Look Good Feel Better

St John of God Ballarat Hospital and Look Good Feel Better Celebrate 20 year Partnership.

24 Apr 2018

24 April 2018

About Look Good Feel Better

Look Good Feel Better, is a free national community service program that helps to improve the wellbeing and confidence of people undergoing treatment for cancer.

Run by the Cancer Patients Foundation, the Look Good Feel Better program has been providing free workshops designed to help Australian women, men and teens better cope with the appearance-related side-effects caused by cancer treatment since its launch in Sydney in 1990.

The Workshop

At each workshop, participants receive a Confidence Kit full of skincare and make-up products to use as tools for application throughout the workshop, while benefitting from the opportunity to meet others in a similar situation. Through these workshops, friendships and additional support networks are formed that can help during diagnosis and treatment.
The workshops cover skin care techniques to alleviate symptoms including dryness and sallowness; makeup tips to help patients deal with concealing redness and drawing on eyebrows; and advice on headwear including scarf styling and wig selection, helping participants embrace the notion that ‘life feels better in colour’.

The partnership

Over the 20 years the workshops have been running at St John of God Ballarat Hospital, 25 trained and qualified volunteers from the local area have given their time to the program, providing invaluable information and advice to the cancer patients in attendance. There have been over 1,000 patients benefit from the program since the first workshop held at the hospital in 1998.

Faye Venning, Victorian Program Manager for Look Good Feel Better, said “Our Workshops truly have a transformative effect on those undergoing cancer treatment, and without the collaboration and support of St John of God [Ballarat] Hospital, we could not have helped as many patients as we have over the last 20 years. It’s a partnership we are truly grateful for and we look forward to another 10 years together, supporting those in the local community.”