Songwriting Workshop!

September Art Workshop: Songwriting

Creative acts like writing a song can seem mysterious and intimidating. But! What if the goal wasn’t so mysterious and intimidating and could be achieved by anyone who wants to experience a little more creativity and magic in their life? Whether this is your first time writing a song or you’ve written a thousand, we’ll be working together as a group while walking you through the steps of channeling your thoughts into a song in Cactus Cancer Society’s first-ever songwriting workshop! 

We will be using Jeff Tweedy’s book, How to Write One Song: Loving the Things We Create and How They Love Us Back as a guide to unlock your creativity and get over that speedbump of self-consciousness and inspiration!

Who: young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.

When: Thursday, September 26th, from 5:00-7:00pm PT / 7:00-9:00pm CT / 8:00-10:00pm ET

To learn more and sign up,  click here!

Mid-Month Check In!

sunglasses on the beach

We’re back from our program break and we’re already halfway through the month! Check out what’s ahead for the rest of August! 

CancerCon: Oodles of Thoughts AND Prickly Pals Meetup!

Are you going to this year’s CancerCon? Come hang with our co-founders and some of your prickly pals at Aussie’s @ 7:30pm CDT!! It’s just a short walk from the Hyatt Regency Hotel and we’ll have some fun CCS swag and snacks!!

Friday, August 16 @ 7:30pm CDT

 

Come do a workshop with us IN PERSON! We’ll be doing Oodles of Thoughts: A Doodle Journal Workshop live, where participants can respond to journal prompts with writing, doodling, or a combination of the two as a way to embrace creative coping and expression through art and writing. Focus on self-care and self-expression in an intentionally designed nurturing, supportive, safe environment among your peers!

Saturday, August 17 @ 9:45am- 11:15am CDT

Coffee and Oodles

We’ve got two more weeks of Coffee and Oodles this month! This short, refreshing drop-in program combines our fun art workshop environment with our popular journaling techniques as participants respond to a prompt in whichever medium speaks to them most: drawing or writing. After a few minutes of expressing your creativity, we’ll take turns sharing and responding to one another in a nurturing, supportive, and safe environment that feels like a virtual warm hug. Bring paper, pens, crayons, pencils, or markers!

Wednesday, August 21 @ 9:30-10:00am PT / 11:30am-12:00pm CT / 12:30-1:00pm ET

Wednesday, August 28 @ 9:30-10:00am PT / 11:30am-12:00pm CT / 12:30-1:00pm ET

 

Guys Discussion Group

Under the guidance of LCSW Dennis Heffern, join our open forum for male cancer patients and survivors to share experiences. Every topic is welcomed in this supportive environment. Be a part of this conversation and amazing group.

Monday, August 26 @ 5:00-6:30pm PT / 7:00-8:30pm CT / 8:00-9:30pm ET

Shh: Can You Keep a Secret?

Can you keep a secret? We can – and we welcome them!

Everyone keeps secrets. We file some things away to keep as a secret: a white lie, a way to protect other people, or even a way to protect ourselves. But when those secrets are brought to the light: we can feel a lot less alone.

Cactus Cancer Society is proud to announce the introduction of our newest program, Cancer Secrets. Have something you want to anonymously celebrate? A thought you need to get off your chest? Send it on to us! Grab a postcard or make one, containing your secret, and send it to the following address:

Cancer Secrets
PO Box 282
Bordentown, NJ 08505

We’ll share a collection of them on social media so others can reflect, respond, and connect with your secrets – because no one understands more than prickly pals. Whether you’re a patient, survivor, or a caregiver, there’s a place for you to share the secret parts of yourself.

Some secrets are too heavy to carry, even when shared on a postcard. If you are having thoughts of self-harm, need mental health-related crisis support, or if you are worried about someone else: call or text 988 to connect with a trained crisis counselor in the United States and Canada. For all other countries, please click here to find the best resource for your location.

CancerCon: Oodles Of Thoughts and Meetup in Austin!

Are you going to this year’s CancerCon?

 

 

Come hang with our co-founders Mallory & Aerial and some of your prickly pals at Aussie’s August 16 @ 7:30pm CDT!! It’s just a short walk from the Hyatt Regency Hotel and we’ll have some fun CCS swag and snacks!! Click our link to RSVP below! 

 

 

Also – come do a workshop with us IN PERSON! We’ll be doing Oodles of Thoughts: A Doodle Journal Workshop live on August 17 @9:45am CDT, where participants can respond to journal prompts with writing, doodling, or a combination of the two as a way to embrace creative coping and expression through art and writing. Focus on self-care and self-expression in an intentionally designed nurturing, supportive, safe environment among your peers! Be there Saturday morning with your oodles of thoughts! 

RSVP for our meetup here!