Escape to THRIVE 2021 Presenters:

The 2021 Escape to Thrive is unique in being our first Alumni Celebration!  As experienced cancer advocates, Bag It wants to celebrate you and nurture an environment promoting our overarching themes of:

• Collaboration: Celebrations/Challenges
• Integration: Equity and Inclusion in Cancer Care
• Balance for the Advocate

We believe we work best when we work together.  Speakers and panelists will first be drawn from attendees interested in presenting interested attendees.  We want you to share your successes, your obstacles, and foster opportunities for collaboration.  Panels will be moderated to encourage organic and creative discussion while ensuring discussion stays on track. 

Gaps in healthcare access, equity, and the prevalence of biases have shown to be extremely detrimental to inclusive cancer care.  COVID-19 has highlighted these deficiencies in a public way we have not seen before.  We believe this is of priority importance for cancer advocacy.  We will explore the challenges and discuss potential strategies for successful integration in an environment of candor and authenticity fostered around trust.  

We believe a major tenet of productive advocacy is balance.  We believe caring for others means you must also care for yourself. We will address the topics of self-care, resilience, and emotional intelligence.  We will explore breaking out of our comfort zones to encourage growth while guarding against potential traps such as burnout.  We will again prioritize alumni participation in speaker and panelist opportunities.  Attendees will also be led in exercises promoting balance by a professional mindfulness coach.