Family and professional caregivers experience many challenges and stresses in the course of their caregiving.
Family caregivers are often pulled in many directions, trying to care for aging or disabled family members while at the same time caring for their other family members and their own personal responsibilities. This leaves little time or energy to care for themselves.
Professional caregivers also find themselves stretched thin, handling multiple simultaneous demands. They are often caring for many clients at once, dealing with challenging personalities and family dynamics, and managing the responsibilities of protocol and paperwork.
The Loving Hands Group recognizes how stressful it can be to care for loved ones and clients in need. We teach caregivers how to reduce stress and take care of themselves, so that they are better equipped to help those in their care.
Caregiver Support Programs
The following programs can be provided at the location of your choosing, for individual caregivers or groups of caregivers. They can be scheduled as a one-time event, or ongoing programs.
All programs are available in-person or by video
All programs can be done outdoors in nice weather or with overhead cover (except Feng Shui for a Healthy Office)
Click on the categories below, or scroll down, for a full program list
Programs to Support Caregivers Personally
- Stress Relief for Family Caregivers – Caregiving is a noble and selfless action that provides deep meaningful benefit to the recipient. However family caregivers often find themselves stretched very thin, and unable to handle their responsibilities. This can bring up feeling of exhaustion, frustration, anger and guilt. Participants will learn techniques to help them stay healthy, peaceful and balanced amid their responsibilities. We will discuss how to alleviate stress through various holistic health care modalities, breathing techniques, practicing gratitude, positive thinking, and empowering speech. We will learn ways to deal with challenging situations and people, and the important role of healthy eating and proper personal care. We will practice a short meditation technique at the end of the program. (1 hour class)
- Stress Relief for Professional Caregivers – Professional caregivers are faced with special challenges that are not normally present in other professions. Caregivers are required to adapt to a range of personalities and behaviors, and undergo the pressure of being responsible for their clients’ welfare and safety. Their jobs can be physically and mentally demanding, with added emotional hardships when a client declines or passes away. Participants will learn techniques to help them stay healthy, peaceful and balanced amid their responsibilities. We will discuss how to alleviate stress through various holistic health care modalities, breathing techniques, practicing gratitude, positive thinking, and empowering speech. We will learn ways to deal with challenging situations and people, and the important role of healthy eating and proper personal care. We will practice a short meditation technique at the end of the presentation. (1 hour class)
- Positive Conflict Resolution – Learn how to approach challenging situations with clients and co-workers in a healthy way. We will discuss how to respond instead of react to potentially frustrating words and actions. Methods for positive thinking, acceptance, and decision-making will be presented. We will also learn how to be conscious of the language that we use to express ourselves, to avoid misunderstandings and conflict.
- Caregiver Appreciation Events– Let us help you organize a pampering event for your clients or employees that can include yoga, Tai Chi and meditation classes, as well as massages and Reiki treatments. We also include a shorter version of our “Stress Relief for Caregivers” program. (Time and cost varies, please contact us for options)
- Gratitude Journaling for Happiness and Optimism – Keeping a daily journal of things that you are thankful for is a life-changing experience. By noticing and focusing on the good things in your life, bad things don’t seem so overwhelming, and you end up with a much happier outlook on life. Gratitude journaling can help to elevate mood, increase optimism, alleviate depression, and cope with sadness. You will learn how to start a journal, what to include, and all of the ways that gratitude journaling can benefit you.
- Meditation Made Easy – How to Ease Stress and Worry – Meditation helps to quiet the mind and release us from worry. For many people, though, the goal of clearing our minds of thoughts seems impossible to attain. This class teaches easy methods to meditate, and incorporate it into everyday life. We teach exercises that help the body and mind to become relaxed and centered. The relaxation and peace of mind students learn in this class will help them gain a more positive outlook on their daily lives. We will practice different types of meditation throughout the class.
Programs to Support Caregivers in their Work
- Empowering Our Seniors – We will discuss ways that we can improve the lives of our seniors, whether they live at home or in a group living community. We will learn how to empower our seniors through education, kindness and respect, providing choice, and creating a sense of purpose. We will also discuss case studies in which these methods have revitalized the lives of local seniors, giving them a new-found optimism and a renewed interest in life. For professional or family caregivers. (1 hour class)
- Empowering Individuals with Disabilities– We will discuss ways that we can help improve the lives of individuals with disabilities, wherever they live, work or play. We will learn how to empower individuals through education, kindness and respect, and providing choice. We will learn how to help them create their own goals and sense of purpose through self-determination activities. We will also discuss case studies in which these methods have revitalized the lives of local individuals with disabilities. For professional or family caregivers. (1 hour class)
- Positive Conflict Resolution – Learn how to approach challenging situations with clients and co-workers in a healthy way. We will discuss how to respond instead of react to potentially frustrating words and actions. Methods for positive thinking, acceptance, and decision-making will be presented. We will also learn how to be conscious of the language that we use to express ourselves, to avoid misunderstandings and conflict.
- Feng Shui for a Healthy Office– Learn guidelines for creating healthy energy, balance and harmony in your office, care community and home using this ancient Chinese technique. This interactive slideshow teaches how the placement of furniture and accessories can enhance the energy in each room, which has a positive effect on both the space and its’ inhabitants. We will learn how color, shape, and material have an effect on positive energy. And we will also discuss the difference between “yin” and “yang” features, and how to balance them to create a pleasing harmony. (1 hour class) Please provide a computer, tv or projector for the slideshow.
- The Yoga Craze: How and Why Adapted Yoga Works – Yoga is extremely popular among “typical” populations, and is also one of the fastest growing recreational programs among seniors and people with disabilities. This is because yoga is widely adaptable to all levels of physical and cognitive ability. Seniors and people with disabilities feel empowered that they are able to participate in such a popular mainstream activity. They also receive tremendous benefit from the increased strength, flexibility, balance, stamina, concentration and stress relief that yoga offers. Participate in this adapted yoga class and learn for yourself why it works!
- Aromatherapy for Dementia and Behaviors – Essential oils can provide extra energy, calm anxious minds, help people sleep better, improve memory, and provide relief from other imbalances. Learn how aromatherapy can help your clients as well as yourself! Sample some essential oils, and make a customized body lotion or body scrub to keep. ($2.50 materials fee per lotion or scrub)
- Making Lemonade from Lemons: Methods for Reducing Stress in Seniors and People with Disabilities – Learn how to help your clients maintain peace and happiness despite the challenges they are facing in their lives such as lack of independence, limited options, isolation, decline in cognition or mobility, grief over loved ones or pets, and living in a group community. Learn different methods for helping them cope with these issues through positive thinking, empowering speech, and a gratitude-focused approach to life.
- The Power of Intention: Creating and Living a Life that Expresses Your Authentic Self – Senior adults and people with disabilities often have fewer options in life, and more limited ability to choose and follow those options. They are also often dependent on others to let them know what their options are, and help them to achieve them. This can lead to making them feel like they have no control over the content and quality of their own lives. Learn how to help your clients know their options and decide which options they want to follow. We will talk about setting goals, planning steps to achieve the goals, noting obstacles they might face, and planning steps to get past the obstacles. We will help them produce a plan to follow to create a self-determined life that is authentically their own.
Click on the categories below for a full program list
