“I felt like I was given a chance to survive, but not to live”
Vickie Filby, Deputy Head of BRiC
Every 9 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK. While more women are surviving this disease, the psychological cost of diagnosis and treatment side effects runs high. Increased levels of anxiety and depression place a dent on emotional well-being in survivorship.
The Centre for Building Resilience in Breast Cancer (BRiC) was founded to address the mental health care gap in cancer care and to help women with a lived experience of primary or secondary (metastatic) breast cancer re-build resilience in survivorship. BRiC was the first evidence-led psycho-educational centre to use cutting edge methods to empower women with the knowledge and tools they can use to not simply ‘survive’ but ‘thrive’ in survivorship.
BRiC’s Mission
Our mission is to empower women with a primary or secondary breast cancer diagnosis using, a) cutting-edge affective and cognitive neuroscience research, as applied to the practice of psycho-oncology, and b) educate through social connection and outreach programmes. We have won awards for our public engagement activities and have created a supportive community network for women to learn, share and support each other.
Signature
BRiC’s Collective Voice is a unique signature of ours. It is a shared collective of experiences of over 2000 voices of women in BRiC’s community network, which we have compiled for public education. Raising awareness of the experiences and needs of women with primary or metastatic disease we have offered practical tips and research led evidence and advice on living well in survivorship.
Research
Using cutting-edge research, BRiC has made important discoveries regarding the impact of diagnosis and treatment on emotional and cognitive health as well as developing accessible interventions building sustainable resilience and growth. Our research team includes senior as well as junior researchers and PhD students.
Support
Our unique psychoeducational support network offers peer support and understanding, as well as supervised daily activities to improve our emotional health. With over 2,200 members we are open to any UK woman with a breast cancer diagnosis. Our amazing support team are there 24/7!
Professor Nazanin argues for better mental health care at parliamentary meeting with Novartis METUPUK and Breast Cancer Now
About Us
BRiC was founded by Professor Nazanin Derakhshan late 2015 after her own diagnosis in 2013. BRiC was officially recognised as an Integrative Centre for the Research and Practice of Resilience at Birkbeck University of London in 2018. BRiC conducts cutting edge research to better the lives of women post breast cancer diagnosis and beyond. BRiC’s award winning psychoeducational support network has over 2,300 UK members with a primary or metastatic diagnosis of breast cancer and a dedicated admin support team who look after members and supervise resilience building activities.
Click on Testimonials below to see what members say about BRiC.
