SATCC hosts inaugural Living with Cancer Wellbeing Retreat

If you are reading this, the chances are that you, or someone you know and care about, has received the life-changing news that they have cancer.

The figures are startling; nearly one in two people in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. A disease that once seemed to happen to others now touches almost every family.

Earlier this month, a pioneering five-day Living with Cancer Wellbeing Retreat took place at Carden Park Hotel and Spa in Cheshire, the first of its kind in the UK.

The retreat was created by Sue Harmsworth MBE, founder of the Standards Authority for Touch in Cancer Care (SATCC), in partnership with Professor Anna Campbell of CanRehab.

It brought together leading experts in movement, therapeutic touch, nutrition and wellbeing to support people experiencing cancer.

European Spa spoke exclusively to Harmsworth about why she believes the spa and hospitality industries have an important role to play in helping people living with and beyond cancer.

It’s taken two years to create this retreat; what did you want to achieve?

This was the SATCC’s first ever retreat, supported by Carden Park Hotel and Spa. It was both inspiring and emotional.

We wanted to deliver something positive, uplifting and personal. An upbeat programme for each of our 15 guests, with real data and expertise they could take away and apply to their lives.

Importantly, it was described as life-changing by many of our guests. Everyone went away with a personal fitness programme and a much better understanding of how nutrition, daily movement, breathwork and their mindset can positively impact their recovery journey.

All the leaders who led our sessions are experts in their fields and the movement specialists are CanRehab trained.

From movement to meditation, nutrition to breathwork, they brought their expertise and I want to thank them for giving their time so generously.

Who took part in this first retreat?

We kept it deliberately small, so we could really test if it would work. I was impressed by how extraordinarily diverse our group was and shocked by how young they were. We had 14 women and one man, ranging 38 to 55.

They came from all over the country to join us, not really knowing what to expect. Everyone bonded from day one.

On a practical level, it’s very hard to take time out when you have a cancer diagnosis. There’s a fear factor of the unknown and, for some, worry about whether they would be able to cope physically. I know it took a lot for people to make time for this.

Was five days the right amount of time?

Absolutely. We knew five days was a big ask in terms of time commitment, but it allowed the space for people to escape together and build their resilience.

It’s very hard to book ahead when you have to factor in medical appointments and time away from family.

We discovered our guests needed the whole five days to dedicate time with each expert, so they could take the most home with them.

Movement and body confidence were key to the whole experience, with excellent advice and personalisation from Dr Anna Campbell MBE and Stephen Price, founder of Movementum.

We also had a day devoted to nutrition and cancer, with practical advice from clinical nutritionist Stephanie Moore. We explored the science of breathwork and meditation for stress with Laura Ashurst and had fun with aqua aerobics and dance.

For the future, what would you like to happen?

One of our biggest learnings was, in many cases, financial wellbeing is a huge issue when you’re living with cancer.

We tried to make the costs as accessible as possible, with some sponsored places available, to ensure the retreat was inclusive. I’d like to thank those who sponsored places for this first retreat including Trybe, ESPA, Armonia, CanRehab Trust and several private individuals.

I would like our industry to step up and sponsor retreat places, to help us make future retreats more accessible to all.

Sponsorship will allow us to extend this life-changing experience to more people and potentially run more than one event in a year.

How can spa businesses get involved in the 2027 retreat?

It would be brilliant if companies in our industry could commit to sponsoring one of their team or a friend or family member, and I would love to hear from them.

I hope we can encourage more hospitality and spa and wellness leaders, as well as beauty brands, to sponsor retreat places every year.

This is just the beginning of what I hope will be a hugely successful programme, putting the UK at the forefront when it comes to cancer recovery retreats.

Get in touch to take part…

If you or your company would like to sponsor a place for one or more people to join in 2027, please contact Sue Harmsworth here.

European Spa supports the SATCC mission

Since the launch of the SATCC, European Spa has worked to keep cancer touch care firmly on the industry agenda through news, interviews, expert features and dedicated coverage in European Spa magazine and the European Spa Leaders’ Resource.

Our shared message is simple: with nearly one in two people likely to receive a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime, welcoming people living with and beyond cancer should be an essential part of an inclusive spa and wellness industry.

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