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Yes to Life
Annual Conferences 2026
Online 16th May
In person 26th September
London UK
What science is telling us about the impact of psychological, emotional and spiritual factors on survivorship
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About the Conferences

This year’s conferences focus in on the deeper forces at work affecting our overall longevity and, therefore of great importance to anyone faced with a diagnosis of cancer. It has now been recognised that although factors such as diet and exercise are crucial elements to any lifestyle recovery programme, the effect of these will be seriously undermined if issues such as chronic stress, unresolved trauma, poor social connections and loneliness, disconnection from nature and its rhythms, or fundamental lack of purpose are not addressed. Our speakers will explore the science behind these findings and the available resources and support to embrace the changes required to reclaim our true nature.
For 2026, Yes to Life is combining forces with Dr Sam Watts of Mind-Body Medical to build two groundbreaking programmes that aim to elevate awareness of the importance of non-physical factors in cancer survivorship. While it has long been felt by many that these factors are of supreme relevance to the many cases of exceptional survivorship, this has now become a matter of scientific understanding, as the research continues to confirm the many ways in which non-physical factors can undermine our physical health - and of course, conversely - can positively impact outcomes.
Confirmed Speakers
Online 16th May and In person 26th September
16th May and 26th Sept

Robin Daly MBE

Trustee, Yes to Life
Chair & Founder

Robin Daly is Chair of the Board of Trustees. His daughter Bryony contracted cancer aged 9, dying at 23 after two recurrences. The immense difficulties the family faced making their own treatment choices prompted him to set up the charity to help others in similar situations.
16th May and 26th Sept

Dr Sam Watts

MCMA Dip Ayu MSc BSc (Hons) PhD, Integrative Practitioner

Dr Sam Watts completed his PHD in cancer research at the Department of Primary Care at the University of Southampton, since then he has completed his clinical training in Ayurvedic Medicine. Sam specialises in preventative medicine and the holistic management of chronic health conditions that conventional medicine alone is often ineffective at managing.
26th Sept

Dr Nasha Winters

ND FABNO, Naturopathic Oncologist

Dr Nasha Winters is a global healthcare authority and best-selling author in integrative cancer care and research, consulting with physicians around the world. She has educated hundreds of professionals in the clinical use of mistletoe and has created robust educational programmes for both healthcare institutions and the public on incorporating vetted integrative therapies in cancer care to enhance outcomes.
26th Sept

Dr Leo Pruimboom

Dr Leo Pruimboom is a pioneer in clinical psychoneuroimmunology (cPNI), a translational medical discipline that studies the interaction between the neurological, endocrine, immune and metabolic systems, and their role in our health and wellbeing.

A biochemist by training, he has dedicated his career to developing medical protocols that not only treat the symptoms of diseases, but also address their underlying physiological, social and ecological causes.
16th May

Raj Jana

Podcaster, health and wellbeing activist

Raj Jana has developed the Liber8 programme (https://liber8.health/) to help people facing a health crisis to free themselves from the fear of feeling. Raj is a health and wellbeing activist and host of the hugely popular ‘Stay Grounded’ podcast series (https://www.rajjana.com/podcast/).
26th Sept

Sophie Trew

Breathwork & Mind-body Medicine expert

After being diagnosed with blood cancer in 2014 when she was 23, Sophie Trew went on to become her own guide, spending years researching and training in holistic health. She now has a decade of experience and study in the field of holistic health to draw on.
26th Sept

James Maskell

Author, Speaker, Healthcare Entrepreneur

On a mission to flatten the curve of healthcare costs, James Maskell has spent the past two decades innovating at the cross section of functional medicine and community. His first organisation, podcast and best selling book of the same name, Evolution of Medicine, prepares health professionals for this new era of personalised, participatory medicine and co-created communities of clinicians around the world. James’ second book ‘The Community Cure’ encouraged the use of groups in chronic disease and population health.
16th May

Shellie Clark

Mindset Mentor, Inspirational Speaker

Shellie Clark is a Stage 4 melanoma survivor and founder of Catch Me If You Cancer. Diagnosed in 2019 with advanced metastatic cancer, her healing journey became a profound exploration of nervous system regulation, emotional healing, and the inner conditions that support survivorship. She now helps others move beyond fear and reconnect with safety, resilience, and life through trauma-informed education and support.
26h Sept

Dr David R Hamilton

Author and Motivational Speaker

David Hamilton is a former R&D scientist from within the pharmaceutical industry. He is now author of 12 books spanning the mind-body connection to the science of compassion and kindness. He speaks regularly to public, professional, and corporate audiences and is a regular podcast guest. He is honorary scientific advisor to the charity, 52-Lives, which helps people in need through public acts of kindness.
26th Sept

Adriano Dos Santos

MSc rNutr IFMCP MBOG RSM, Researcher, Speaker

Adriano dos Santos is a Registered Nutritionist, Functional Medicine Practitioner, and Sleep and Circadian researcher. He holds an MSc in Sleep Medicine from the University of Bern and completed his research fellowship at the University of Oxford, where he investigated how evening light exposure reshapes the gut microbiome and disrupts peripheral circadian clocks.

