193: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE - Episode 193193: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE - Episode 193
UK Health Radio Podcast
Robin Daly talks with cancer coach Catherine Schopfer about how coaching, intuition and daily habits can support people and caregivers through cancer and beyond remission. Their conversation focuses on patient autonomy, emotional shock, uncertainty and finding a new sense of purpose after treatment.
43:19•15 Oct 2026
Finding Your Voice After Cancer: Coaching, Intuition and Life Beyond Remission
Episode Overview
- Cancer coaching focuses on future goals and small steps, not giving medical advice or acting as therapy.
- Patients have the right to slow down, seek second opinions and make treatment decisions in their own time.
- Simple daily foundations like nutrition, movement, breathing and routines can help calm fear and support clearer choices.
- Intuition becomes a useful inner guide when people create space to listen beyond panic and external pressure.
- Caregivers need to prioritise their own wellbeing, learn to say no and ask for help to avoid exhaustion and resentment.
“"You own your life, you own your body and you have the right to say yes and no."”
What drives someone to seek a different way through cancer? This episode of the Yes To Life Show brings together host Robin Daly and cancer coach Catherine Schopfer for a candid, sometimes funny, but deeply honest chat about what happens when a diagnosis blows life apart. Catherine shares how her own breast cancer, following the deaths of both parents from cancer, pushed her to shift from life and business coaching into specialising in cancer support.
She’s clear about what a cancer coach is – and what they’re not: “A cancer coach is not a therapist, it’s not an oncologist, it’s not a doctor… you own your life, you own your body and you have the right to say yes and no.” You’ll hear how coaching focuses on vision, goals and small steps, rather than telling anyone what to do.
A big part of the conversation looks at the shock of being rushed into treatment and the pressure to agree to surgery immediately. Catherine explains why she said no to a next‑week operation, sought a second opinion and took time to digest the news, showing how vital it can be to slow down, ask questions and use intuition rather than pure fear. The episode goes further than the hospital phase, tackling the often-lonely aftermath of “you’re in remission”.
Catherine talks about clients who feel they can’t enjoy life or trust their bodies again, and how routines, nutrition, movement, breathing and daily support (even via quick messages) help rebuild a sense of safety and direction. Caregivers aren’t forgotten either.
Drawing on her own experience supporting her parents, Catherine explains why partners and family need to move themselves up the priority list, learn to say no and ask for help, so they don’t burn out while trying to hold everything together. If you or someone you love is facing cancer and you’d like more control, structure and honest support, could cancer coaching be one of the tools you bring into your recovery journey?
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