Care for the Caregiver
Caring for those who are ill can be challenging: spiritually, psychologically, physically, and socially. All of these aspects of a person's life form the four legs of the "chair" that supports the person in life, enabling them to do the task at hand. If one leg is shorter than the other, you must work a little harder to keep balanced on the other three. If two are shorter you must work twice as hard and fatigue will come more quickly. If three legs are shorter you will quickly find that you lose strength to remain in an upright position - eventually ending up on the ground not able to help yourself or your loved one whom you have been caring for. We know how very important it is to take care of yourself; to put on your oxygen mask before helping the person entrusted to you.
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Caregivers can suffer from secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/74ba/ae44bce7056a34e200915d16b9e992395513.pdf) so self care and a support system is essential.
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In this section you will find tips for self care so that you can be the best you can be for the one you love.
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If you or your loved one are in crisis and contemplating suicide, please contact any of the numbers on the right of this page. You are NOT alone!!
In an Emergency call 911
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
(ESP at 1-888-628-9454 and
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Options at 1-800-799-4889)
Crisis Text Line:
can be reached by texting HOME to 741-741
