(Please note date change to avoid spring break)

Format:

Mini-Series on Decision-Making: From Fear to Clarity (Roundtable Discussion)

Speakers:

Dr. Kathyrn Isaac’s UBC Breast Reconstruction Lab Team

Session Overview:

For many BRCA carriers, the choice to have risk-reducing surgery is clear,  but actually taking that step can be much harder. Even when the benefits are well understood, decisions often get delayed for months or even years.

This interactive roundtable will unpack why we delay taking preventative steps like surgery. Members of Dr. Isaac’s research team will share insights from their surveys of BRCA+ women in BC, highlighting the psychological, social, and practical reasons people wait. Together, we’ll explore how fear, uncertainty, competing priorities, and external pressures can all influence timing.

You’ll have the opportunity to share your own experiences (if you wish), hear from others, and leave with tools for making confident, timely choices that fit your values and life circumstances.

This is the first in a series of three sessions that will explore issues in decision making for carriers at high risk, and take us on a journey from indecision to personal clarity.

Key Topics:

• Barriers to Decision-Making: The emotional, social, and logistical hurdles that can delay action.

• The Role of Support: How friends, family, and healthcare providers can help — or hinder — decision-making.

• Practical Realities: Work, caregiving, and financial factors that affect timing.

• Moving Forward: Strategies to turn uncertainty into clarity.

• Q&A: Direct conversation with the research team.