Wellness doesn’t need to be an extravagant vacation or trip to the spa. Instead, it can be as simple as taking a moment to breathe in the day and center yourself. This is especially true for people with cancer, and today on Love Letters to Our Body, we are joined by the director for Wellness Programs at Unite for HER, Melissa Christie, to discuss mind, body, and spirit wellness in cancer care.
In this conversation, you’ll hear all about what made Melissa interested in wellness, what wellness means to her, why money doesn’t need to restrict wellness opportunities, how she got involved in Unite for HER, and so much more! We delve into the incredible organization as our guest explains how their cancer care is unique, what their programs look like, and how they support underrepresented communities with cancer care.
We delve into some of the services they offer that help their members appreciate and be in union with themselves and love their changing bodies before discussing the power of self-compassion in the healing process and how Melissa helps cancer patients cultivate it. Our guest even reminds women navigating difficult health challenges to advocate for themselves and learn how to love themselves. Finally, Melissa tells us what her love letter to these women would say. Thank you for tuning in!
Key Points From This Episode:
• A brief overview of today’s guest, Melissa Christie.
• What drew Melissa to wellness work in the cancer space.
• What wellness means to her and why we need to simplify it.
• How Melissa got involved in Unite for HER.
• What makes Unite for HER’s approach to cancer care unique.
• The services they offer and what membership looks like.
• How the organization supports women of color with cancer diagnoses.
• What the “HER” in Unite for HER stands for.
• How they help cancer patients find love for their bodies.
• Some methods of therapy that are different from talk therapy.
• The role self-compassion plays in healing and how to cultivate it.
• Why we love Reiki and why we want to expose women of color to it.
• Melissa reminds women navigating health challenges to self-advocate.
Quotes:
“I love to serve people, I love to help!” — Melissa Christie [0:03:05]
“We really do target – our communities of color and our underserved and underrepresented communities as well because we want them to have the power to have the healthcare that they need.” — Melissa Christie [0:23:22]
“We have a lot of things that we may say we’d like to change about ourselves, but we are remarkably made.” — Melissa Christie [0:31:13]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Unite for HER | Wellness Programs
Gwendolyn Mitchell on LinkedIn
MOYO Institute, Inc
Love Letters 2 Our Bodies is sponsored by Moyo Institute, Inc and the Lloyd Symington Foundation
Gwendolyn Mitchell on LinkedIn
MOYO Institute, Inc
instagram.com/moyoinstitute
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