Caregivers
Disclaimer: These resources are regularly reviewed to ensure that links still work correctly and the resources listed continue to be helpful to our visitors. If you find that a link isn't working or information is incorrect or if you'd like to have your own organization listed here, please email thedirectory@lls.org.
Because we want to be sure that our visitors find the most relevant resources, we've listed these organizations in order of relevancy from most specifically relevant to most generally relevant to the topic of this page.
2-1-1
Population served: Everyone in the United States (check the website for availability in your area)
2-1-1 is the telephone number of a call center that offers information and provides referrals to health and human services for everyday needs and in times of crisis. Services vary from community to community.
Examples of service referrals include:
- Basic human need resources: food banks, clothing, shelters, rent assistance and utility assistance
- Physical and mental health resources: medical information lines, crisis intervention services, counseling, drug and alcohol intervention
- Employment support: unemployment benefits, financial assistance, job training, transportation assistance and education programs
- Support for older Americans and persons with disabilities: home healthcare, adult daycare, congregate meals, Meals on Wheels, respite care, transportation and homemaker services
- Support for children, youth and families: childcare, family resource centers, summer camps and recreation programs, mentoring, tutoring and protective services
AMC Cancer Fund (AMC)
Contact: (800) 525-3777
Population served: Cancer patients, caregivers, friends and members of the public in the United States
AMC, a Cancer Information and Counseling Line staffed by master level and licensed counselors, provides short-term counseling to those affected by cancer.
- Provides confidential counseling
- Provides national and local resource referrals
CancerCare
Contact: (800) 813-4673
Population served: Caregivers in the United States
CancerCare provides free, professional support services to anyone affected by cancer: people with cancer, caregivers, children, loved ones and the bereaved.
- Provides counseling: face to face in the New York metro area, online support groups, telephone support groups
- Provides telephone education workshops with topics appropriate to caregivers
- Provides a program called CancerCare Inform, which includes tips on caregiving
- Offers help navigating financial concerns
Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA)
Contact: (800) 445-8106
Population served: Caregivers in the United States
FCA addresses the needs of families and friends providing long-term care at home. It offers assistance through education, services, research and advocacy.
- Provides a call center
- Offers publications including fact sheets with tips, newsletters, research studies and policy briefs
- Provides Family Care Navigator, an online guide to help families locate programs and caregiver support within their state
- Provides information for caregivers employed outside the home
- Provides workshops, online services including caregiver discussion groups and LGBT caregiver discussion groups
National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA)
Contact: (800) 896-3650
Population served: Caregivers in the United States
NFCA educates, supports, empowers and speaks up for the more than 50 million Americans who care for loved ones with a chronic illness or disability.
- Provides caregiving resources including information and educational materials with tips, listing of agencies and organizations, workshops to help with effective communication and an action network
- Provides publications
- Provides free access to Family Caregiver Community, a newsletter, a pen pal program and monthly eNewsletters
- Offers message boards
- Offers a listing of local caregivers who provide motivation and local resources via their own webpages
Lotsa Helping Hands
Population served: Caregivers worldwide
Lotsa Helping Hands can help to easily organize family members, friends and others during times of medical crisis, family caregiver exhaustion or when caring for an aging loved one.
- Provides free web-based services to create a website which allows a coordinator to list tasks that will help a patient and lets volunteers in the community sign up for those tasks
- Provides an online calendar which allows for communication between the volunteers and the patient or family
- Provides a variety of ways to customize the website
CaringBridge
Contact: (651) 789-2300
Population served: Caregivers and patients worldwide
CaringBridge is a web service that connects family and friends during a critical illness, treatment or recovery. A CaringBridge website is personal, private and available 24/7. It helps keep family and friends informed.
- Provides free personalized websites with a three-step process to join
- Offers a patient care journal, guestbook, photo gallery and free online support with each page created
Cancer Support Community
(Formerly known as Gilda's Club Worldwide)
Contact: (888) 445-3248
Population served: Patients diagnosed with cancer, their friends and families in the United States and Canada
Cancer Support Community offers an emotional and social support community to people with cancer, their families and friends through a network of affiliated clubhouses.
- Provides support and networking groups
- Offers lectures and workshops on a variety of topics
- Provides social activities such as potluck suppers, comedy nights and holiday celebrations
The Patient/Partner Project
Contact: (800) 366-2347
Population served: Patients with cancer and their caregivers, worldwide
The Patient/Partner Project is a multifaceted, long-term program focused on helping cancer patients by helping their partners.
