Woman to Woman: 20 Years of Support for Patients With Gynecologic Cancers

The Woman to Woman program in 2023 marked 20 years of supporting people with gynecologic cancers—giving the gift of hope and understanding to thousands of patients. The program is administered jointly through the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science and the Department of Social Work Services at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Woman to Woman provides peer mentoring and support to people of all gender identities who have been diagnosed with gynecologic cancers. Over two decades, this unique program has evolved to offer a suite of support services to people with cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, vulvar, and other gynecologic cancers.

“The program was founded with the vision that no one with gynecologic cancer should feel alone. That remains our mission to this day,” says Rachel Justus, LCSW, Woman to Woman program manager. Ms. Justus co-manages the program with Jilian Levinson, LCSW, OSW-C, in close collaboration with the gynecologic oncology team.

Woman to Woman was the brainchild of Valerie Goldfein, an ovarian cancer survivor treated at the Mount Sinai Health System. Ms. Goldfein felt very alone during her treatment. She knew people with breast cancer who had a community of support around them. Yet no one she knew talked about gynecologic cancers. “Gynecologic cancers can feel very intimate, and treatment is often intense,” Ms. Levinson explains. Many people don’t feel comfortable talking about their symptoms and side effects with their family—or even with their doctors.

“On paper, Valerie had every resource available to her. She had financial resources, a supportive family, and was well connected at the hospital as a member of the auxiliary board,” Ms. Justus adds. “Despite all that, she felt having cancer was the most isolating experience of her life, and she vowed to make sure no one with gynecologic cancer felt that way again.”

So in 2003, after Ms. Goldfein finished treatment and had gone into remission, she collaborated with her oncologist to develop Woman to Woman. The program offers a variety of resources to patients diagnosed with gynecologic cancers.

Peer mentoring, composed entirely of volunteers, lies at the heart of Woman to Woman. Survivors in remission provide one-on-one mentoring to newly diagnosed patients. After volunteers have been screened and cleared by the Mount Sinai Department of Volunteer Services, Ms. Justus and Ms. Levinson prepare them through an intensive training program that lasts up to 10 hours.

The training covers information such as how to be a good listener, what a peer mentor does and doesn’t do, who’s who in a hospital setting, and what to do if a patient needs more intensive support than a peer can provide. The coaching involves role-play and includes advice from established volunteers. After completing the training, new mentors shadow seasoned mentors until they feel comfortable serving on their own.

The peer mentors meet with newly diagnosed patients at their medical appointments at The Mount Sinai Hospital and The Blavatnik Family-Chelsea Medical Center at Mount Sinai, offering to sit with them during chemotherapy or in recovery from surgery. Mentors also provide ongoing support through text messages, emails, phone calls, and personal visits. The program is customized for each person. Some patients just want one conversation before they start treatment. Others connect with mentors multiple times a week during their treatment or beyond. “Some relationships last decades. Even after treatment ends, mentors can help people manage long-term side effects or the impacts of cancer on their relationships,” Ms. Levinson says. “It’s a safe space patients can always go back to.”

The program also offers a wide variety of support groups. Originally, those groups were held in person. During the first year of COVID-19, Woman to Woman pivoted to virtual groups—a move that has proved popular.

In 2022, Ms. Justus and Ms. Levinson led 143 virtual groups, serving more than 2,100 attendees. Through that effort, the pair saw a need to create smaller, targeted groups to better support patients. They now offer programs focused on specific needs, including groups for people of color, Latina patients, people in their childbearing years, LGBTQIA+ people, and patients with recurrent cancer, among others. “We realize that treatment and recovery support isn’t one size fits all, and we work hard to create a program that’s responsive to the needs of our patients,” says Ms. Levinson.

Woman to Woman also works closely with the Division of Gynecologic Oncology, led by Stephanie V. Blank, MD, Director of Women’s Health at the Blavatnik Family-Chelsea Medical Center, and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "One of our most important missions is to educate patients about the clinical trials we conduct at Mount Sinai, and to ensure they have all the resources they need to participate,” Dr. Blank says. “Woman to Woman has been instrumental in helping us achieve this goal.”

The other key piece of Woman to Woman is its financial assistance program, which Ms. Goldfein envisioned from day one. Grants cover a range of needs, including fertility preservation, mental health services, and medical assistance. Patients can also receive grants for day-to-day needs such as groceries, rent, childcare, or transportation. “It doesn’t matter how good the emotional support is if a woman can’t afford to get to her appointment or doesn’t have someone to watch her children while she gets chemo,” Ms. Justus says.

In 2022, the program issued $64,000 in financial aid grants to 231 people in need. “Our program is 100 percent philanthropically funded, and every cent we raise goes directly to helping patients,” she adds. Woman to Woman has grown tremendously over its 20-year history. In its first year, the program launched with five survivor volunteers. Today, 39 survivors are active in the mentoring program.

Woman to Woman has also been replicated across the country. The Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance adopted the Woman to Woman model, expanding the program to nearly 40 sites across the country. At the original Mount Sinai location, Ms. Justus says the program continues to innovate and add new features while staying true to its vision of ensuring patients don’t face gynecologic cancers alone. “Our goal is to provide hope to people going through a really challenging time.”