Here you will find self care tips, wellness ideas, book suggestions, quotations, poems, musings and resources related to caregiving. You will also be able to keep up to date on current Caregiver Wellness workshops and retreat offerings.
This summer marks the beginning of an exciting time for me as I close an eighteen year trauma counselling and teaching practice to focus full time on my passion - using education in the form of workshops, presentations and retreats to support, renew and inspire caregivers.
I come by my interest in caregiver renewal honestly, through personal experience as a helping professional and as a family caregiver. I have worked as a coronary care nurse, in acute psychiatric assessment, as a nurse educator and as a loss and trauma therapist in private practice. I've also spent seven years as a cardiac spouse, caring for my husband through the last years of his life.
During the months that I juggled both family and professional caregiving, I had a strong brush with compassion fatigue, an experience that has convinced me of the importance of exceptional self care for all caregivers. (Self care really is the fuel that keeps caregivers going!)
I would like to say that, once learned, the self care lesson stays with us forever but I don't believe that that's the case. We're human beings. Life interferes. We need reminding. But our intention matters and we can grow better and better at caring for ourselves. And at supporting each other as we do.
I hope that, in the days and months ahead, this blog will be a breathing space for sharing the lessons learned through focusing on your own wellness. Please feel free to offer your comments through this blog or by email at caregiverwellness@shaw.ca.
* Unless otherwise noted, all photos are from bigstockphotos.com.
