International Conference - Living with Sexuality and Cancer

The presentation, experiential workshop and exhibition to the Living with Sexuality and Cancer conference attracted an audience of 100 health professionals. The presentation by health professionals and artists explained how patients and artists together explored sexual problems encountered following cancer treatment. This novel and highly collaborative approach empowered new forms of artistic expression as an alternative language to enable patients to express and communicate their feelings of emotional and physical trauma using visual metaphors that go beyond the clinical and can resonate with a deeper sense of touch and emotional meaning. Work co-produced by the artists and psychosexual consultant was shared at the workshop to challenge health professionals on their communication skills by confronting them with subject matter that is unfamiliar and hard to understand, replicating a sense of the patient’s perspective in dealing with medical issues. The phrase “speak to be understood and listen to understand” enabled the health professionals to better understand the communication of patients.