- Offers a web-based tool where patients and caregivers post private updates about the patient's treatment and condition. The members on the private patient/caregiver list are alerted to the update
- Provides a "mini-course" on coping with a serious illness via a series of emails automatically sent at regular intervals
- Produces a monthly eNewsletter
Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults (UCF)
Contact: (888) 393-3863
Population served: Patients with cancer (ages 15 to 35) and the people in their lives who are affected by their diagnosis in the United States
The mission of UCF is to enhance lives by supporting, educating and connecting young adults and their loved ones affected by cancer.
- Offers Patient Navigation Program to improve the ability of young adults to manage their own cancer experiences and long-term cancer survival
- Offers Survivors and Loved Ones' Network, a peer-to-peer support connection of survivors, parents and other young adults affected by cancer
- Offers support and self-help groups to assist in meeting others with cancer and their families to share concerns and methods of coping
- Offers "NO WAY, IT CAN'T BE", a guidebook which provides information about how patients and caregivers can face the challenges ahead
- Offers Voice of Survivorship, a web-based tool which allows cancer survivors and loved ones to share their stories
Well Spouse Association
Contact: (800) 838-0879
Population served: Caregivers for partners with chronic illness and/or disability in the United States
Well Spouse Association is a peer-led organization that gives support to wives, husbands and partners of the chronically ill and/or disabled. Membership is encouraged, however not required, and provides additional services in exchange for an annual fee.
- Offers monthly support groups
- Offers an online forum for spousal caregivers
- Publishes a quarterly newsletter, Mainstay
- Provides information about coping skills, updates on caregiver issues, a directory of support groups, links to other caregiver and health provider organizations
- Offers the Mentorship Program for members, which provides online one-on-one support from a "veteran" caregiver, generally through email communication
- Offers an annual national conference
Cancer Hope Network
Contact: (877) 467-3638
Population served: Patients with cancer and their loved ones in the United States
Cancer Hope Network provides free and confidential one-on-one support to cancer patients and their families.
- Matches cancer patients and/or family members with trained volunteers who themselves have undergone and recovered from a similar cancer experience. This service is provided primarily via telephone
HelpPRO
Contact: (800) 652-0155
Population served: People in search of mental health services in the United States
HelpPRO provides the public with a way to identify and access the services of mental health clinicians and organizations.
- Provides assistance in identifying mental health clinicians either through their website tool or through a representative reached at their toll-free phone number
- Provides detailed information on thousands of mental health professionals, their services and their organizations
- Includes information about the professional's particular areas of expertise, accessibility, insurance accepted and much more
- As an expression of gratitude to U.S. returning soldiers, hundreds of the therapists listed in HelpPro, provide one free hour of counseling each week to them and their families. To identify these therapists, please go to the "Advanced Search" section of the website and select this under "free services."
Give an Hour (GAH)
Contact: Website only
Population served: The United States military troops and their families who are affected by the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are in need of mental health services
Give an Hour is a community focused organization that provides military troops and their families with free mental health services through licensed mental health professionals who donate their time and expertise. The participating mental health professionals offer a wide range of services including individual, marital and family therapy, substance abuse counseling, treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and counseling for individuals with traumatic brain injuries. In exchange, individuals who receive services will be given the opportunity to give an hour back in their own communities through volunteer opportunities.
- Provides a "Basic Search" tool, which allows the user to choose from a short list of fields to identify providers in the area
- Provides the "Guided Search" tool which asks a series of questions to help find providers in the area that best suit the user's situation
The National CML Society (NCMLS)
Contact: (877) 431-2573
Population served: CML patients, their families and caregivers in the United States
The NCMLS mission is to provide educational resources, access to CML specialists/experts and a network of others to share personal experiences.
- Provides extensive glossary of CML terms and CML information
- Provides assistance researching and helping find financial assistance
- Provides peer matching program and has a Counselor Advisor to assist in locating mental health resources
- Provides resources for the caregiver, including ways to connect with other caregivers
- Provides CMLConnection, a listing of support groups
Patient Resource Publishing
Contact: (816) 333-3595, ext. 26
Population served: People diagnosed with cancer and their caregivers in the United States
Patient Resource Publishing produces a free resource guide and offers a companion website, MyCancerAdvisor.com, which is a portal of web information. The primary objective of both is to empower the community in the fight against cancer.
- The Patient Resource Cancer Guide assists to empower and prepare newly diagnosed and newly restaged cancer patients in becoming their own advocates This guide, which may be ordered via telephone or through the website, provides:
- Encouraging stories of survival
- Detailed sections about treatment options and clinical trials
- Patient-focused information regarding cancer treatment facilities
- List of organizations that are resources for cancer-specific information
The website MyCancerAdvisor.com provides:
- Current medical journal articles about cancer advances, including clinical trials
- Information on some disease-specific cancers
- Links to videos on different topics
