Understanding Breast Cancer Recurrence Part 1: The Psychosocial Perspective

Worrying about breast cancer coming back is one of the most common fears after treatment ends. In this session, Dr. Sophie Lebel, will share practical ways to manage the fear of recurrence, cope with uncertainty, and find support. You’ll also hear from someone who will share their personal experience living with the possibility of recurrence.

Who: Anyone who has completed treatment and is living with the ongoing fear of recurrence

Expert Speaker: Dr. Sophie Lebel is a clinical psychologist and a professor at the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on cancer survivorship and psychosocial interventions. Her expertise is on managing fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). Over the past 15 years, she has been working on an FCR intervention called FORT, a group intervention for survivors that has been tested through clinical trials and is currently being culturally adapted in several countries. She is currently developing and testing FORT adaptations for caregivers and parents of paediatric cancer survivors. With funding from the Canadian Cancer Society, she is implementing FORT in 5 different Canadian oncology centres. She has held several leadership positions, including Chair of the Research Advisory Committee of the Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology, Lead of the practice guidelines on the management of fear of cancer recurrence for Ontario Health, and co-director of the clinical psychology program at the University of Ottawa. Clinically, she works with cancer survivors and their loved ones across all phases of the disease trajectory.

Patient Speaker: Sara Calnek is a triple-negative breast cancer survivor diagnosed in 2022 who now channels her lived experience into advocacy and storytelling within the healthcare space. Her work focuses on amplifying patient voices, fostering empathy, and inspiring more human-centered approaches to care.

She volunteers as a Participant Committee Member of the Manitoba Project — a landmark 50-year study tracking cancer rates, demographics, and health outcomes — and as a Patient and Family Advisor at CancerCare Manitoba. Sara also serves as an Ambassador for the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation, helping raise awareness and support for cancer research and care.

Currently, she is writing a book that serves as a love letter to survivors, healthcare workers, and caregivers. Through a mix of humor, heartbreak, and hope, Sara shares her journey of unlearning everything she thought she knew about cancer — a story that is as funny as it is profound, as tragic as it is heartwarming.

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