Finding Caregiver Support Groups
May 1, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Parenting
Another form of parenting consists of caring for one’s parents or elderly relatives. You’ve gone from being parented to parenting that older person. Most caregivers go into this stage of life without adequate preparation or support.
Finding caregiver support groups in your area, or online, can be a challenge. Here are a few suggestions.
Check out the following places in your community to see if they have a support group or know of any:
- Home health agencies
- Senior Center
- Local Hospital
- Local Nursing homes
- State Alzheimer’s Association
- State Department of the Elderly or Family Services
- Others caring for elderly parents or spouses
If there is nothing in your community, the groups meet when you’re at work, or you live too far from an organized community, you might want to check out online support groups. Also, by reading blogs about Alzheimer’s caregiving and leaving comments that the blogger and other readers might answer, you’ll feel more connected with the caregiver community and not so alone.
What suggestions do you have? Are there particular caregiver groups/organizations you find particularly helpful.
With 2/3 of adult children caregivers in the workforce, corporations need to provide convenient elder care benefits. Right now about 21% do have that support, but this should increase as the impact on the workplace increases. I am a national speaker, HR consultant, and author of “Stuck in the Middle…shared stories and tips for caregiving your elderly parents”. Many of the large corporations that I work for have added not only informative teleseminar, but also virtual support groups like “Lunch with Barbara”. Amazingly, these seems to give the same needed support that in-person groups provide.
Thank you, Barbara, for stopping by my post to share your views. This is an area of eldercare that will have to be addressed more and more in the future. The virtual support groups are important, especially when caregivers don’t have time to attend in person or there aren’t any in their area.