Hello, and welcome to our first Monthly Briefing of 2024.

We’re excited to kick off 2024, and the past few weeks have been full of planning and preparation for the year ahead. We hope you’re feeling refreshed after the festive season and ready for a successful year ahead as part of our Tackle team.

We’ve created this newsletter, especially for you, our valued group contacts. We believe it’s a handy tool for all our communication needs. If there is anything you would like to see included, please let us know.

There’s a lot happening as we ring in 2024. Our first Support Group Leaders meeting last week was buzzing with ideas for your future plans and opportunities  – group leaders, trustees, and staff discussed a wide range of topics from awareness campaigns to promote your groups, awareness events to ensure timely diagnosis, making peer support accessible to communities currently not attending groups, succession planning, and social media strategies. In case you couldn’t make it to the meeting – no problem; you can find the slides here.

This newsletter contains important information below about the future of our helpline, some changes to our Trustee board as well as a reminder to send out the Group Members Survey. Please continue down this email, so you can read these important topics. 

This month’s poster group is North Hampshire Prostate Cancer Support Group. I had a lovely visit to their group at the end of last year. NHPCSG has been running since 2015. They are an active and lively group. As well as their monthly meeting, they deliver a number of activities including awareness events, run Pint and Chat sessions, and run an exercise class by partnering with a local exercise provider. They also produce a very useful and informative monthly newsletter. Finally, a number of their committee sit on local NHS influencing bodies and volunteer for PCUK. 

If you would like to share news from your group, then please get in touch.

We’re truly glad to have you with us in our mission to support those dealing with prostate cancer. Your involvement makes a huge difference, and we’re always here to listen to your questions or ideas. 

Let’s make 2024 a year of triumph for peer support in the Prostate Cancer community powered by your steadfast support. Thanks for being with us!

Changes to Tackle Trustee Board 

It was with regret that at the end of 2023, the Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Simon Faulkner. 
 Simon has brought many skills, qualities and experience to the board; above all, his unwavering commitment to fairness, diversity, and accessibility of our network services has inspired us all. Simon also supported staff to develop our Best Practice Guidance.  The trustees would like to offer sincere thanks and gratitude for his work over the past 9 months.  Simon will continue to be a part of Tackle Prostate Cancer, as the peer support group he facilitates, Metro Walnut, is a member of our federation and celebrates their 10th anniversary later this year. 
We shall be announcing the date of our AGM in due course when details of how to apply for the vacancy position will be made available. If, in the meantime, you would like to learn more about being a trustee, please contact us.

Thank you to the Group Leaders who have already sent our survey to your members. Reading the responses has been humbling, inspiring and uplifting. It is great to be reminded just how valuable the peer support groups are to your members. 

If you haven’t sent out our Group Member Survey, then can you please do so? All responses need to be in by the end of January 28th.

Please cut and paste the text and link to send to your group members.
—————————————————————————————————————–

Tackle Prostate Cancer is the National Federation of Prostate Cancer Support Group. We are a network of over 120 peer support groups across the United Kingdom. Your prostate cancer group is one of our member organisations.

As we gear up for 2024, expanding the reach of support groups into new communities and continuing our mission to ensure peer support is available for all people living with and impacted by Prostate Cancer, we’re reaching out to you with an important request.

To secure the necessary funding from major funders, we’re actively preparing applications that highlight the profound impact of our collective work. These funders are keen to see tangible evidence of the positive changes our work brings to people’s lives, particularly through our support groups.

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of a national survey designed to capture the transformative effects of peer support groups. Your participation is absolutely essential in showcasing the meaningful outcomes our community achieves. Your insights will not only strengthen our funding applications but also contribute to the narrative of change and progress we’re committed to.

In our previous survey, we received an impressive 300 responses, demonstrating the power of our collective voice. Now, we’re setting our sights even higher and aiming to surpass this achievement. Together, we can make an even more significant impact. #TogetherWeTackle

Here are the details and the survey link: Click here for the survey

Your prompt response is crucial, and we kindly request that all submissions be made by January 28th. The survey is designed to be brief, respecting your time while maximizing the impact of your input.

Changes to our National Helpline

Tackle Prostate Cancer have financed and advertised a national helpline (0800 035 5302) via our website and printed materials for a number of years. After several months of deliberation and discussion as a board and with Prostate Cancer Support, who have administered the helpline, we have made the decision to suspend our helpline until such time that we can re-establish its use in an effective and efficient manner, with the proper safety protocols in place.Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to the selfless volunteers who have been instrumental in running this helpline. Their dedication and support to those seeking assistance have been invaluable to us and the people who have used this service.Kindly note that the helpline will cease operation from January 19th. Following this date, individuals seeking support will be advised via a recorded message to visit our website for their nearest Peer Support Group. Additionally, they will be provided with the number for the Specialist Nurse helpline, operated by Prostate Cancer UK, at 0800 074 8383.If you have any questions about this change, please do get in touch with us. 

February 2024 Support Group Leaders Network Meeting

If you have not attended one of our monthly Support Group Leaders meetings, then please consider joining our next one. 

At our February meeting, we shall be hearing from our friends at Prostate Cancer Research about how their registry project has developed. Now known as the PROGRESS Registry,  David James will talk about its launch of and how Group Leaders can help. One not to be missed. 

The next meeting is on Tuesday, February 6th at 11.00 am.  You can go straight to the meeting by clicking the button below or by using the following code.

Meeting ID:  894 6325 6478
Passcode:    952165

One of the outputs from the Support Group Leaders meetings that you have told us is useful is our regular Hot Topics section. We have now made this easier for you to share the information with your members by separating it from the main meeting notes.

This month’s Hot Topics can be found here.