A caregiver’s group to assist adult caregivers with finding loving ways to care for themselves while caring for a parent with dementia
- Who’s this for? Anyone who’s currently caring or anticipates caring for a parent with dementia.
- Objectives include: Prioritize self-care, connect with likeminded caregivers lead by a mental healthcare and relatioship expert.
- What’s the group about?
- Creating a safe, secure, and supportive mental and spiritual health care environment for adult caregivers of parents with Dementia.
- Helping adult caregivers manage the emotiional struggles that comes with the role reversal that happens when caring for aging parents in general, especailly those with dementia.
- Providing an empathtic community of support with other adult children caring for parents with dementia.
READY TO REGISTER? CLICK HERE
Caregiver’s Group Session Curriculum
Group Meeting Details:
Number of Sessions: 6 Group Sessions
Meeting Days: Thursdays
Medium: Zoom
Time: (1-hr.) 7:00-8:00 p.m. Central
First Session : February 6, 2025
Final Session: March 13, 2025
Zoom: Link provided at checkout
PART ONE: ABOUT EVERYTHING & EVERYBODY ELSE
Session 1:
Introduction:
- General Information: Days, Times, Fee, Process
- What’s new,
- How you dealth with it,
- Today’s focus,
- Homework,
- Journal (optional),
- (Overtime? How would you like to manage overtime?)
- Confidentiality
- Rules of Engagement
- Why you’re here
- What to expect
- Why this class is needed
- Share time
- What has been your experience with dementia?
- Your current situation (and what you hope to accomplish by the end of our 6 weeks)
Session 2: Caretaking 101 (Potential topics include…)
- Dealing with your biggest fears about the disease
- Common challenges of children of parents with dementia
- How to face inevitable helplessness
- Watching parents suffer (weight loss, etc)
- Unpredictability of parent’s behavior
- Not wanting anyone to know our “family secret”
- Why might we deny the truth of the matter
- OTHER FEARS
- Dying before your parent
- Concerns about the imminence of death
- Wanting the caregiving to end (guilt)
- Fear about the DNA component of the disease
- Fear of the inevitable possibility
Session 3: God? SIGNS of Anger & Guilt & Shame
First: Where’s God in all of this? (as applicable)
-
- With parents/ the disease/self/siblings/system(s)/family)
- Negative thoughts
- Not wanting to care give
- Parents request
- Being mean
- Asking for help
- Financial Cost (unpreparedness)
- Ignorance
- Impatience with process
- Impatience with parents needs\
- OTHER STRUGGLES
- Violent uncharacteristic behaviors
- Loss of social life
- THE SCARY question: Why?
PART TWO: ME, MYSELF , AND I
Session 4 : Self-Reflection
- How well do you know you?
- What did you learn? About you? About your parent? About process?
- What surprised you the most?
- What does support from others look like for you?
- What gaps do you have in your learning?
- Changes you’ve seen in yourself since you began the caregiving journey?
- What do you still need help with?
- Any tools that helped you, that you can share with others?
- What have you said to yourself that you wouldn’t say aloud to others?
Session 5-6
CASE STUDIES-VOLUNTEERS TO SHARE SPECIFIC STORIES: Triumphs,
- Mental Health: Anxiety, Depression
- Physical health issues can arise from the demands of constant caregiving.
- Emotioanal Health: Burnout
- Spiritual Health: Burnoutake away from this experience
- Let’s create a Play Book
- Innovations for those who follow us
- inventions
- Create our own facility—What would you do/add
What else is important for us to know
Friends
Siblings
Children
Parents
Church associates
Other organizations
Sr. Assisted Org
INFORMATION/TOOL
National Institute on Aging (NIA).