New Caregiver Group starting!!  Sign Up Today!

Ø    Do you have an aging parent/spouse who needs caregiving?

Ø    Are you noticing feelings of guilt, grief and anger?

Ø    Are you feeling alone or misunderstood in your caregiving role?

Most support groups offer camaraderie, education, and community resource information. This group will do that and help you develop and practice coping skills and identify the tools needed to reduce the emotional challenges you face as a caregiver.

Our group will:

Ø     Give you a safe setting to share your thoughts, feelings and challenges with other caregivers

Ø     Provide therapeutic interventions by a licensed and experienced counselors

Ø     Address emotional issues tied to your caregiving role

Location:         Tempo Medical Building (across from TGI Friday’s)

  12401 Olive Blvd, suite 205

  Creve Coeur, MO 63141

Cost:                 $40/session for the six-session group*

                        *check with your insurance plan as it may cover the cost

Day and time :  2 Mondays/mo, 10:30 am to noon

April 23^rd

May 7^th,  21st

June 4th, 18th

July 9th

OR……

2 Wednesdays/mo, 5:30 pm -7:00 pm         

April 18^th,

May 2,16

June 6^{th ,}  20^th

July 11^th

The groups will be facilitated by Sylvia Nissenboim, LCSW , who has over 25  years’ experience working with caregivers and older adults and their  families. She is a counselor, published author and national trainer/consultant.

Join us! 

Call today to register! 

314-477-3144

 Email   Sylvia@sylvianissenboim.com

Support groups for caregivers have blossomed all over, and for very good reason.  They recognize that when people are carrying the responsibilities tied to caring for an older or disabled family member, they need to know they are not alone.  Caregivers need education, they need peers, they need validation.  But when is a support group not enough?

Caregivers learn early in the support group process that most information is given in a generic format, with some attention paid to member’s particular situations, but if a caregiver finds that their stress, decision making or emotional upset is causing them to lose sleep, feel depressed, drained or anxious, they may be experiencing symptoms that can only really be addressed in an individual or group counseling session.

Counseling interventions differ from those provided in a support group setting  in 4 ways.

• First, licensed clinical counselors have been trained to assist the client to explore unresolved  family dynamics that may be at the root of the client’s stress.
• Secondly, a therapist can often help the client identify common unconscious, but distorted, thought processes that cause the client to feel stuck, anxious or depressed.  Tools to assist a caregiver reduce the effect of these negative thought patterns are significant in helping a caregiver feel competent and valued.
• Third, a caregiver may have personal trauma or pain unrelated to the caregiving they are providing, but it acts as a  trigger, nonetheless, that affects their ability to provide quality care to their family member.
• Finally, there is the issue of privacy.  While most support groups review the rules of confidentiality with their members, a member may still feel that the source of their worries cannot be shared comfortably in a group without the facilitation of a licensed counselor or therapist.

Many clinical therapists help caregivers and provide them with the tools that will enable them to maintain their own emotional well-being while caring for a disabled loved one. Many of these tools will enable the client to more fully participate in their support group without the baggage of personal crises and negative self-talk that can be diminish the positive impact a support group can have in a caregiver’s life.

Seems like everyone is stressed or in major activity overload these days!!

I thought it would be timely to share some techniques to remind us how easy it is to turn away from on-going tension.See if you can turn low moods into joyful moments by incorporating some of the following into your home and work life, sharing these with the folks with whom you come in contact, like caregivers and older adults who sometimes get tunnel vision. See what a session on humor does to your next group with these clients/customers/colleagues.
Here we go:
1. Make a joy journal, listing the gifts that come to you each day, for example, smiles, finding something, a pleasant event, a joke.
2. Take “healing breaks” — at least 20 a day (30 seconds, to 1 minute each).
3. Give yourself a “standing ovation.”
4. Be a child, play with toys, wear a tiara, blow bubbles.
5. Surround yourself with funny pictures of yourself and your family.
6. Have a positive party funded by negative people. Negative remarks throw $1 into a positive pot and use the money every couple of months to do something fun. (We can’t keep negativity out of our lives, but we can turn the inevitable upsets into positives.)
7. Pretend you are in control.
8. Place a mark on your body to show where you have “had it up to.”
9. Too much to do? Complain loudly (you will get further behind, but you’ll feel better, and….your party collection will increase).
10. Whine — do a group, family or friend whine.
11. Breathe and let go.
12. Do not sweat the small stuff, it’s all small stuff.
Enjoy this list. Copy it, distribute it and most importantly, use it!!
Try something you would not expect yourself to do. Surprise yourself! Life comes at us, and all we can do is choose how to respond. Give those around you the gift and it might even be returned.