Final Days

Zach Relph
Bentley Campus
15515269

Hello everyone, 

this week is the final week of my internship at Cancer Support WA in Cottesloe.

Over the course of the past two months I have been with Cancer Support WA it's safe to say that I have learnt a lot in regards to the practice of communications and PR in a real life working environment. 

Doing my placement here has also given me further insight into how not-for-profit organisations are run and the considerable amount of work that is required in order to not only gain funds but also increase brand awareness.

One of the biggest challenges Cancer Support WA faces as an organisation is differentiation from other cancer charities in Western Australia. Of course, everyone has heard of the Cancer Council, but I think not too many of you reading this post would have heard of Cancer Support WA.

Cancer Support WA was founded in 1984, and focuses on holistic and wellness approaches to cancer for not only cancer patients but their family too. A lot of their work is conducted within a small environment that includes one on one counselling with patients. As a result, a lot of their work isn't done in the public eye which in turn doesn't create too much brand awareness and quite often causes people to confuse Cancer Support WA with the Cancer Council.

Taking this situation into mind, you can see the task the communications team at Cancer Support WA have at hand in attempting to raise the brand profile of Cancer Support WA without breaking away from their small and interactive values.

During my time here I have helped devise media releases, sponsorship packages for upcoming programs, a communication plan, a three month social media plan and many more communication type tools. This has taught me not only the importance of different PR techniques but also the importance of PR and communications in the not-for-profit sector when trying to attract partners and generate funds. 

Unfortunately, most of the content that I have been working on is for a cancer prevention program called SNAP that is not beginning until January 2015 so I can't gauge as to whether or not what I have put together has been beneficial. But, hopefully come next year all the work I have done here with the Cancer Support WA team will assist them and the initiative.

I would like to thank Cancer Support WA for having me and for being extremely welcoming for the entire duration of my internship.

I hope everyone else is having a good time.

Zach