Healing Together: From Peer Support to Community-Driven Research

Cancer journeys extend beyond physical treatment, often carrying significant emotional and psychological burdens that require compassionate, community-based support. The Healing Together Project, implemented under the REACCT-CAN program, rolled out in three connected stages. First, peer mentor training equipped a cohort of mentors with the skills to facilitate community dialogues on mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. This was followed by Sisterhood Circles, recurring peer-support sessions where survivors and patients could speak openly about their experiences in a safe, supportive setting. Building on the trust and insights generated through these engagements, the project then convened a Research Question Co-Creation Workshop, bringing survivors, caregivers, healthcare providers, researchers, and policymakers into the same room to jointly identify priority research questions.

Laying the foundation the project conducted a peer mentor training aimed at preparing mentors to facilitate community dialogues on mental health among female cancer survivors, patients, and caregivers. The training strengthened mentors' capacity to lead supportive and empathetic conversations addressing the psychosocial challenges associated with cancer, covering effective communication skills, common mental health conditions, self-care strategies for peer mentors, and an overview of breast and cervical cancer. The sessions were facilitated by Dr. Eyerusalem Solomon (Psychiatrist, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital) and Dr. Edom Seife (Oncologist, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital).

Following the training, members of the Nigat Cancer Support Group went on to lead Sisterhood Circles, a series of community dialogue sessions bringing together cancer survivors and patients to share lived experiences, discuss mental health challenges, and offer mutual peer support in a safe, compassionate, and empowering environment.

As the Sisterhood Circles progressed, the Healing Together Project organized a Peer Mentors Networking Meeting and Refresher Training in Addis Ababa, giving mentors an opportunity to deepen their skills in communication and dialogue facilitation, mental health awareness and psychosocial support, setting healthy boundaries, and self-care and resilience.

A key highlight was the reflection session, where mentors reviewed their first dialogue sessions, sharing lessons learned, successes, and challenges. The training went beyond presentations, incorporating practical exercises, role plays, case scenarios, and group activities that built mentors' confidence in handling real-life situations that may arise during community dialogues.

Through this refresher, peer mentors became even better equipped to foster meaningful conversations, provide emotional support, and contribute to the well-being of cancer survivors, patients, and caregivers in their communities.

Co-Creating Research Questions That Matter to Communities

Throughout these engagements, the Healing Together Project worked to ensure that survivors' and patients' lived experiences would help shape research questions and priorities, not just inform peer support. Building on the trust established through the dialogue sessions, a Research Question Co-Creation Workshop brought together cancer survivors, caregivers, healthcare providers, researchers, and policymakers to jointly identify research priorities that reflect real community needs.

The workshop opened with an overview of the REACCT-CAN initiative and the Healing Together Project's objectives and key findings to date, before participants moved into interactive roundtable discussions in multidisciplinary groups. Each group reflected on a series of guiding questions and presented its recommendations to inform the next phase of the project.

By placing community voices at the center of research planning, the workshop reinforced the importance of developing research questions that are meaningful, relevant, and capable of informing evidence-based solutions.

Together, these stages tell a connected story: from equipping mentors to hold space for survivors' emotional experiences, to refining those skills through reflection and practice, to ultimately inviting survivors and communities to help set the research agenda itself. The Healing Together Project shows that psychosocial support and community engagement are not separate tracks from cancer research, but essential, intertwined parts of a truly holistic response to cancer, one that listens to lived experience at every stage.