How a Caregiver Support Group Can Benefit You

You are not alone. Caregiving is a highly stressful duty that millions of people take on to care for loved ones. Many of these caregivers are unpaid. According to AARP, caregivers spend an estimated twenty-two hours per week caring for their loved ones. These caregivers care for a loved one or a close friend, whether an aging parent, chronically ill sibling or spouse, or special needs child. A caregiver support group can help.

Caregiver support is important in maintaining physical and mental health during this time. You can typically find family caregiver support through the local hospital, hospice center, home health agency, or Center on Aging.

Caregiver support groups offer several benefits to members beyond camaraderie.

Emotional support

The stress of caregiving can negatively impact your mental health. Common ailments of caregiving include:

• Depression.
• Anxiety.
• Insomnia.
• Too much sleep.
• Rapid weight loss or gain.
• Chronic pain.
• Headaches.
• Digestive issues.
• Panic attacks.

Do you feel like you are lacking in “me-time”? Does it feel like you are at your wit’s end? A caregiver support group allows you to surround yourself with others who have felt that way. You will meet people who have come out the other side of anxiety and depression and can share with you what they did to conquer panic attacks and feelings of not being good enough or overwhelmed.

Social networking

Your entire life can quickly become immersed in caring for a loved one. It may seem that every minute of the day is spent trying to assist with the activities of daily living. This can leave you feeling isolated.

A caregiver support group is an excellent place for socializing with others. You all share a common goal: to remain healthy while providing the best care to a loved one. Your fellow members can recommend other places to visit as a respite. You might form long-lasting friendships through the caregiver support group that extends well beyond the walls of the meeting place.

Caregiver support group resources

The fellow members of your caregiver support group might also recommend caregiver support resources that they have tried. Are you looking for a good home health agency in your area? Ask your fellow participants. Are you new to town and need to find a well-equipped hospital and medical team? Ask the other members. More than likely, another caregiver has experienced the same situation as you and canmake suggestions.

If your family caregiver support group is based on a condition (for example, cancer or COPD), then you might be sitting on a goldmine of resources. Many chronic conditions offer specific resources.

Caring for yourself

When caring for another human, it is easy to forget your needs. Often, caregivers oversee activities of daily living:

• Bathing and dressing.
• Cooking and preparing meals.
• Housecleaning.
• Bathroom needs.
• Medication management.
• Running errands.
• Accompanying them to doctor appointments and tests.
• Laundry.
• Finances and bill payments.

Before you know it, you have allowed these things to slip for yourself. For example, at the end of a long day, you may congratulate yourself for keeping on track with tasks for your loved one but then realize that you skipped dinner for yourself, forgot to shower before bed, and haven’t exercised in a week.

You want to get your hair done and need to buy a new pair of sneakers, but there does not seem to be enough time for those things, so you shrug them off for some time in the future. Sound familiar?

Caring for yourself provides you with a better quality of life. You can care for your loved one on a higher level when you feel good about yourself. Your support group can help you think of ways to bring self-care back into your daily life and offer suggestions for finding respite care, even if it is just for a couple of hours one afternoon.

You can also suggest that a few of the members from the support group join you for:

• A field trip to a zoo, museum, or theater.
• A walk around the neighborhood.
• A much-needed get-together at a coffee shop.
• A trip to the nail salon.
• A visit to a local bookstore.
• A pot-luck style dinner.
• A quarterly informal get-together to play games and enjoy one another’s company.

You get out of a caregiver support group what you put in. Use your group to bounce ideas, share insights, ask for advice, and form new friendships.

Do you need caregiver support?

Are you feeling burned out, overwhelmed, and stressed? Is caregiving taking its toll on your body and mind? Contact our office today at Frisco Christian Counseling in Texas to schedule a session with a Christian counselor in Frisco who is well-versed in caregiver support. We would love to hear from you, share resources, and connect you to a family caregiver support group in your area or online.