While I truly enjoy working with a diversity of issues, I have a particular interest in working with caregivers. Caregiving can be deeply meaningful and profoundly fulfilling because we care so much for the people and communities around us. At the same time, it can also be emotionally and physically exhausting, isolating, and overwhelming. If you are feeling stretched thin, burned out, or like you have lost yourself in the process of caring for others, you are not alone.
Family Caregivers are people who care for someone with extraordinary needs such as a child, a partner, elderly parent or even a dear friend. Caregiving is profoundly fulfilling because we care so much for our loved ones. It can also be excruciating. It can lead to exhaustion, social isolation, a decline in physical health, depression and burnout. I know because I’ve been there. As a mother of a child with complex care needs I truly get it. There were times in my life when the extraordinary needs of my daughter and the lack of resources for her left me on a steady course toward burnout.
Professional Caregivers work as teachers, teacher assistants, nurses, doctors, counsellors and community outreach workers and so on. People in the helping professions do what they do because they are caring people and they want to help. But increasingly they are faced with ever rising caseloads and drastically shrinking budgets, leaving little room for getting their important work done well. It is no wonder so many feel overburdened and under-appreciated.
We can easily lose ourselves in the whirlwind of caregiving. And, you know what? It’s not our fault. We used to be able to rely on extended family and community connections for support when we needed it. But in these modern times we often have no one to turn to for help. The lack of adequate resources for our loved ones and for ourselves as caregivers leaves us on our own to figure things out. It’s not easy!
Caregiving involves navigating our way through complex systems as we sort through what our loved one needs, what supports they are eligible for, how to access these supports and where they can go for help. Our loved one’s wellbeing is intimately linked to our own. It’s exhausting and it requires that we take care of ourselves at the same time. But how? Where can the caregiver go for support? And what does that support look like?
If you are a caregiver you may need help to reconnect with your own needs and identity, to process emotional stress and burnout, to develop sustainable ways to care for others without losing yourself in the process, to learn to build healthy boundaries, to increase resilience and find balance between giving and receiving care. We can work on all of this in counselling.
Counselling can help to prevent caregiver burnout and it can help you thrive. You will develop practical strategies to help your mind and spirit, tap into strengths you never knew you had and enhance resilience and feelings of inner peace. These are things that will help in all areas of your life.
We know that caregivers have little time to spare in their days. Online counselling makes it so much easier and more convenient no matter where you are in the province. Virtual sessions remove travel barriers and can make it easier to prioritize your own wellbeing while continuing to care for others.
You don’t have to go through this alone. If you are a family caregiver and would like support from a counsellor who gets where you are coming from, I’d love to work with you.
In my varied experience in the helping professions, I have at times experienced this kind of spiritual pain. I understand professional burnout because I’ve experienced it. If you are in the helping professions and heading toward burnout, I’d love to work with you.
Whether you are a Family Caregiver or a Professional Caregiver, no matter where in the province you live, you are not alone. For online counselling with a therapist who gets where you are coming from, reach out by email or give me a call.