GoedVoelen
Staying true to yourself when everything changes.

Why   Program My story   Get involved   Contact

View the program
For partners of people with cancer

Your partner has cancer. But what's actually happening to you?

When your partner gets cancer, something happens to you too. Attention naturally goes to your partner, and it’s easy for you to fade into the background. That’s what GoedVoelen is about.

“Not how you’re supposed to handle it. First, room for what’s really going on with you.”

Almost everything pulls your attention outward

You're in the middle of this illness too.

When your partner has cancer, your attention almost naturally turns outward. To your partner, appointments, tests and results. To your children, family and work. To everything that needs to be taken care of, and to what your partner is feeling and needs. Before you know it, there is little attention left for what is happening within you.

And yet, you are going through something too. You may feel fear, sadness, anger, helplessness, exhaustion or uncertainty — some more strongly than others. Or you may find yourself trying to stay strong, keep going, take care of things or look for solutions.

That’s why GoedVoelen isn’t primarily about cancer. It’s about the partner.
Slow down for a moment

What's actually happening to me right now?

That doesn’t need to be solved first before it’s allowed to get attention. GoedVoelen therefore starts with something simple: slowing down, so you can notice what’s going on inside you and take the next step from there.

The GoedVoelen compass

You don’t have to figure this all out by yourself. The GoedVoelen compass gives you a simple way to keep noticing what’s happening inside you and choose from there what fits you in that moment.

The GoedVoelen compass: Notice, Feel, Distinguish, Choose, Act
What this shift can bring

This is how room grows to not skip over yourself.

The more often you make that shift, the more room grows between what happens and how you respond. That doesn’t change the situation right away, but it does change how you stand in it: less automatic, more from yourself.
✓
You'll notice sooner when you're losing yourself.
✓
You'll recognize sooner when you're running into resistance.
✓
You'll be better able to stay true to yourself when unexpected things happen.
✓
You don't have to carry it all alone, there's still room to simply be a partner too.
The GoedVoelen program

Exploring on your own. Exploring together. Staying connected.

GoedVoelen will be a program offered over a set period, combining three things: exploring on your own at your own pace, exploring together with other participants, and staying connected in a private community.
You’ll get recognition, explanation, short exercises and practical support. Not to make your feelings go away or tell you what to do, but to help you better notice what’s happening inside you, distinguish what’s yours from what’s your partner’s, and choose more consciously how you want to act.
Exploring on your own
Online material and exercises you work through at your own pace.
Exploring together
Online group sessions with me and other participants: sharing experiences and learning from each other.
Staying connected
A private community — even after the guided period ends.
The program is currently in development, together with the development group. As soon as the first round starts, you’ll be the first to hear about it.
Free visual introduction

What happens to you when your partner gets cancer?

A short presentation in which you discover why so many partners lose sight of themselves along the way and what can help you stay closer to yourself.
First step

Pausing for a moment to check in on how you're doing.

In this short introduction, I’ll take you through what often happens when your partner has cancer, and introduce you to the GoedVoelen compass, as a first step to not losing sight of yourself.

The introduction will become part of GoedVoelen. Leave your email address below. As soon as it’s available, you’ll receive it right away.
You can unsubscribe at any time.
Frans, oprichter van GoedVoelen
Talk to me personally
Why I started GoedVoelen

I know how easily you become completely outward-focused as a partner.

GoedVoelen grew out of my own experience as the partner of someone with cancer.
When my partner got cancer, I mainly kept doing, arranging, and searching for options. I tried to gain control over a situation where so much was uncertain. For a long time, I saw that mainly as involvement and love. Only later did I understand that all that doing also helped me avoid having to fully face my own fear and helplessness.
My experience is the source of GoedVoelen, but not a manual for anyone else. Every relationship, every diagnosis and every illness is different.
What I do want to offer is a place where your own experience is taken seriously. Where it helps when someone doesn’t just ask how your partner is doing, but also: how are you actually doing?
GoedVoelen is in development
Small development group

Become one of about 10 partners helping shape GoedVoelen from the very start.

GoedVoelen is currently being developed. To make sure it’s not based only on my own experience and assumptions, I’m looking for about 10 partners of people with cancer who want to think along and take part from the start.
Over the course of a few weeks, we’ll meet online. We’ll explore what’s really going on in your daily life, try out ideas and exercises, and see together what helps and what doesn’t. Not test subjects, but co-developers.
I want to get involved
You share your experience
What's really going on for you as a partner?
You get guidance
The sessions aren't just research; they need to be valuable for you too.
You give feedback
What helps, what's missing, and which language or exercises do or don't resonate?
Your input shapes the first version
That's how a program emerges for partners, shaped together with partners.
Let's get acquainted first

You don't have to decide right away.

You may recognize yourself in GoedVoelen, but first want to know whether the program really fits what you need right now.
That’s why you can schedule a no-obligation 30-minute conversation with me. You can ask your questions and share something about your situation. We’ll look together at whether GoedVoelen could be a good fit. No sales pitch, no obligation.
Contact

Feel free to reach out to me.

Do you have a question about GoedVoelen, the program, or the development group? Send me a message or get in touch directly.
Talk to me personally
Frequently asked questions

You might still be wondering about this.

No. GoedVoelen is an online program for partners of people with cancer. It doesn’t replace medical, psychological or other professional care.

No. GoedVoelen doesn’t give advice about treatments. The focus is on what the situation does to you as a partner, and how you can stay in touch with yourself through it.

The idea is that you can follow the online program at your own pace. The exact format is still being developed.

Then you can talk to me personally first, in a no-obligation 30-minute conversation. You can ask questions and we’ll look together at whether the program fits your situation.

Not yet. GoedVoelen is in development. You can request the free introduction, stay updated, or show interest in the development group.

GoedVoelen — Staying true to yourself when everything changes.

frans@goedvoelen.nu  ·  06 2061 2015  ·  © 2026