Franklin – Caregivers work hard and too often put the needs of others before their own. The National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP determined in their 2015 “Caring in the US” that approximately 43.5 million caregivers have provided unpaid care to an adult or child in the last 12 months.  But this caregiving and selflessness can come at a high cost.
Many studies have shown caregivers often neglect their own doctor’s appointments and health needs, substitute fast, easy food in place of more healthy eating for their own meals; and can suffer from depression and stress.
Even knowing this, many caregivers feel powerless to stop it because they aren’t in a position to simply stop being a caregiver.
The Powerful Tools for Caregivers is a program developed to answer that problem and put the power back in the hands of those caregivers.
The program will take place every Thursday, June 21 to July 26 from 2 to 3:30PM at the Franklin VNA & Hospice, 75 Chestnut Street in Franklin, in partnership with ServiceLink and Merrimack County Elder Services. A free series of classes led by specially trained Class Leaders, Powerful Tools for Caregivers is designed to help family caregivers take better care of themselves while caring for a family member or friend.
In the six weekly classes, caregivers develop a wealth of self-care tools to: reduce personal stress, change negative self-talk, communicate their needs to family members and healthcare or service providers, communicate more effectively in challenging situations, recognize the messages in their emotions, deal with difficult feelings, and make tough caregiving decisions. Class participants also receive a copy of The Caregiver Helpbook, developed specifically for the class.
Jane Cote, of ServiceLink and the Class Leader for the upcoming sessions, stresses, “The workshop gives you exactly what its title suggests – a toolbox full of ways caregivers can take better care of themselves, and become better, healthier caregivers in the process.”
To register for the series, call Jane or Amy at 228-6625 by Wednesday, June 13.