Since being diagnosed with cancer in 2020, Maria, 56, from St Albans, has accessed family support services and complementary therapy at Rennie Grove’s Grove House.

Here she explains how the services have helped her:

"My cancer diagnosis was quick and hard to deal with. And treatment was gruelling. So when I was referred to Rennie Grove for counselling, I knew it was something I wanted and needed to do.

"The counsellor that I met there was honestly the best I have ever had. I have accessed counselling in the past for other reasons but this lady was different.

"I really felt like the counsellor was working with me, not trying to ‘fix’ me. Personally I find it excruciating if people are too sympathetic or treat me like a victim. She wasn’t like that at all.

"Her approach was to identify my strengths and work together on finding ways that I could move forward. Instead of just letting me babble on, we worked together to take a day at a time and not to get too hung up on the future.

"It was a very empowering approach and really set me up for moving on after the course of therapy ended."

As well as counselling, Maria was able to access reflexology. She says: "I found the reflexology sessions so helpful. It was 45 minutes of pure 'me time' and I felt so good by the end of each session.

"The therapist was so professional and really lovely. She took the time to listen to me and address any concerns. For example, taking into account my concerns about skin irritation when choosing a cream to use during my treatment."

Speaking about her experience of accessing services at Grove House, Maria said: "Hospice is a very scary word for a lot of people. People often associate it with the end of life or think it will be a sad and depressing place.

"Grove House is not like that at all. The services I accessed there really were about living my life with the diagnosis I have.

"Accessing counselling helped me with things like how to speak to my grown-up children about my diagnosis.

"Having support with things like that, that aren’t strictly medical matters, really does make a huge difference to quality of life and how you can make every moment matter, even after a life-changing diagnosis."