Dr. Sinead Lynch

And the first thing I did was meet patients and say, what is it that you need at this time?

So it was targeted towards patients with recurrence or like Anne, where it was a progression of disease very quickly and suddenly and shocking.

And they just said, it's fear, it's terror and it's a loneliness like Anne described.

You know, it's an existential loneliness.

I have support, but I'm in my own head.

I don't want to always, you know, burden my family and my friends anymore.

And so I created this program based on psychological theory that's out there that would address, you know, anxiety, which is breath work, really, essentially.

Your breath is your friend, as my friend Lizzie says, and also compassion.

So the thing about compassion is that people mistake it for compassion.

oh, it's pity and I'm going to pity myself if I let down my defences or I give up this fight, which is often used, you know, that word, that term.

And it's great.

It's a drive to get you out of bed.

But it's not great when you're suffering, because the most important thing to do when you're suffering is to actually acknowledge it and to then treat yourself with kindness.

And so that's what we did over the six week programme.

It was a research trial, so it has finished and it's been published, but we're hoping to take it to the next stage now.

If anything, my friends say, what is it with you, Sinead, and suffering?

You just want to go there.

But that's true.

It's really about acknowledging the pain and the difficulties in our lives.

Like what we resist persists.