Dry July NZ Trust

Dry July funding is helping Cancer Support NZ (home of Look Good Feel Better) deliver free programmes that support people through the everyday challenges of cancer, beyond treatment and hospital care.

These programmes provide practical guidance to help manage the visible side effects of cancer treatment, alongside spaces for connection, shared experience, and support. Through community classes, expert-led Q&A sessions, and online resources, participants can build confidence, learn new skills, and connect with others who understand what they are going through.

Available both in person and online across New Zealand, these services ensure people can access support in a way that suits them, whether that is attending a local class, joining a live session, or engaging with resources from home. The impact goes beyond practical advice, helping people feel more like themselves again while reducing isolation and building emotional resilience.

A participant who attended a Look Good Feel Better community class shared:

"My experience with LGFB was fabulous, from the wonderful, kind ladies running the programme, to the beautiful women who attended, and the lovely complimentary pack we received. It was a supportive and relaxed experience that made me feel special while navigating this difficult journey."

Another participant, after attending an Expert Q&A session, said:

"Amazing session with Lance [Expert Q&A: Managing Anxiety and Sleep]. This was my first online zoom session with you guys. I learnt so much - and felt a part of a peer support network - something I have been severely lacking through my spinal tumour injury."

We are incredibly grateful to the Dry July community whose generosity makes these programmes possible, ensuring more people affected by cancer can access the support they need, when they need it most.

Thanks to you, Look Good Feel Better NZ is helping empower cancer patients through confidence classes and workshops, available anywhere and anytime.

Look Good Feel Better NZ's diverse range of programmes provide accessible opportunities to learn tips and tricks to help disguise the visible side effects of cancer, as well as providing an opportunity to connect with others for mutual support. Access in-person community classes and live online confidence classes, or podcasts and on-demand videos, available online 24/7.

With the support from the funds raised during Dry July, PINC & STEEL will amplify their reach and enable them to guarantee more support to anyone suffering the side effects of cancer treatment.

PINC & STEEL’s fully funded programmes now run throughout Aotearoa from Kerikeri in Northland to Invercargill in Southland. Through better access to PINC & STEEL Cancer Rehabilitation Physiotherapists, more New Zealanders can restore, rebuild and reclaim a better quality of life.

Thanks to the incredible fundraising efforts of our Dry Julyers, Prostate Cancer Foundation of New Zealand will continue their Prost-FIT classes and will be expanding to more locations, helping people access support when they need it most.

Prost-FIT classes are run by specially trained exercise professionals across 12 regions in New Zealand, Prost-FIT is designed for men living with prostate cancer, at any stage of their diagnosis, and helps to improve physical wellbeing.

LGFG is a very helpful programme covering various different topics and allowing people to access from all around NZ... And done with so much compassion and warmth - thank you very much to all our 2021 participants! 

Look Good Feel Better’s mission is for any person, facing any cancer, anywhere in New Zealand, to be enabled to access our range of practical and informative programmes, helping them to face their cancer with more confidence. We have now evolved our programmes to ensure that any day, and every day someone diagnosed with cancer can gain access to information, tips, and techniques to help with the impact of their cancer.

In 2021, there were over 200 community and online classes put on. Early 2021 we had community classes planned in 41 centres and 4 online classes. With over 100 days locked down and the inability to safely deliver in person classes we converted our mix of delivery from 159 community and 48 online classes, to 129 community and 76 online. This meant that all but two classes that were planned were made up through the new online offerings. Our weekly average of bookings remains as high (and even higher most weeks) as pre-covid times.

There were over 2,600 engagements with the Look Good Feel Better programmes in 2021. The stop-start nature of the year meant the team were constantly evolving the classes to ensure that every person facing cancer could continue to access our free programmes.

Alongside our community classes, we now offer seven other programmes. Thanks to the support of Dry July, new programmes were able to be developed, trialled and made available to any person facing cancer.

In 2021 we continued our Q&A series, which has been overwhelmingly supported.

In addition, we introduced the confidence kits which were sent to women who were disappointed not to be able to attend a local class due to COVID settings and were too unwell or didn’t have the technology to join our online classes. Some simple tools that allowed them to still have that feel better moment.

New programme content, and the ability to be available anywhere, any time and any day to all people facing cancer was made possible with the support of Dry July funding. It allows us to try new ways to meet the needs of people already isolated due to their diagnosis. And this access means they can always get that uplifting, confidence boost, along with the tips and tools to help manage the impact of their cancer.

The programme developed in 2021 from our community in person classes in forty-one centres and four online classes since 2020 to over eight sessions available to anyone diagnosed with cancer.

Our programme at the end of 2021 now includes seven different guided live online sessions on: 

o Skincare and make up

o Brows – what you might need to remember

o Scarf tying and headwear

o Nails and hand care

o Managing hair loss and regrowth

o The men’s series - speaker series online

o Q&A session – open to people to meet the experts and answer your questions on topics