The Caregiver Advantage is a free 7-week program of education and support for caregivers. Pre-registration required. Free care for your loved one provided by Helping Hands Adult Day Program so you can do the training.

2021
Meets once a week on Thursdays beginning September 16, 2021.
10am-1pm - Free training
10am-3pm - Free care provided for the person you care for so you can do the training, then have a couple of hours to do other things.

Contact: Elizabeth Rawson, MA, 530-277-1294, thecaregiveradvantage@gmail.com
www.thecaregiveradvantage.com

2021 Syllabus
Sept 16         Meeting # 1: Creativity As Self-Care    
Introductions, caregiver welcome. A breathing exercise and visualization introduce techniques for stress reduction. Collage integrates what is needed for each caregiver step out of isolation to find a “safe place” to begin to explore self-priority skills. Sharing begins the group pulling together.
 
Sept 23          Meeting # 2: Receiving the gift of self-care: Clay as the container
Caregivers are expert givers. Class experience asks them to consider receiving. Using the breath as a tool for relaxation is practiced. Creating a simple clay container invites awareness to accept and hold the ability to receive moments of time for self-care and alleviate stressors. Brainstorming contributes to caregivers’ personal and group pulling together.
 
Sept 30           Meeting # 3: The Relaxed and Responsive Caregiver.
What do stress, frustration, and anger look like? Playfully using music, color, lines, shapes and textures caregivers express emotions, thoughts and attitudes experienced in their daily responsibilities.
Interrupting thought patterns by noticing the difference between a tension-producing task and a relaxation-producing skill  is reinforced to recognize how to regain control in a difficult situation.
The “Phone Pal” is introduced to boost support and connection.
 
Oct 7              Meeting # 4: Grace in the Face of Grief
Caregivers decorate a box for their memories, recognition, understanding and comprehension of what it means to hold grief. The creative process helps “make it real”, taking time for expressing difficult emotions in a safe place: the ambiguous loss, pain, frustration and strain each caregiver faces; accepting that finding joy in sweet moments allows grace as a gift on their journey.
 
Oct 14            Meeting # 5: Collaborating Creatively
Isolation, & lack of knowing how it would be to advocate for self-care, are serious issues for caregivers. The task of choosing materials to represent self in a group project creates a sense of individual empowerment and strength in community for the caregivers.
 
Oct 21            Meeting # 6: Helping Hands
Caregiving creates isolation. Practicing within a group setting supports each caregiver in developing their skills, acknowledging and strengthening their need to ask for help and support from friends, area services, medical settings as strategies to manage their caregiving role.
 
 Oct 28           Meeting # 7: You ARE a Blessing!
The visualization & relaxation invites each caregiver to think about what they brought to the class, and who they are now within the group. Caregivers participate in a “round robin”, contributing to each others’ final image. Validation in accessing self-care techniques within social support and community strengthens capacity for resilience in the caregiver role.
 
This is a class series that builds upon each meeting.     It is not a drop-in group.