When writing this article, we were unsure of what we could add that would resonate with our oncology social work colleagues around the country. Immediately, each of us could visualize the other, a colleague, someone we’d never met in person, on the other end of the email smiling, laughing and doing a little bit of fretting. Mainly, we were both excited about what integrative oncology has to offer our patients. And we knew we could help each other get down on paper what we love about integrative oncology, in order to share that with other AOSW members.

Both of us are new to co-chairing the Integrative Oncology SIG. When we signed up we each had our own very special significant reasons for doing so. Marianne says: “I wanted to round out my work and life’s passions. I work with the Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers three days a week and the other days I spend with my private practice as a therapist, massage therapist and Reiki practitioner. Giving a massage or a Reiki session, or teaching a patient mindfulness strategies helps ground me and reinforces the impact of this work on my own life.” Cheryl adds: “It was a desire to push beyond my comfort zone and grow this piece of my professional persona. Co-chairing the Integrative Oncology SIG has been an integrative experience in more ways than one, helping me pull a variety of modalities into my clinical work with both patients and staff.”

Each of us does our work in very different ways, in very different settings, but the process of working together on this SIG has helped us balance the stress of our work with the grounding influence of integrative medicine. It has also helped us grow into our roles in this profession in a way that neither of us expected. And in the end, that is exactly the message we want to send out to oncology social workers around the country.

The Integrative Oncology SIG is a forum that allows us the opportunity to dig into an area that has much to offer our patients. Once considered “out there” by mainstream medicine, modalities such as mindfulness, meditation, breathing techniques, aromatherapy, acupuncture and qigong are now being recognized for the benefits they offer patients. And social workers can be at the forefront of bringing integrative options into their settings. By expanding our shared knowledge base, the Integrative Oncology SIG can provide us with the available information and growing body of research that can help bring a variety of integrative techniques into the medical world of cancer care. If each of us contributes to the SIG from our own knowledge of integrative oncology, we can grow together in ways that can empower our patients, inform our medical colleagues and improve our ability to do our work.

“It is an exciting time to be bringing more integrative therapies to our oncology patients and their loved ones,” says Marianne. I am thrilled to be able to participate in growing the AOSW SIG so we can all learn from each other and make an even greater impact in our field.”

Working together we envision a positive and open group of social workers sharing information, research and strategies on how to add more integrative oncology into our work and lives. We welcome any members who are interested in this special interest group. Please reach out to us and/or share your interest and expertise through the forum. We are looking forward to seeing you at the SIG meeting during the AOSW conference in Denver.