How Counseling Can Help Caregivers Cope with Emotions

Posted by Pam Brandon on Mar 23, 2018 9:30:24 AM

Caring for a close family member friend can be emotionally overwhelming.  While many caregivers find fulfillment in helping another person, along with this comes feelings of loss, anger,  grief, and guilt.  Caregivers struggle with depression and anxiety at a much higher rate than the general population.  Counseling can be very beneficial for helping people with what is called caregiver burnout.

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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, dementia, Family, Caregiver, caregivers, leadership, Faith Community, Caregiver Burnout, Burnout, Depression, families, Anxiety, Counseling

How Caregivers can Deal with Anticipatory Grief

Posted by Pam Brandon on Mar 2, 2018 11:23:19 AM

Anticipatory grief refers to a grief reaction that occurs before an impending loss. Typically, the impending loss is a death of someone close due to illness but it can also be experienced by dying individuals themselves.

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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, caregivers, Faith Community, chronic illness, Hospice, death, Grief, Anticipatory grief

Why Competency-Based Training Improves Dementia Care

Posted by Pam Brandon on Feb 20, 2018 12:50:14 PM

There is an urgent need to equip caregivers to better respond to and care for persons living with dementia.  Traditional training models have focused on the number of classroom hours an individual must spend in training, assuming that a person who completes the required training hours is ready to work successfully with people living with dementia.  The shift to competency-based training improves dementia care by focusing on mastery of tasks and tools that are learned.

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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, dementia care, Senior Care Professionals, care staff, dementia, caregivers, compassionate touch, Dementia Live, leadership, Hospital Professionals, dementia training, staff

How Can We Lovingly Embrace the Ending...Tips for Families

Posted by Pam Brandon on Feb 9, 2018 8:00:05 AM

What is a harder conversation topic with elderly parents - money or death?  If you guessed death, you get a gold star.  Why do we find it so very difficult to discuss the inevitable?  Surely we've all come to grips with the fact there is one thing certain about life and that is death.  We can embrace the ending by learning to embrace the life that we still have with our loved ones until the times comes when they are no longer with us.

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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, memories, caregivers, compassionate touch, Faith Community, Compassion, families, End-of-life, death

The Fear of Dementia and How We Must Redirect our Thinking

Posted by Pam Brandon on Jan 30, 2018 9:31:31 AM

I had a few "Aha" moments this past weekend that made me realize just how prevalent the fear of dementia is in our society,  and how we must redirect our thinking in order to transform how we look at Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, Aging in the Workplace, Training, dementia, Care Partners, caregivers, Dementia Live®Training, leadership, Alzheimer's disease, Caregiver Training, alzheimer's, Fear of Dementia, Dementia Awareness, education and training

How do Caregivers Walk in the Shoes of a Person with Dementia?

Posted by Pam Brandon on Jan 26, 2018 11:17:29 AM

Walking in the shoes of someone living with dementia is challenging at best, especially since every person, like shoes -  is different!  There is an urgent need to help professional and family caregivers communicate and respond to the needs of their care partners.  A walk in their shoes is a powerful and very needed training and education tool to help others develop understanding, empathy and improve care.

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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, dementia, Care Partners, caregivers, Dementia Live, Dementia Live®Training, families, understanding, Dementia simulation

Gearing Up to Help How Caregivers Think, Feel, Act

Posted by Pam Brandon on Jan 12, 2018 3:57:01 PM

What's it really like to live with dementia?  To cope with the anxiety, embarrassment, feelings of loss and hopeless that can so often accompany the progression of dementia.  There are far too many caregivers today who are struggling with truly understanding the depths of living with cognitive decline and sensory changes.  Instead caregivers try to cope with what's on the surface.  Transformation takes place when caregivers change how they think, feel and act!

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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, Training, dementia, caregivers, leadership, Hospital Professionals, Caregiver Training, Dementia Live Training, understanding, education and training

Holiday Traditions...Accepting Change and Transition

Posted by Pam Brandon on Dec 12, 2017 10:57:43 AM
or christmas cooking and kitchen utensils on wooden table, top view
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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, Elders, Family, caregivers, Faith Community, church, Seniors, families, older adults, old adults, traditions

Caregivers and Self-Induced Holiday Stress

Posted by Pam Brandon on Dec 5, 2017 1:59:20 PM

Is it any wonder that upwards of 25% of caregivers suffer from self-induced stress over the holiday season?  I was not at all surprised by  that statistic, and actually I believe it is probably higher.  Then I read that 65% of stress is due to family and in-laws!  That puts a whole new twist on WHY caregivers by and large are at great risk of stress related emotional, physical and spiritual breakdown that starts in November and last for at least 2 months!

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Topics: Senior Care Professionals, Family, caregivers, Stress

How to Improve Communications via Empathetic Listening

Posted by Pam Brandon on Nov 21, 2017 11:12:56 AM

Empathetic listening is defined as a method via which you can prevent or manage disruptive or challenging behaviors.  Caregivers can benefit from practicing empathetic listening, especially with people living with dementia.   The result will be improved communications and reduced stress for both care partners.

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Topics: AGE-u-cate Training Institute, Senior Care Professionals, Family Caregiver, Senior Care, dementia, Caregiver, caregivers, Dementia Live, leadership, Stress, Empathetic Listening, Caregiver Tools

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