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Cancer is the second reason for mortality according to the number of deaths in our country. It afflicts both children and adults. It destroys health and takes away lives. In such critical moments of our lives, which are full of anguish, distress, sadness and feeling lost, we need special care. That’s why Unicorn’s main aim is to help people suffering from cancer and to support their families.

We believe that the knowledge is the power and we want to develop it and pass to all. We strive to be a source of information about cancer. We want to help to live with cancer and find ways to recover after the disease. A big priority for us is rehabilitation, both psychological as well as physical.  The worst what a cancer patient can do is to isolate.  So we concentrate on preventing psychosocial isolation of cancer patients and providing them with conditions for development despite their illness.

There are three main forms of our activity:
Centre for Psycho-Oncology
Unicorn Club
Volunteers’ Centre

In the Center for Psycho-Oncology located at 19E Kopernika Street in Cracow people can receive specialist help that includes:
• Individual psycho-oncological support
• Group psychotherapy
• Psychological skills trainings concerning stress, fear, depression, motivation, communication and assertiveness.
• Consultancy with specialists: oncologist, nutritionist, social worker, Patient`s Rights Spokesman
• Choreotherapy (dance and movement therapy)
• Rehabilitation and relaxation classes
• Information Center (addresses, phones, literature)

It`s worth to remember that the psyche has a huge impact on our body, especially at the time when we struggle with disease. Psycho-oncology is a relevant complement of the medical treatment, enabling to feel the real effects – says Iwona Nawara, psycho-oncologist and Unicorn Cancer Care President. – The aim of the Center is improvement of quality of life of those affected by cancer and their relatives, as well as, engaging them in the fight against cancer. Open conversation about the disease and faith in the treatment outcomes are the results that we strive to achieve together with patients.

The Center offers a lot of possibilities of working with stress and fear connected to the disease. Patients learn how to keep a good mood, talk about cancer and find the strength, positive energy and motivation inside for further medical treatment. One of the Center proposition is a therapeutic group that is led according to the Simonton method. The program is based on the successful model for emotional intervention and support, which can influence on getting healthier and improving life quality while suffering from cancer.

Center for Psycho-Oncology is a step toward a patient with the offer to help to change the way of thinking of cancer.

The Center propositions are constantly actualized and changed according to the patients and their families’ needs.

VOLUNTEERS` CENTRE

Patients, whose physical condition does not allow visiting the Unicorn House, are looked after by our voluntary workers (mainly medical and psychology students, and senior high school students). The volunteers visit patients it their homes, and provide simple nursing treatment there. They accompany them with therapy sessions and help in everyday needs such as shopping, reading, and walking. They also visit lonely patients in hospital and maintain contact after the patient’s return home or take care for patient’s children while he/she is unable of doing that. An important part of the volunteers’ work is to provide relief and support to patients’ families.

As a part of volounteers`s work is “Hearing out confessions” program where people who feel lonely and have a need to talk will find somebody who will have a time and give attention to their story.  The program started in France, and was further developed in Warsaw and other cities in Poland including Cracow where started actions in Unicorn Cancer Care. Here we meet, prepare workshops, meet with psychologists, invite to Unicorn Club, and go out to those who are unable to come to us and hear out confessions.

Closer to man, closer to live (Sept.-Nov. 2008) - realized thanks to the Ministry of Health. Ten one-week workshops have been organized where 160 people with their families could receive needed help in the filed of psychology, choreotherapy, art therapy, nutrition as well as receive all necessary information.

We see the person, not only the disease (Sept.-Nov. 2008) - therapeutic and educational sessions realized thanks to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. 12 workshops, lasting 7 days, have been held in Krakow where 192 people suffering from cancer with their families could participate in.

Closer to live, closer to man (August, Sept. 2008) - therapeutic and educational workshops took place in the mountains and in the Baltic Sea region. Patients could benefit from psycho-oncology help, art therapy, choreotherapy sessions and sport activities.

Alive is the one who is searching for (Sept. – Dec. 2007) - project that offered five 8-day therapeutic and educational sessions. Offered: psychological help for group and individuals, individual relaxation and therapeutic classes, interactive lectures with doctor, nutritionist, and social worker.

Prize yourself with the weekend for health (March – Sept. 2007) – a project realized thanks to the EU funds. 160 people benefited from that sessions that were devoted to promote healthy diet, exercises, including also psycho-education on strategies of coping with stress for people from all regions from Poland.

So far more than 700 people have participated in multi-specialistic, psychological, choreotherapy and psycho-psychical rehabilitation sessions that were organized by Unicorn Cancer Care.

All described actions:
• aimed at preventing isolation and support development of patients and their families
• were led by specialists (doctors, psychologists, art therapists, nutritionist, social workers).
• brought help where people suffering from cancer could meet and act.
• raised a level of consciousness and wholesome education among Polish society
• improved communication between curing (medical world) and cured (patients)..

We see the person, not only the disease (January - April 2008)
campaign won a first place in the Newsweek`s contest in the Internet category
for advertisement encouraging people to give 1% of their tax refund.

Not only pills can make you get better (January- April 2009) 
is another campaign that rise social awareness on the psycho-oncology -
- so unknown among people with aim to start to see it as a weapon against cancer.

Unicorn Cancer Care was founded in Krakow in 1999 to assist in the development of oncological methods of therapy in Krakow.

The Unicorn activities are based on voluntary work of our members, supporters and friends. It’s organizational work is administered by 4 person board, led by the president. The board governs the association activities between annual meetings of members, where the strategic program elements are resolved and personal decisions taken. The members are mainly recruited from following groups of the society: people suffering from cancer and their families, people somehow related to the problem of cancer (for example those, who lost somebody closely related to them) and artists.

For first few years of our activity we concentrated on supporting medical oncotherapy. Now we are deeply involved in providing variety of methods for supporting cancer patients and their families. The offer we have consists of, e.g., propagation of holistic and humanitarian approach to a man suffering from illness crisis, and actions in favor of broadening understanding of spiritual dimension of illness and suffering and, last but not least, efforts in favor of building up warm-hearted relations between curing specialists (physicians, trainers) and cured people (patients and their relatives), based on universal rules of reciprocal respect, trust and partnership.

The main areas we are gaining funds are: donations, sponsors, local, regional and state authorities and foundations, UE projects.

Unicorn Cancer Care
ul. Kopernika 19 E
31-501 Cracow
e-mail: unicorn@unicorn.org.pl