Meditainment supports Andrea's mental health after her ovarian cancer diagnosis

Background

Andrea's diagnosis of Stage 4 ovarian cancer in late 2024 was a devastating shock. Her mental health had previously been good but she found that her sleep, anxiety, mood and mental stability were all negatively impacted following her diagnosis. Unable to walk and with pleural effusion of her lungs, she began box breathing to strengthen her lungs and looked for relaxation techniques.

Andrea realised the importance of looking after her mental health, for herself and her family, and felt it was something within her power to control alongside the treatable but incurable nature of her disease. She had some hypnotherapy sessions which were very helpful. She did not want to take additional medication and alternative support via her GP or medical teams involved a long wait. Andrea did not want to discuss her fears about her cancer or mental health with someone, wanting to be in control, doing something she was going to benefit from in her time, at her pace and in her house.

She looked on YouTube for body scanning and relaxation techniques that could help her deal with the constant mental noise and tried other meditation apps but found them repetitive and boring with poor-quality audio. She sought something that was simple and guided with high-quality sound, that really talked to and reached her.

Meditainment

Andrea discovered Meditainment via the now decommissioned Good Thinking service in London. She uses the program most nights to help her sleep as she can feel very tired but wake up after ten minutes and not be able to sleep again, or is in pain. Listening to the guided meditations helps her to drift off again and have a better quality of sleep. She has also developed a routine of using Meditainment after lunch when she begins to feel exhausted with cancer fatigue, finding it helps her to feel more invigorated and energised. 

The high quality of the audio production is important to Andrea, helping her to feel fully present. She particularly appreciates the ability to choose a different location to suit her mood, especially the woodland and beach journeys, and enjoys the background music and sounds. The fact that new meditations are released over time taught Andrea to meditate, training her to be able to get into a much deeper relaxation as the program progressed.