Providing an Open Environment to Reimagine the Possibilities

When thinking about this week’s subject, opportunity and possibility, I was reminded of something we recently experienced at Courage to Caregivers. It involved reframing, pivoting, and reimagining our possibilities to turn them into a new opportunity to support unpaid family caregivers to prevent burnout.

Let me start by saying that we know caregiving is HARD work, and supporting caregivers can also be challenging. We want to support caregivers in all the ways they need, but sometimes, we can’t be all things to all people. We know what we do best – empowering caregivers to better cope and manage the stress of caregiving – and we know when to refer a caregiver to an appropriate community partner or resource for additional support. 

But we also want to make sure we’re doing all that we can. So, when we noticed that our Wednesday Support Group typically had less attendance than our other groups, we decided to look at it as an opportunity to try something new and do more for our caregivers. Instead of “doing things the same way we always have,” we decided to reimagine the possibilities for Wednesdays.

We started by asking our participant caregivers what they needed and how else we could support them. Then, we decided to pilot a few different options on Wednesdays. For the first month, Jenny, our MSW/LSW Director of Programs, and I, as Peer Leader, held “open office hours” and promoted it as “pop in and ask anything you want about this week’s topic OR share any caregiving challenges currently on your mind/heart.” 

We’ve done this for a few weeks now, and each week we’ve had a growing number of caregivers zoom in with no agenda – just the desire to be together in community and to connect with others who “get it.” We’ve discussed the guilt/shame of caregiving that led to acknowledging our grief/losses as caregivers. We held space for each other, validated each other, normalized our feelings, and listened in empathy and compassion as we shared: “I have felt the same way. It’s hard, and it sucks.” 

While we remain committed to our curriculum that focuses on building tools of resilience – because we know it’s working to help caregivers cope and manage the stress of caregiving – we will also remain committed to providing an environment for caregivers that is open, judgment-free, and shame-free, without venting or shaming our loved ones. And for now, our Wednesdays will be focused on bringing those resilience tools to life. By sharing our struggles, we can also remind ourselves that we have the tools to help us navigate a healthier, better path on our journey of caregiving. 

All of that adds up to the opportunity we want to give to YOU.