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Combating Caregiver Fatigue

Do you have caregiver fatigue?

If you think you might, try answering these questions.

What is your current level of stress (0=no stress to 10 extremely stressed)?

How is your current health in comparison to their health 1 year ago.

If you answered you  are feeling stressed and your current health is worse now compared to a year ago, you may be experiencing caregiver fatigue. (See full questionnaire below).

One in eight Parents suffer from parental burnout (source CBC radio May 27, 2017). In 2005, 85% of the 21.5 million Canadian adults  reported feeling stressed

For those who provide care for others, the rates are even higher.

What I am trying to say here is…….YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Here are two recent family Stories:

Waterloo: “Parent group helped heal ‘shattered’ Waterloo family”

….. (Son) anger management issues, his pushing of boundaries, his skipping school, and his undesirable friends and substance use. Police were called numerous times when things got out of hand.

Learned to …..let go of the anger and take care of themselves, with self-care a big focus … non-confrontational approach, which has the bonus of bringing down the household stress level. (Source: May 11, 2017 The Record http://www.therecord.com/news-story/7310633-parent-group-helped-heal-shattered-waterloo-family/)

Ottawa: “Say NO for Nick”   – Neighbours believed…”Addiction was a problem for bad kids from bad families — not something that happens in affluent suburbs.” “About four years ago, our son was addicted to drugs. I knew we needed help,” …. first stop ….Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, … told there was no help available. He turned to the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, where he discovered there were no detox or rehabilitation programs for his teenage son. …. ‘Call intake, we’ll call you in a couple of months.’” ….Desperate for help, he even drove to the offices of his MP and MPP, but neither could offer assistance.  my son’s got a drug problem. I need help, like I need help today,’” “I’ve done the 3 a.m. drives, …. NOW my son is dead from drugs (Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/saying-no-for-nick/)

What can you do to Combat Caregiver fatigue and Eliminate Stress?

First, it is important to remember

Dr Orman, MD, states “the  real way to eliminate stress is to change your internal beliefs and get really, really clear about what stress is and where it comes from in our lives. The truth is that most of our stress comes from internal causes, not external ones…and there’s much control you have over your internal causes, once you know how to identify them. The secret to eliminating stress from your life is to get really, really good at preventing or solving the problems you have to deal with.”

(Stress) “It’s just a word that we use to stand for hundreds of different problems we might be experiencing.”

To eliminate stress,  it’s just a matter of upgrading the stress relief system you already have (inside your head) and replacing it with a newer and better one. That’s what I help people do.”

 

 

Resources:

Brain Assessment cognicity.com

Hospice Waterloo Region https://goo.gl/JVOTsL

Innovative Wellness website     www.innovativewellness.ca

The American Medical Association Caregiver Self-Assessment Questionnaire – 18 factors http://www.caregiverslibrary.org/Portals/0/CaringforYourself_CaregiverSelfAssessmentQuestionaire.pdf