Survivors Conference 2008

The CLIC Sargent National Survivors Conference - Moving Forward was held on 6th and 7th September 2008.

53 young people attended the two day conference and enjoyed the opportunity to share their own experiences and spend time with other survivors from across the country.

You can see more photos taken at the conference on CLIC Sargent's Facebook page.

Planning the conference
The conference was planned by the Survivors Task Force whose membership is made up of young survivors who attended the Talking Cancer Day earlier this year. 

The Survivors Task Force also gave the definition of a survivor. In their view, ‘you are a survivor the day after diagnosis – you have survived day one’ therefore the conference was attended by young people who were both on and off treatment.

Conference aim
The aim of the conference was to highlight the needs of children and young people who describe themselves as survivors of cancer, and also to provide information and practical guidance on overcoming the barriers they face.

What next? Moving forward...
The next steps will be to ensure actions are taken in those aims highlighted to reduce the barriers survivors face in getting back in to a fully integrated community.

The Task Force will continue to progress this work through:

• Providing representatives to the Department of Health's Children and Young People Work Stream
• Agree the theme, plan and develop, the 2009 National Conference
• Monitor the development of new initiatives based on the conference outcomes in areas such as education, employment, health and fitness, mentoring and social opportunities.