People living with cancer and informal caregivers face numerous challenges throughout the disease trajectory: from diagnosis, through treatment, into survivorship and a ‘new way of perceiving health and wellness, and sometimes relapse with the difficulties inherent in living with a life-altering and terminal illness. There has been considerable progress in our understanding of the psychosocial impact of the disease on patients and families and many interventions have been shown to be successful in ameliorating distress and improving emotional and physical wellbeing. In this presentation, we will consider advances in patient-clinician communication and decision-making, supportive interventions for patients and families and opportunities to increase self-management of cancer based on models of chronic illness. We will focus on key points along the disease trajectory and especially on the transition from anticancer therapy to ‘survivorship’.