Gabrielle Asprey 2014 World Cancer Congress

Gabrielle Asprey

Gabrielle is a counsellor who specialises in supporting people affected by cancer and people who are bereaved. In addition to running a private counselling practice (An Open Door Counselling) she works at Ovarian Cancer Australia in the psychosocial team. She also worked for fifteen years at Cancer Council NSW. Gabrielle is a clinical member of the Australian Counselling Association and is the current President of Cancer Counselling Professionals Inc, an association of counsellors and other health care professionals who provide therapeutic counselling support to people affected by cancer. Gabrielle is also an accredited Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ally and a member of the Welcome Here Project (ACON), fulfilling her passion for inclusion and equality for all people. At Ovarian Cancer Australia, Cancer Council NSW and in private practice, the support she provides runs across the cancer trajectory, from coming to terms with a diagnosis right through to end of life support and bereavement. Of particular interest is in enabling conversations around end of life issues. Facing end of life is inevitable for us all. Many people want to do it but are not sure how to broach the subject. She hopes that by opening up the conversation for everyone, it makes planning and facing end of life that little bit easier and compassionate. Within her private practice as a Counsellor, Psychotherapist and End of Life Doula, the focus is to support people through some of the most difficult times of their lives. By coming from a position of compassion and care, a safe space is created to enable an exploration of the vulnerable and work towards the possible.