Difficult Seasons

Caregivers need community.  Caregivers need people who support them, who help them, who listen to them, who relieve them, who love them, who pray with and for them.

But caregiving tends to isolate the caregiver.  You have extra duties and responsibilities which make it harder to get out and spend time with other people.  And sometimes the circumstances which have caused the need for caregiving are so painful to talk about that the caregiver avoids situations that might require her to do so, withdrawing into her own world.

Having a community is critical for maintaining your physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

Here are some guidelines for choosing and building the community that will best serve your needs.

1. Choose people and groups that you’re comfortable with, that you trust, and that you can rely on.
2. Avoid including people that always want to tell you what you should be doing or who are always telling you their stories.
3. Include people that love you, are non-judgmental, that keep confidences.
4. Find and attend a support group even if you have to arrange for someone to stay with the person you’re caring for during the meetings.  Time with people who understand exactly what you are dealing with is invaluable.
5. Be intentional.  Talk to the people you would like to be part of your community, and tell them how they can support you.

If you don’t currently have a supportive community, begin today to build one.

And if you have found that talking about your caregiving situation is too painful, visit with your doctor or a counselor about it.  There is help for that pain, and that help will enable you to continue providing care for your loved one.

Tags: Caregiving, community, support groups

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Caregiving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.