Known as The Circadian Nutritionist, Adriano bridges laboratory research with clinical practice. His published work in Nutrients and Frontiers in Physiology demonstrated shared microbiota patterns and gut microbiome metabolites linking sleep disorders, metabolic dysfunction, and systemic inflammation. He is currently developing The Circadian Health Index (CHI), a validated scoring system for quantifying holistic circadian health.

Adriano’s clinical practice integrates circadian biology, microbiome science, and personalised nutrition to support patients with sleep and gut issues, metabolic conditions, and chronic inflammatory disease.
26th Sept

Dr Anna Forbes

BMedSci(Hons) MBBS MDCH DHP DipSIM, Integrative Medicine Doctor, Clinic Founder

Dr Anna Forbes is a highly respected Integrative Medicine Doctor and the founder and clinical director of the Forbes Clinic. As a UK-licenced medical Doctor with a deep passion for uncovering the root causes of illness, Dr. Forbes has built a practice centred on truly personalised, whole-health care. She is renowned for her expertise in autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, gut-health, and immune system repair.
16th May

Prof Paul Dieppe

BSc MD BS(Lond) FRCP FFPH, Professor of Health & Wellbeing

After a long career as an academic physician focusing on rheumatology and health services research, Professor Paul Dieppe has spent the last two decades contemplating questions around what it is that allows us to heal.

During this time, he was involved in the Healing Journey Study, a qualitative analysis that sought to understand the path from wounding to healing from the patient’s perspective, and he ran projects over several years exploring the experiences of a wide range of healers, as well as ‘healees’ (those who have experienced healing). His projects have also explored the value of nature, art, creativity and ritual for healing as well as the impact of visiting the healing pilgrimage site of Lourdes.
16th May

Larry Scherwitz PhD

Behavioural Scientist, Lifestyle Medicine Researcher, Former Director of Research for Dean Ornish MD

Dr Scherwitz is an international research scientist, trained in psychophysiology at Harvard Medical School and in behavioural medicine at the University of Wisconsin.

He served as Director of Research with Dean Ornish, MD, on landmark Lifestyle Medicine studies showing that comprehensive lifestyle changes can improve—and even reverse—chronic disease. His research, published in journals including JAMA and The Lancet, focuses on the lifestyle and psychosocial factors that influence healing, including cancer.
16th May

Denise Stevenson

Founder - Double Zero

Denise Stevenson is the founder of double-zero.org, an award-winning platform providing accessible resources on nutrition, lifestyle, and integrative health. A stage 3 breast cancer survivor, she draws on her personal journey navigating both conventional and alternative treatments.

Denise is a qualified Samaritan, author, church founder and president, and serves as a local councillor in France, where she has lived for over 20 years.
16th May

Catherine Schopfer

Holistic Health & Cancer Coach 

Catherine Schopfer is a certified professional coach, cancer coach, and cancer survivor with a background in food science. She works internationally with people navigating cancer, helping them rebuild emotional stability, self-trust, and direction when life feels uncertain. Her work focuses on a critical gap in survivorship: the space between knowing what supports recovery and being able to live it consistently.

Drawing on both lived experience
and professional coaching, she brings a grounded, human approach that complements medical care by supporting integration into daily life.
16th May

Bobby Sira

Pharmacist, Ayurveda, Yoga Therapy and Life & Wellness Coach

In 2016 Bobby Sira founded PharmAveda UK where he integrates his extensive experience in healthcare and the NHS with the wholistic medicine knowledge of Ayurveda, Yoga Therapy & Life Coaching. He believes that our bodies and minds have been over-saturated by the notion of a ‘pill to fix it’, and has an intuitive insight on how to guide people to re-balance, rethink, and re-evaluate their responsibility to living. 


