SWAAD - Caregiver Class Descriptions

Set font size: S M L

Caregiver Classes

Class #1: Taking Care of You

This class provides an overview of the entire course. It emphasizes that the focus is on the caregiver, not on the family member receiving care, and that caregivers will develop a variety of “self-care tools.” The challenges of caregiving and significance of caregivers self-care are dramatized through a video. Beginning in this class, caregivers make a weekly action plan for self-care.

Class #2: Identifying and Reducing Personal Stress

Four steps are presented for effective stress management:

Identifying early warning signs
Identifying personal sources of stress
Changing what you can change and accepting what you cannot change
Taking action

Tools to reduce stress are discussed. Participants learn how to change negative self-talk – which increases stress and erodes confidence – to positive self-talk. Beginning in this class, caregivers learn five relaxation activities that are easy to incorporate into their daily lives.

Class #3: Communicating Feelings, Needs and Concerns

Participants learn how to communicate their feelings, needs and concerns more effectively by using “I” messages. Through brief dramatizations, participants experience the impact of both “I” messages and “you” messages (which tend to sound blaming and put people on the defensive). They practice changing “you” messages to “I” messages, and identify when statements beginning with the word “I” are actually hidden “you” messages.

Class #4: Communicating in Challenging Situations

Participants practice two communication tools – assertive and Aikido – that are helpful in difficult situations. They learn a four-step process, called DESC - Describe, Express, Specify, and Consequence - for using the assertive style of communication. With Aikido, participants learn how to align and find “common ground” with a person who is distressed. One segment highlights guidelines for communicating with a person who is memory impaired.

Class #5: Learning From Our Emotions

The overriding theme of this class is “our emotions are messages we need to listen to.” It emphasizes that feelings occur for a reason and that feelings are neither good nor bad. Focus is on identifying constructive ways for dealing with difficult feelings — especially anger, guilt, and depression — and resources for professional help.

Class #6: Mastering Caregiving Decisions

The focus of this class is on the internal emotional process caregivers go through when they experience a life change. Tools for dealing with changes and for making tough decisions – including a seven-step decision-making model and the family meeting – are discussed. Because a pessimistic attitude makes the job of caregiving even harder, seven “tools of optimism” are presented that caregivers can incorporate into their lives.

Please call the Senior Information & Assistance office closest to you for more information.