Employers will be able to offer specialist counselling for cancer sufferers following a partnership between employee assistance programme provider CiC and the Cancer Counselling Trust (CCT).

Counsellors at the CCT, who are all specialists in the field, offer a course of nine sessions to each client. Their services can be extended to the friends and family of those who have been diagnosed.

Jonathan Lake, chief executive at the CCT, told PM: “There’s no waiting list and nine sessions goes above and beyond what is usually available. Our counsellors understand about different types of treatment, their side effects, and the impact that each type of cancer can have.”

The NHS waiting list for general counselling can be as long as six to nine months.

Lake added that support for friends, family and carers was important because “they often feel guilty about having counselling needs”.

Kate Nowlan, chief executive of CiC, agreed that support for friends and family was crucial, pointing out that this also included work colleagues. “This kind of thing has such a ripple effect, it has a massive impact on a working team,” Nowlan explained. “Everybody is affected; no one is immune.”

She added that offering support to an employee and their family was good for the morale of all staff.

www.cancercounselling.org.uk