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Helping Caregivers Understand the Challenges of End-of-Life Decision Making for Those with Mental Retardation
Birth is a beginning and death a destination. Those of us who are considered to have capacity to make decisions for ourselves are nevertheless often unprepared as we face the end-of-life. We live in a death denying culture, which frequently prevents many of us from considering our options when we...
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NAMI Westchester Family to Family Program Helps Caregivers
As a parent of an adult child living with Bipolar Disorder, I am all too aware of the stress that mental illness places on caregivers. I have struggled with the highs and lows and the overwhelming grief and the sense of loss for the life that my child could have had. When I was first pulled into...
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Where Do I Fit In? Elderly Caregivers of Children
Growing numbers of grandparents and (other relatives) are raising family member’s children. Historically, in some communities, it was not unusual for children to live with grandparents for all or parts of their childhoods. More recently, the arrival of drugs, consequent incarcerations, and...
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Who Cares for the Caregiver? Responding to the Needs of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
When parents are unable to raise their children, relatives are often called upon to become primary caregivers. In the U.S. approximately 2.5 million kin caregivers have assumed this role—often unexpectedly, due to parental substance abuse, mental illness, violence, domestic violence, abuse and...
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Addressing the Needs of Caregivers
All too often, the severely mentally ill do not have family or friends involved in their care to act as a vital support system when they become symptomatic. For those people who are lucky enough to have supportive family and friends, those support people are often, and validly so, frustrated with...
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Parenting the Second Time Around
Imagine you are at work and the telephone rings. It is the Department of Social Services. You hear the worker on the other end of the telephone say, “Please come to the courthouse immediately. Your grandchild is being removed from the care of her parent and may be in jeopardy of being placed in...
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Don’t Let Caregiving Make You Sick
With more than 44 million family caregivers in the United States, chances are you or someone you know is taking care of a loved one. This can be an extremely rewarding experience as it allows caregivers the opportunity to demonstrate their love for someone dear. Yet, caregiving also can be quite...
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Family Caregivers of Children with Mental Health Needs
I still remember the presenter at a workshop who mentioned that parents of children with challenging behaviors are the second most stressed families of children with special needs. The other is those with severe medical conditions. We’re dealing with both as my daughter has autism and is...
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Giving Care to the Caregiver: Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester
Often, the homecare nurse will encounter that once-in-a lifetime individual who has decided to take on the huge task of being the primary caregiver for an ill family member. Their motivation may vary from person to person. It may be financial, concern for the quality of care, or just wanting to be...
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Me First? A Personal Account of Self Care
When flight attendants give their safety talk at the beginning of each flight- where everyone listens to their iPod or begins to read a magazine- they state: “If there is a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will fall from above. If you are traveling with a child or someone who needs your...
