Already Aware: Dealing With Feelings About Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Counselor Kelly Grosklags helps Melissa Jenkins moderate a special Virtual Community Meetup on what it’s like to go through Breast Cancer Awareness Month if you have a breast cancer diagnosis.
Oct 7, 2025
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Many people feel supported by Breast Cancer Awareness Month activities and pink merchandise. Others feel the month focuses on people who’ve been cured and leaves out people with metastatic disease. Some men with breast cancer feel the overwhelming pinkness of the month silences their experience. And others feel the pink labels on products linked to higher breast cancer risk, such as alcohol and cosmetics with ingredients like triclosan, are hypocritical. 

This podcast is the audio from a special Virtual Community Meetup featuring guest moderator Kelly Grosklags.

Listen to the episode to hear:

  • what people like and dislike about Breast Cancer Awareness Month

  • why some people feel pressure to be the face of breast cancer for the month

  • why some people don’t like the words “survivor” or “warrior”

  • ways to support people with breast cancer during October

Scroll down to below the “About the guest” information to read a transcript of this podcast.


About the guests
 
Kelly Grosklags headshot
Kelly Grosklags, LICSW, BCD, FAAGC

Kelly Grosklags is an experienced therapist who dedicated her practice to minimizing suffering through her work in oncology, palliative care, and hospice. Kelly is a licensed clinical social worker, a board-certified diplomate in clinical social work, and a fellow of the American Academy of Grief Counseling. She is the author of A Comforted Heart: An Oncology Psychotherapist Perspective on Finding Meaning and Hope During Illness and Loss. Kelly now teaches and speaks frequently about end-of-life issues, including care, grief and loss, both in person, on her website, Conversations With Kelly, and on her Conversations With Kelly Facebook page. Her passionate and supportive demeanor helps patients, caregivers and health professionals connect with the wisdom of making life more meaningful, coping with depression and anxiety, transforming fear into hope, healing versus curing, and the wisdom of dying a good death.

— Last updated on October 7, 2025 at 9:30 AM

 
 
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