Caregiver Stories

In Conversation with Mary Elaine Petrucci to Bring Her Insights on the Need for Support for Caregivers

Caregiving can be an isolating experience. Caregivers all across the world experience burnout and struggle with several challenges.

Approximately 34 million Americans provide care to older adults aged 50 and above, which is expected to rise soon.

However, when you’re exhausted and overwhelmed by caregiving responsibilities, it may feel like you’re the only person dealing with so much. That’s why caregiver support groups are helpful, as they assist people (here, in-home caregivers ) in similar situations.

Talking with others who understand what you’re going through is beneficial. Their assistance can help you reduce stress, offer connection & support, and validate your experience.

To shed some light on the same, we interviewed a home care industry expert to bring her perspective on the importance of caregiver support.

Let’s get started with knowing what our expert thinks of the home care industry:

Question 1: What made you become a professional caregiver supporter?

I was a caregiver for both of my parents to ensure they had 24/7 care. I went to court two days before Christmas to seek guardianship of my mother, who had Alzheimer’s, because dad was in denial that she had dementia.

Question 2: In your opinion, what is the best part about becoming a caregiver?

Knowing that I had stepped up to the challenge of possibly being a guardian for my mother and providing my parents with the 24/7 care they needed.

Question 3: How do you motivate caregivers to practice self-care while offering senior care?

Offering Caregiver Summits with professionals who discuss self-care in weekly social media posts and Facebook Lives/Masterclasses. I desire to add mind-body programs and hypnosis training for caregivers to practice self-care.

Question 4: What activities should caregivers indulge in to avoid burnout?

Caregiver burnout is a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. A change in attitude may accompany it from positive and caring to negative and unconcerned.

Caregivers may feel overwhelmed, gain or lose weight, and become easily irritated, so indulging in some activities may greatly help. Caregivers may practice self-care and prevent burnout by journaling, walking, and working in a garden.

Question 5: What advice do you give caregivers struggling with keeping calm while providing quality care?

For the caregivers struggling with maintaining peace while providing quality elderly care offering mind-body programs and hypnosis training to assist caregivers in using techniques. It will help them focus on what they need to do for someone they care for.

To Sum Up

Caregiving is a vital part of a robust society. Caregivers offer support to elderly adults who struggle with managing activities of daily living. But, while providing quality care, caregivers experience burnout, which is why a hand of support is essential.

Supporters can help caregivers rely on one another, ask for help, trust one another, and pull each other through difficult times. They remind us how much caregivers need one another and how vital it is to individual and collective well-being.

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