Heart and Soul of Caregiving - The Challenges and Joys: North Shore Community Resources Society's Family Caregiver Support will hold a free interactive workshop and celebration for caregivers and health care providers, Saturday, May 5, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Seymour Golf and Country Club, 3723 Mount Seymour Parkway, North Vancouver. Registration: 604-982-3313.
WENDY Lustbader considers caregivers to be the most important members of our society.
"They hold things together for ill and disabled people and they are deserving of honour, respect and as much help as possible," she says.
The Seattle, Wash.-based social worker is an expert in the field of caregiving and aging with 30 years of experience. A lecturer in the school of social work at the University of Washington, she's written a number of books, including Counting on Kindness: The Dilemmas of Dependency and Taking Care of Aging Family Members, and is continually called upon throughout North America to give presentations. "This is a tremendously important segment of society who tend to just keep soldiering on without getting any help and it threatens their heath and wellbeing," she says.
Lustbader will share her unique perspective in a free, interactive workshop presented by North Shore Community Resources Society's Family Caregiver Support, timed with B.C. Family Caregiver Week, Saturday, May 5 at the Seymour Golf and Country Club in North Vancouver. Entitled Heart and Soul of Caregiving: The Challenges and Joys, both caregivers and health care providers are encouraged to attend.
"It's a chance not only to get information about how to take care of oneself and make life better for the giver and receiver of care, but it's also a chance to meet with other people who are in the same situation," says Lustbader.
It's amazing how helpful it can be to talk to someone who shares the experience of caregiving. "I always say, 'No one understands like a fellow caregiver,'" says Lustbader.
Caregivers can at times feel isolated, from their friendship community even, if members lack caregiving experience. "But the minute you get into the presence of someone who has been a caregiver or is a caregiver, there's instant understanding and rapport," she says.
Lustbader hopes the workshop does some positive work at both disseminating useful information, as well as creating a community of understanding amongst participants.
Caregivers of all walks of life and situations are encouraged to attend. "To take care of yourself is to take care of the person who depends on you," says Lustbader. "Similarly to neglect oneself is to really undermine exactly what you're hoping to do, which is to support someone. Self-care for the caregiver and a decent life for the person who depends on that person are intimately related. That's what this conference is focused on: How can you increase your sense of well-being and renew yourself so that you have the strength and capacity to keep supporting this person who needs you."