Bobby is passionate about individualised Integrative Healthcare; knowing that the impact of time on our fluctuating life and health is what Ayurveda’s Lifestyle Medicine inimitably prepares us to approach with resilience and equanimity. He provides an instinctive approach of aligning rhythms and systems invoking self-discovery while motivating agency through personalised prescriptions of routine, diet, herbs and conventional medicine.
16th May

Dr Alexandra Turner

PhD (C.Psychol),
Applied Research Associate - Assessment Services, Changing Minds UK

Dr Alexandra Turner is a Chartered Psychologist specialising in high performance sport, working alongside elite organisations and teams to enhance psychological safety, manage relational dynamics, and optimise readiness to perform well under pressure. Her work focuses on how environments shape human functioning, particularly the role of psychological safety in enabling individuals to thrive.

Following her own experience of cancer, Alex has developed a growing interest in the parallels between high performance and chronic illness. She explores how principles commonly applied in elite sport, such as emotion regulation, relational awareness, and psychologically safe environments, are equally critical in supporting individuals navigating serious health challenges. Her work aims to bridge these domains, offering compassionate, practical frameworks that position psychological safety as central to both performance and recovery.
16th May

Liz Butler

BSc Biochemistry, MSc Nutritional Medicine, Dip ION
Heart-focused Energy Therapist and Spiritual Guide

Liz Butler, holistic health practitioner, has supported those with cancer - through nutritional therapy, energy work and emotional and spiritual support for over 25 years and has similarly spent this time reflecting on what it is that stimulates and encourages healing.

Her particular interest is the heart in all its forms (physical, energetic and spiritual) and its role as our ‘Master Connector’ – when we engage with our open heart this allows us to deeply connect to ourselves, to others and to the Source of all life.
16th May

Lisa Morris

Yoga Teacher, Psychotherapist & Ayurvedic Practitioner

Lisa Morris has over 20 years’ experience as a leader in the charity sector, is currently CEO of the Greyhound Trust, and is also a qualified Psychotherapist, Yoga Teacher and Ayurvedic Practitioner

She is a Trustee of Yes to Life.
16th May

Emily Kicklighter

Radical Remission Coach and Metabolic Terrain Advocate

Emily Kicklighter is a theatrically trained actress and writer who started her health journey as a yoga instructor in Brooklyn, NY, in 2010. She holds a master's degree in performance and a master's degree in teaching, has over 500 hours of yoga teacher training, and is a certified Radical Remission Coach and Metabolic Terrain Advocate. 

Emily studied under Dr. Kelly Turner and Dr. Nasha Winters and attributes her own healing with stage 4 cancer to a science-backed, aggressive, integrated approach. Her passion lies in shifting the lens through which we view disease by employing the hidden resources in neuroscience and ecology. 
16th May

Heather Mason

MA MA MSc 500-YT C-IAYT, Founder – The Minded Institute

Heather Mason is an educator, innovator, policy advocate, and thought leader in yoga therapy, renowned for her work in integrative mind–body mental health. She is the founder and course director of The Minded Institute, founding trustee of the Yoga in Healthcare Alliance, played a central role in establishing of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Yoga in Society where she served as the Secretariat, has been entrusted as the steward of the Yoga Biomedical Trust, and co-hosts the Yoga for Health podcast.

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Previous Conferences Sessions

You can watch a sample from previous conferences sessions for free here:

"Therapy Choices"

Patricia Peat explores the benefits of including treatments and therapies, on both energetic and physical levels. From acupuncture to aromatherapy, from touch to talking therapies, find out why you might want some of these professionals on your team.
Learn More

"Accepting Challenges as Opportunities"

With Petrea King. At the core of many spiritual traditions lies the idea of acceptance of ‘what is’, and surrender. Focusing on the first of these, we are taught that by embracing the truth of our current situation (what scientists have termed ‘active acceptance’) we can release the tension that exists when we hold ourselves away or resist what is happening and by doing so take our first steps towards healing.
Learn More

"Transformation Through Turmoil"

With Steve Taylor. Post-Traumatic Growth can occur suddenly and dramatically, which Steve Taylor calls transformation through turmoil (TTT). TTT brings a dramatic shift in identity, equivalent to a spiritual awakening, creating a new outlook, sense of appreciation, and wellbeing.
Learn More
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Disclaimer
The information and content provided on these pages and in the programme are intended for information and educational purposes only and not to substitute for professional medical advice. The 1939 Cancer Act states that cancer treatment and treatment advice can only be provided by qualified medical professionals. Yes to Life charity does not consider that any of the information, made available in the conference programmes or on the website, will treat or cure cancer. Always seek qualified medical advice before making any changes to your conventional treatment plans.
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