Support Group:
Caregiver Tips ...
Seek Help: If you have other family members, talk about a game plan for dividing up responsibilities. How much time can each person realistically give? How can long-distance loved ones contribute? Who will pay for what? If you have no immediate family, seek out and use community resources, both for yourself and the person you’re caring for.
Use Respite Care: Respite care offers a temporary break to caregivers. It can range from a few hours of in-home care to a short stay in a nursing home or assisted living facility.
Know Your Limits: Be realistic with yourself about what you can and cannot handle, based on your other responsibilities to your spouse, children, work, school, etc.
Talk About Your Caregiving Experience: Research has shown that counseling and support groups, and other services, can help caregivers maintain their role longer, with less stress and greater satisfaction. Join a support group for caregivers in your area. If you have insight that you can share as a caregiver, be generous and share your tricks for managing.
More Caregiver Tips..
Take One Day At A Time:
Recognize that you will have good days and bad days. Even when you’re feeling resentful or angry, know that this is normal and doesn’t define you for eternity. It doesn’t make you a bad person or a bad caregiver.
Stay In Touch With Friends and Family. Social activities can help you feel connected and can provide emotional outlets for stress. Your well-being is essential as a basis of support for someone else.
Get Enough Sleep: It sounds so simple, but a good night’s sleep can make facing any challenge seem all the more manageable.
Eat Well & Exercise: Scarificing a well balanced meal because you have no time to eat will only make you crash later, causing irritability, stress and fatigue.
time just for you.
Make time for yourself: This is not a luxury, but essential for caregivers. In every crisis situation it is a fact that you will not be able to attend to someone else's needs until yours are first met. Set aside time just for YOU!
Educate Yourself: The more you know about both your loved one’s condition and the resources available to you, the more effective you will be in taking care of the both of you. Look online or check out books at your local library.
A support group offers the opportunity to share information and to support one another in an environment of empathy and understanding. Knowing that someone you are discussing information with understands and has shared your lifes obstacles can be a comfort. Feeling, problems, struggles and emotions can be discussed freely without judgment, and new friendships can be forged.
Often after an illness or injury, getting on with life is not so simple as one would imagine, especially if that injury or illness leaves the individual with life-long impairments. This is especially true with brain injury. Both the individual and the family often struggle to adjust to the life changes that result from the brain injury. Getting information and services can often be confusing and conflicting situations, which can lead to frustration.
It is not uncommon for friends to disengage and for extended family to become less involved in day-to-day activities. The family and the individual with the injury can become more and more isolated. As social contacts dwindle, so does the opportunity to interact with others, and there are few outlets for dealing with the emotional aspects of lifestyle changes created by the illness or injury. Questions often remain unanswered, and the feeling of being alone in the situation intensifies. If this describes you and/or your family, you may benefit from a support group. Individuals often want education or would like to educate others about brain injury. Support group members can work together to educate the community on brain injury issues.*
Our purpose to give the brain injured individual, family, friends and professionals a place to discuss issues, concerns, achievements, and other issues with people that are going through or have gone through similar situations. A place where individuals can network with others and successfully locate needed resources.
*Charlotte Institute of Rehabilitation-Carolinas HealthCare System
MWS Brain Injury Services Support Group:
Southside Virginia Head Injury Support Group:
MV-HC Memorial Hospital
320 Hospital Drive, Martinsville, VA
1st Floor - Confr. Rm / October thru May
2nd- Wednesday of Each Month!
5:00p.m. to 6:00p.m.
Contact: Renee Tatum 276-632-4024
Mount Hermon Baptist Church
4385 Franklin Turnpike
Danville, VA 24540
2nd- Thursday of Each Month!
7:00p.m. in the Fellowship Hall
Contact: Sue Jones 434-724-7070
We Welcome Both Brain Injury Survivors and Caregivers. Meetings are open to the public- participation in the program is not required.
MWS - Brain Injury Services
MWS-Brain Injury Services is supported by state general funds administered by the Dept. of Rehabilitation Services
"A Path To Greater Independence!"
