Through the Tenovus Patient Care Service a cancer patient may ask to be put in contact with a Tenovus qualified counsellor. In response to identified need Tenovus plans to develop its existing service, provided by part-time qualified counsellors, through the appointment of the additional equivalent of three full-time professional counsellors to assist and support people given a cancer diagnosis and their families. From April 2006 to March of this year 181 cancer patients were referred for the first time to the Tenovus counselling service, who received assistance from the service in addition to the 50 or so clients from previous years that continued to make use of the help available to them through the offices of the counsellors. Often a person given a cancer diagnosis will experience thoughts and feelings they may find difficult to convey to or discuss with their family and friends. Sometimes they can work their own way through these matters; but they may need to find a person whom they can trust that they could talk through these matters with in confidence. Through the Tenovus Patient Care Service a cancer patient may ask to be put in contact with a Tenovus qualified counsellor. The number of requests received indicates the need for an expanded counselling service, which would enable the charity to provide the service to a greater number of people in the existing geographical areas it is available in and in others also. The heightened emotions felt by many cancer patients and members of their family, with bottled up feelings such as anger, anxiety, grief and embarrassment, can become very intense and counselling offers an opportunity to explore them, with the possibility of making them easier to understand and, maybe, control. The counsellor may help the client to examine in detail the behaviour or situations which are proving troublesome and to find an area where it would be possible to initiate some change as a start. The counsellor may help the client to look at the options open to them and help them to decide the best for them. The support that a Tenovus counsellor can give a cancer patient has an immeasurable potential to assist them face and deal with their diagnosis and illness.