional addition to cancer care. It should become an integral part of how we understand and respond to the cancer experience.
GMCPC therefore brings together people from different professions, disciplines, countries and lived experiences to advance a more comprehensive approach to cancer care.
How We Advance the Vision
We believe meaningful change in cancer care requires more than good intentions. It requires knowledge, people, partnerships and action.
Our Approach: Caring for the Whole Person
Caring for the Whole Person
Cancer affects more than the body.
At GMCPC, we believe meaningful cancer care must recognise the psychological, social, cultural and human experiences that shape the cancer journey.
Our approach is informed by the PsycaB Model, a psychosocial cancer care framework developed to support a more comprehensive understanding of the person beyond the disease.
Our Commitment
Our Commitment to More Human Cancer Care
GMCPC is committed to helping make psychosocial care a recognised and integral part of the cancer experience.
We are committed to listening to the voices of people affected by cancer, strengthening the evidence that informs psychosocial care, supporting professionals and emerging practitioners, encouraging meaningful collaboration, and advocating for care that respects the dignity and context of every person.
We recognise that cancer is experienced differently across cultures, communities and healthcare systems. Our commitment is therefore not to promote a single way of caring, but to encourage approaches that are evidence informed, culturally responsive, compassionate and grounded in the realities of people’s lives.
We are committed to bringing together knowledge and lived experience.
We are committed to creating space for different voices.
We are committed to learning, questioning and improving.
And above all, we are committed to ensuring that the person is never lost behind the diagnosis.
Because better cancer care is not only about treating cancer. It is about caring for people.
A Global Movement, Built Together
GMCPC is being shaped by people who believe that cancer care can be more compassionate, more inclusive and more responsive to the realities of people’s lives.
Our community brings together researchers, healthcare professionals, psychosocial care practitioners, cancer survivors, caregivers, advocates, students, institutions and others who share a commitment to improving the cancer experience.
We come from different countries, disciplines and experiences.
That diversity is not a challenge to overcome.
It is part of our strength.
We believe meaningful change happens when knowledge meets experience, when disciplines meet one another, and when people are given the opportunity to build something together.
GMCPC is not a finished idea.
It is a growing movement.
And there is room for you in it.