With the end goal of ensuring the best possible care for your loved one, support from others will be important. Consider seeking help from other family members, church families, friends and even neighbors who may be willing to help. Though asking for help may be difficult, the benefits for you and your loved one will outweigh your hesitations. You are likely to find that many are glad to help, and may be waiting for you to need them.

It is important as a caregiver to remember to make time for yourself and to take care of your own needs. The care that you give your loved one suffers if you are not in the best possible place, both physically and mentally. It is vital that you remain healthy and able to provide your loved one with the best care you can and that begins with taking care of yourself.

Tips to Relieve Caregiver Stress

- Recognize the signs of caregiver stress. Sleeping or eating problems, anxiety, headaches, depression, guilt, and muscle fatigue or tension are just a few.
- Ask for help from friends and family. Some would–be helpers hesitate to offer because they don’t know your needs.
- Stay connected. It is important to maintain relationships with others and not just the loved one in your care.
- Keep a journal. Talk or write about your feelings, whether they are good or bad. A regular record of events and emotions will help you recognize stress before it becomes a problem.
- Learn all you can about the illness. What can you expect and what new issues might arise.
- Take one thing at a time. Break a challenge into smaller parts.
- Take time away. It may be difficult, but try to find time for yourself. Don’t completely isolate yourself in the caregiving role. Take time for your hobbies, they will help take your mind off the situation and responsibilities even if it is just for an hour or so a day.
- Talk to others. Look for support groups. It often helps to speak to others who are in a similar situation and can share your frustrations, feelings and concerns.
- Celebrate your successes. Allow yourself to feel good about your efforts. This is not a role that demands absolute perfection. Take pride in what you are doing for someone else. It really is a big deal.
- Breathe. Take a deep breath, gain perspective. You are giving the best part of yourself to help someone you love. One day you will be able to look back and know what you contributed.
- Humor. Stay in touch with your sense of humor. Sometimes laughter really is the best medicine.

Time:

Location:

Description:

We’d like help bring faith, hope and love to those we serve. We believe that quality of life is tied to what matters most to each person. So we focus on giving our patients the important option of how to live with advancing illness in their own way. As a caregiver, we also focus on you, helping you have the support, tools, knowledge and resources you need to fulfill this important role you’ve embarked upon.

Through our Caregiver’s Blog, we’ll share insights and experiences from those who have been in your shoes. And provide you with information on options and choices in end of life care. Our main message to you, whether you’re caring for someone with advanced illness or are facing a serious illness yourself, is that you are not alone.

We’re here to bring comfort, choices and options. We want to empower you and your loved ones to live more fully, more completely and more in control. As you consider hospice, it will help to understand how hospice care can support the many needs of your loved ones and what support hospice can offer you and others in your family. To us it is about faith, hope and love.  It is when it becomes less about the illness and more about life.