Proudly celebrating 15 years supporting women with cancer to live well

Celebrating 15 years

Counterpart connects, supports and informs women with breast or a gynaecological cancer to live well. Proudly celebrating our 15th birthday, we have supported women affected by breast or a gynaecological cancer 30,000 times since 2003 and developed a range of programs to help women get the information they need. Ms Gabrielle Williams, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Parliamentary Secretary for Carers and Volunteers was a guest at an event celebrating Counterpart’s 15th birthday on 19 April 2018. Over 100 guests, including volunteers, health professionals and donors, took part in this special celebration.

Celebrating our volunteers

Counterpart was launched in 2003, the result of tireless campaigning by women who had experienced breast cancer for a consumer-based resource centre and peer support.  Ms Williams presented certificates to our volunteers who have achieved 10 and 15 years of service at an event celebrating Counterpart’s 15th birthday on 19 April 2018. She also acknowledged more than 135 Peer Support and Program Support volunteers who have contributed over 20,000 hours to the service supporting Victorian women.

Counterpart champion

We also awarded the inaugural Counterpart Champion award to Heather Beanland, in recognition of her dedication and commitment to improving the experiences of women with cancer, particularly breast cancer. Heather played an enormous role as an advocate for our service, and assisted in its establishment. She was a Peer Support Volunteer from 2003 to 2017, and shared her time and experience generously across all aspects of our service. Heather also contributes to many committees in the cancer and women’s health spheres.

New Navigator app

Ms Williams, also launched a new app — the Counterpart Navigator — to assist women with breast or a gynaecological cancer to find reliable, evidence-based information on topics they want to know about. Building on the earlier BreaCan Navigator app, the Counterpart Navigator app has expanded to include six new gynaecological cancer Navigators, funded by the Victorian Government.

Increased screening and improvements in cancer treatments mean more women are living longer with cancer or adjusting to life after treatment. This means the need for support and information for women diagnosed with cancer is growing, making services like Counterpart more important than ever.