Face the Risk, Together
A Therapy & Support Group for People Living with Hereditary Cancer Risk, Diagnosis, and Recovery
If you carry a genetic mutation, a strong family history of cancer, or have personally faced cancer and its aftermath — you already know that risk is not just medical.
It shapes how you inhabit your body, make choices, and imagine your future.
It can live quietly beneath everyday life or rise up with every scan, scar, or anniversary.
This group is a space to slow down and breathe inside that complexity.
It’s a place to connect with others who understand what it means to live between knowing and not knowing, between vigilance and healing, between grief and growth.
Whether you are in active treatment, navigating recovery, or years beyond it, your story and your pace belong here.
A Trauma-Informed, Depth-Oriented Space
This is an intimate, therapist-led group that centers emotional safety, embodiment, and authentic connection. We honor that everyone’s relationship to risk, health, and healing is deeply personal.
There are no “shoulds” here — no right way to manage your body, your decisions, or your healing.
We do not offer medical advice. Instead, we hold the human side of hereditary cancer — the relational, existential, and identity transformations that medicine alone cannot contain.
Topics we explore:
-Understanding what aspects of developmental trauma are impacting your ability to claim the space you need
-Decision making overwhelm—how to pace decisions and claim your agency over what happens next
-Relationship to risk—owning our own tolerance
-Working with uncertainty—differentiating the past from the future
-Grief of who we have lost—a space to tell the stories
-Impact on relationships—conversations with loved ones, how to handle other’s fear
-Fertility preservation and family planning—the emotional and relational considerations
-Financial planning—getting real about what we need, navigating insurance advocacy
-Body image and relationship with our bodies—how this impacts our gender expression, our sexuality, our self love
-How to be with the anxiety and fear—somatic tools, psychoeducation
-Navigating medical systems/self advocacy
-Staying connected to our own inner voice through it all
How the Group Works
Each week centers around a specific theme related to living with hereditary or familial cancer risk.
Sara offers a short introduction and sometimes some brief psychoeducation to frame the topic, then each participant is invited to share from their own experience.
This rhythm of learning and witnessing allows for both structure and depth — giving space for your story to unfold within a supportive, trauma-informed container.
Themes We Explore Together
Each week we circle around a theme to share our experiences and reflections. Each cohort evolves uniquely, our discussions often move through:
Safety and Space – Understanding how developmental or medical trauma affects your ability to take up space and ask for what you need.
Decision-Making and Agency – Slowing down in the face of overwhelm and reclaiming your right to choose your own pace.
Relationship to Risk – Exploring how you hold uncertainty, vigilance, and trust in your body and mind.
Grief and Loss – Naming what has been lost — loved ones, body parts, fertility, imagined futures — and creating room for what remains.
Relationships and Communication – Navigating conversations with partners, family, and friends about fear, risk, and support.
Fertility and Family Planning – Honoring the emotional and relational layers of reproductive and generational choices.
Body Image and Identity – Exploring body changes, scars, gender expression, and self-love in the aftermath of surgery or treatment.
Navigating Medical Systems – Finding your voice with providers, balancing advocacy and rest, and working with the realities of care systems.
Anxiety and Regulation – Learning somatic and relational tools for grounding, safety, and nervous system balance.
Integration and Meaning-Making – Looking back on the journey and forward toward living fully within ongoing uncertainty.
We weave conversation, reflection, and grounding practices — creating a container where your full humanity can be held.
Facilitator: Sara Champie, LCSW
Trauma-informed psychotherapist specializing in hereditary cancer risk, intergenerational healing, and depth-oriented therapy
Format: 10-week virtual group (limited to 6 participants)
When: Tuesdays at 4:30pm PST
Location: Online — open to California residents
Cost: $80 per session / $700 paid in full
