Cancer Survivors
Mental health support for the emotional impact of cancer—and life beyond it
Forge Health now offers therapist-led virtual group therapy for young adult cancer survivors across Pennsylvania.
Finishing the acute part of cancer treatment is supposed to be a relief. And while it is for many people, it also brings new challenges: The structure of active treatment ends, but the emotional work of survivorship is just beginning. Forge Health offers virtual group therapy for cancer survivors ages 18–39 who are within five years of completing their initial acute treatment. The group provides a supportive space to confront the emotional impact of cancer, connect with others who truly understand, and move forward.
Introducing our group for Young Adult Survivors
Forge Health’s therapist-led group for young adult cancer survivors is now available across Pennsylvania.
Young adulthood is a life stage that often includes significant growth in the areas of identity, relationships, and independence. A cancer diagnosis at this age disrupts all three, often in ways that don’t fit neatly into support designed for children or older adults. Survivors in this group tend to share similar experiences, even across different cancer diagnoses:
- Feeling out of step with peers whose lives moved forward without a cancer diagnosis in the middle
- Rebuilding a sense of identity after treatment
- Fertility concerns and family planning
- Dating, intimacy, and how to talk about cancer history with a partner
- Reentering school, work, and financial independence
- Living with fear of recurrence at an age when few peers think about mortality
- Wanting to be understood by people who simply get it
Peer connection is one of the most consistently valued and hardest-to-find resources for young adult survivors. Our group offers an ongoing, therapist-led space where members can build that connection over time — sharing what they’re carrying, learning from one another, and finding steadiness in a community that understands this particular experience of survivorship.
The emotional side of survivorship
Cancer doesn’t end when treatment does. Cancer survivors often carry the physical, emotional, and psychosocial effects of their diagnosis long after their last appointment, even as friends, family, and providers assume the hardest part is over.
Common experiences among survivors include:
- Fear of cancer recurrence
- Grief for time, plans, or relationships that changed
- Changes in body image, identity, and sense of self
- Strain on relationships, dating, or family roles
- Uncertainty about returning to work, school, or “normal” life
- Difficulty finding language for an experience that others don’t fully understand
- A sense of isolation, even when surrounded by support
These experiences are common, and they deserve the same attention as the physical side of survivorship. Forge Health’s licensed clinicians offer a compassionate, judgment-free space to work through them in settings designed around the shared experience of survivorship.
Why group therapy helps
Individual therapy is valuable, but survivorship carries a particular kind of loneliness that one-on-one care can’t fully address: the sense that no one else quite understands what this experience is like from the inside.
Group therapy brings survivors together with peers who genuinely understand, without lengthy explanation. Guided by a licensed therapist, the group becomes a place to:
- Connect with others who share this experience firsthand
- Feel less alone in fears, grief, or uncertainty that can be hard to voice elsewhere
- Learn from how other members have navigated similar challenges
- Build real relationships and a sense of belonging
- Process difficult emotions in a supported, confidential setting
- Find meaning and perspective through shared reflection
Research on group psychotherapy for cancer patients has consistently shown these benefits: it reduces isolation, strengthens coping, and helps people integrate the experience of illness into their lives rather than being defined by it. A trained therapist keeps the space safe and productive, so the group can go where individual sessions sometimes can’t.
Frequently Asked Questions
About The Group
No. Survivors of leukemia, lymphoma, solid tumors, brain tumors, and other diagnoses are all welcome. Research and clinical experience show that age and life stage — not diagnosis type — most strongly shape the psychosocial needs this group addresses.
This group is open to survivors ages 18–39 who are within five years of completing their initial acute treatment.
You don’t need to be in remission to join. Anyone who has completed an initial acute treatment course is welcome — including survivors now living with cancer as a chronic condition that requires ongoing or maintenance treatment. We consider that survivorship too, and this group is for you.
That’s completely okay. Request a consultation, and you’ll have a chance to talk it through with a clinician, ask questions, and decide together whether the group feels like the right fit.
This group is for young adult cancer survivors, generally defined as individuals diagnosed between approximately ages 18 and 39. This includes survivors diagnosed as young adults as well as those diagnosed in childhood who are now young adults. All cancer diagnoses and treatment histories are welcome — what matters most is the shared experience of navigating survivorship at this life stage.
Format And Logistics
The group meets virtually, so any survivor in Pennsylvania can take part, wherever in the state you live.
The group meets online, once a week on Monday evenings at 6-7:15pm
Each session is 75 minutes.
We aim to keep the group between 8 and 12 participants at any given time — small enough for everyone to be known and heard.
This is an open-ended group, meaning membership is ongoing rather than tied to a set start and end date. Members can join and, when ready, complete their time in the group as clinically appropriate — rather than following a fixed weekly curriculum.
New members join through a comprehensive intake conversation with a Forge Health clinician. That conversation is a chance to ask questions and decide together whether the group is a good fit.
The group is led by a licensed therapist trained in group psychotherapy and in working with cancer survivors.
What To Expect
The group is a space for open, here-and-now conversation guided by a therapist — not a fixed lecture or worksheet-based class. Sessions may touch on topics like identity after cancer, fear of recurrence, relationships and dating, family and friends, fertility, work and school, and grief, but the direction of each session is shaped by what members bring in. Occasional grounding exercises or educational material may be offered, but they support the conversation rather than replace it.
Not necessarily, and that’s by design. Members often find that despite different diagnoses, many of the emotional and practical challenges of survivorship are strikingly similar. The group is a place to explore both what’s shared and what’s unique to each person’s experience.
Group members bring a range of experiences, including some who may be managing more serious or ongoing disease. The facilitator actively supports the group through these moments rather than avoiding them, since they’re often part of what members need to process together.
Yes. Everything shared in the group is confidential, and every member agrees to hold that confidentiality for one another. The one exception is safety: if we ever have concerns about harm to yourself or someone else, we’ll talk with you directly, one-on-one, about the appropriate next steps.
Getting Started
Reach out by phone (1-888-224-7312) or through our web form. We’ll schedule a comprehensive evaluation with one of our clinicians, and from there, set a specific day for you to join the group. That’s it.
Yes, most insurance plans cover the cost of group therapy. Check our website to confirm whether we’re in-network with your plan.
Your cost is whatever your insurance co-pay or deductible is for this type of care. Your insurance provider can give you the specifics for your plan.
Of course. You’re welcome to see one of our therapists for individual care and our psychiatric providers for medication support, alongside your participation in the group.