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Caregiver Fatigue

As personal and professional caregivers there is a cost to our gift of care of others. Self care and self-compassion are crucial for maintaining our own wellness, and consequently the wellness of those under out care. This video looks at signs and symptoms of caregiver (compassion) fatigue.

Caregiver Wellness Part 2

Strategies for filling our wellness tank as professional or personal caregivers.

Caregiver's Support Group

PDF

Personal Caregiver

Being a personal carer to family and friends is a beautiful expression of compassion, one that comes at a price. When the care that is needed involves a life-limiting illness or end-of-life care, the cost is that care is significant.

Compassion fatigue (also called caregiver fatigue) is a natural and expected experience for those in long-term carer relationships. The Hospice Society of Camrose & District recognizes, therefore, that self-care and wellness are critical to maintaining healthy caring roles.

Below are resources that address caregiver fatigue and concerns.


Websites:

Caregiver Alberta
http://www.caregiversalberta.ca/ 

Tend Academy
https://www.tendacademy.ca/resources/

The Trauma Stewardship Institute
http://traumastewardship.com/laura-van-dernoot-lipsky/

Cheryl Richardson on Wellness
http://www.cherylrichardson.com/

Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project
http://www.compassionfatigue.org/index.html

Books

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Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others
Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, Connie Burk, ISBN 13: 978-1576759448

When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress
Gabor Matè, ISBN 13: 978-0676973129

Take Time for Your Life
Cheryl Richardson, ISBN 13: 978-0767902076

A Caregiver’s Guide: A Handbook About End-of-Life Care
Karen Macmillan Jacquie Peden, Jane Hopkinson Dennie Hycha, ISBN 13: 978-0968670019

The Compassion Fatigue Workbook: Creative Tools for Transforming Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Traumatization
Françoise Mathieu, ISBN 13: 978-0415897907

Articles

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Help Wanted: Caregivers in Need of Assistance From Health-Care System, CARP Says

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Caregiving requires long hours of hard work for no pay. CARP says urgent action is needed to help those who serve.

Read more

Compassion Fatigue Is A Reality Of Dementia Caregiving

If you are connected to the world of dementia care, the demands are many. In your quest to help others, are you taking time to care for yourself?

Read more

Talking about your illness with loved ones and caregivers

PDF
This booklet can help you talk with your loved ones about your illness and the future. It is based on what you have already talked about with your clinician.

Download "FamilyCommunicationGuide10.30.15.pdf"

Videos

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The Edge of Compassion - Françoise Mathieu TEDxQueensU

For the past 15 years, Secondary Trauma specialist and compassion fatigue educator Françoise Mathieu has been exploring tools to help all of us navigate the challenges of sustaining compassion and empathy towards others - both as individuals and professionals. This talk explores ways to find the right balance between caring for others while staying healthy and empathic. 

Caring for the caregivers | Frances Lewis | TEDxSnoIsleLibraries

This talk was given at a local TEDxSnoIsleLibraries event and produced independently of the TED Conferences. Frances Lewis, university professor and researcher shares tips on caring for those who routinely give care at home or professionally. Although Fran’s work is based in compassion and the desire to make things easier for people with chronic, life-threatening illness, she is known as a methodical scientist who thoroughly tests interventions that might be useful. The University of Washington professor of nursing has developed ways to measure how family members manage the impact of cancer on their everyday lives. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

How to Manage Compassion Fatigue in Caregiving | Patricia Smith | TEDxSanJuanIsland

Caregivers are often so busy caring for others that they tend to neglect their own emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Studies confirm that caregivers play host to a high level of compassion fatigue. In this insightful talk, Patricia Smith suggests the path to wellness begins with awareness, and recommends simple self-care measures such as regular exercise, healthy eating habits, enjoyable social activities, journaling, and restful sleep. With support, insightful information, and authentic self-care, caregivers can begin to understand the complexity of the emotions they've been juggling and, most likely, suppressing. As founder of the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project© (www.compassionfatigue.org), Patricia Smith writes, speaks and facilities trainings nationwide in service of those who care for others. With a background in journalism, she has authored books and training materials including the award-winning To Weep for a Stranger: Compassion Fatigue in Caregiving.

Moral Distress in Delivering Palliative/End of Life Care

Dr. Kevin Brazil, Professor of Clincial Epidemiology and Palliative Care at McMaster University, discusses the moral distress that can occur when health care providers feel they cannot provide the level of care they want to provide their patients.

Compassion Fatigue

"There's always an emotional attachment to wanting people to be better. But we can't always make the difference that we want to make."

Health care providers talk about their experiences with compassion fatigue.

Kevin Briggs - Compassion Fatigue: When Caregivers Lose Sight of What Matters

A former suicide negotiator on the Golden Gate bridge takes his audience to the edge of the bridge itself to stand in the shoes of both the person literally on the verge of suicide and the professional responding to save his or her life. Known as the Guardian of the Golden Gate, Kevin Briggs explores the importance of taking care of the responder with equal focus as the jumper, revealing the amazing impact this will have on the lives of those who have yet to walk out on the bridge.

We Are Enough, by Brené Brown at TEDxHouston

Dr. Brené Brown is a researcher professor at the University of Houston, Graduate College of Social Work, where she has spent the past ten years studying a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness, posing the questions: How do we engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to embrace our imperfections and to recognize that we are enough -- that we are worthy of love, belonging and joy? Brené is the author of several books, including; I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power (2007); The Gifts of Imperfection (2010) and Wholehearted: Spiritual Adventures in Falling Apart; Growing Up, and Finding Joy (2011).