Tag: caregiving

Making Adjustments: A Holiday Necessity

As November draws to a close, it looks like we are actually going to make it through 2020—no small feat as we consider the events of the year that has been. But of course, what remains is the hurdle of “The Holidays” and everything that brings, both positive and negative. On the positive side, we…
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Can a Counselor Help?

Nothing, but nothing, takes the place of personally experiencing the emotional trauma of caring for a loved one. Well-seasoned caregivers find they are always on duty, but more often than not, the necessary emotional rest and refill is oddly lacking. The essential replenishment of what caregivers pour out can be achieved in several ways, but…
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An Emotional Melting Pot

Imagine you are friends with Jane who is a full-time caregiver for a loved one in her family. As Jane’s friend, you invite her to join you for coffee. Weeks of her not being able to make it come and go, but by some miracle she’s free today. Now, as you both settle in with…
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5 Tips to Begin the Caregiving Journey

When the word “dementia” is used in your loved one’s diagnosis, its syllables just seem to hang in the air like they’re stuck. Even if you’re almost expecting to hear it, once that word is actually uttered by a physician it becomes official, and the noise of it plays at the entrance to your ear…
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COVID’s Clear Confusion

There are 24 hours in a day, and a single news cycle runs through all 24 of them non-stop. Not hard to guess what they’re talking about these days. COVID-19 has literally dominated the airwaves; there have been thousands of stories covering every conceivable aspect of that virus: Who’s got it? What’s anybody doing about…
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Cultivate and Prune the Family Tree

Caregivers experience such a wide range of emotions, and often the associated feelings are difficult to articulate; instead they are expressed in tears and the worn-down body language of slumped shoulders and a bowed head. But just when it seems nothing could be worse than watching a loved one endure the fury of dementia, other…
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Creating Contact: Connection Minus the Virus

We are in uncharted territory with this world-wide pandemic brought on by the COVID-19 virus, and caregiving, just like every other area of our lives, has been profoundly affected. It’s anything but “business as usual.” Ironically, that which was causing the caregiver so much stress before the virus—having to go to the nursing home or…
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When Grief Comes

** I wrote this on December 26, 2018, because I wanted to remember. Today, as a tribute to honor Larry Sutton—my Dad—who himself felt it was very important to remember people and events, I invite you to share in our 2018 Christmas. We knew the time was short as Dad’s 15-year battle with prostate cancer…
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Help? Absolutely

People who have never been caregivers frequently make the mistake of grossly underestimating how stressful the job can be. They have a tendency to roll in like a bowling ball with advice and instruction, and the result can be that the legitimate caregiver’s proverbial pins topple over with a deafening clatter. What they don’t realize…
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