WSJ: Self Help Strategies for Care Givers

Source:  WSJ.com / Clare Ansberry / December 29, 2021

After another brutal year of caregiving, Denise Brown learned what she needed most and now offers that lesson to others.


Over the course of three months, her 87-year-old mother fell, had a heart attack and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Her 90-year-old father fell twice and required staples in his head, and her 60-year-old brother died unexpectedly.


“I felt like I was just managing crisis after crisis,” says Ms. Brown, 58, who lives in Chicago.

Impatient and depleted, she took a week off, stayed in a downtown hotel, went out to lunch and visited an art museum. “I gave myself permission to rest,” she says, taking the advice that she often gives to others as owner of the Caregiving Years Training Academy, which trains and certifies caregiving consultants.


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