S6E9: Breast Cancer PSA: Patients Need Emotional Support
About this episode
The episode discusses the emotional support needs of breast cancer patients with insights from Dr. Renata Sledge.
In this episode, Beth and Jamie sit down with Dr. Renata Sledge — who, for the record, thinks her own name sounds like a supervillain — an assistant professor of social work and licensed clinical social worker whose research focuses on the deeply human side of healthcare. Renata spent 15 years watching patients surrounded by doctors, family, and friends who all wanted to help — and yet still feeling profoundly alone. That gap between wanting to be supported and actually feeling it sent her back to school for her PhD, and it's the question at the heart of this conversation. Together, they unpack: Why "shared decision-making" in medicine is treated as a single moment when it actually unfolds over weeks — and how that misunderstanding leaves patients stranded How women are socialized to mute their own needs before cancer, and why that doesn't just disappear after a diagnosis The invisible weight of what patients carry into a diagnosis — rocky marriages, job loss, grief — and how that shapes every treatment decision Why the healthcare system structurally fails the patients who need it most, and who has to step in to fill that gap The power and limits of self-advocacy, especially when…
More episodes of Besties with Breasties Podcast
- S6E10: What Happens When the People You Need Most Let You Down
- S6E8: She Was Betrayed During Treatment…And Then Rebuilt Better
- S6E7: What He Really Thought When She Said “I Had Breast Cancer”
- S6E6: Finding Love After Breast Cancer: A Journey from Diagnosis to "I Do"
- S6E5: She Started Dating Again After Breast Cancer — Here’s What Happened
- S6E4: From Cringe to Compassion: Mastering Communication During Cancer
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