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Wisdom and wholeness emerge in moments like this - when human beings have to hold seemingly opposing realities in a creative tension and interplay…
power and frailty, birth and death, pain and hope, beauty and brokenness, mystery and conviction,
calm and fierceness, mine and yours.
~Krista Tippet
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November is National Family Caregivers month and while every month is caregiver month in our Wellness Initiative, I want to acknowledge this opportunity to celebrate care partners closer to home. I am deeply thankful for the care partners in our programs who are true companions to one another through unimaginable strain and also through life's striking turns, moments and milestones. Caregivers often feel robbed of a future they worked so hard to secure and spend untold hours rebuilding and maintaining their lives to secure a different one and one with solid paths toward happiness and connection. Without opportunities to process and integrate the many changes incurred along the way, it is not often possible to fully experience the depths of joy and connection too, which are both available throughout many years of caregiving and beyond.
Further complicating and contributing to the isolation and loneliness many care partners experience is the distance created between themselves and their personal friends and family members. The holidays can be a particularly sensitive and triggering time. Even in the best, healthiest and closest of family relationships, it is not uncommon for unintentional fissures and strain to set in, quiet resentments and misunderstandings. While healthy relationships can weather storms and grow through challenges, when left unattended and unrepaired, things will begin to break down. The holidays offer many opportunities to reestablish closeness and promote understanding and collaboration. While it’s not advisable to dive into doing the sensitive work of re-evaluating roles and responsibilities on the actual day of a holiday, it is advisable to bring appreciation and an awareness of shared values and how individual concerns may be lurking and interfering with enjoyment during the holidays. Then, in the intervening days, and perhaps as a priority in the new year (absent any urgency) setting a future day for a family brain trust meeting and constructive collaboration. This may begin with conversations in and around tables during the Thanksgiving season. I want to encourage families to celebrate strengths and applaud any care partners in their families while also advocating for compassionate and proactive conversations during any gatherings. Many families put off hard conversations until life forces them and a confrontation on a holiday or during a crisis is a terrible time to make decisions and foster closeness. Sometimes these conversations happen during the holidays because it's a time when key family members are in the same location, not because it was planned together with shared accountability. The season is hard enough for dementia care partners, and it ought to be an especially supportive time.
I can share that it is possible. It’s possible and it requires clarity, intentions, boundaries and needs to be expressed. You can help by educating yourself as an ally to primary care partners. If you are an ally, an adult child or if you are a care partner yourself, check out this list of the most frequent pieces of information I share around the holidays in three categories: Three questions, resources, and things to avoid. Read more in the button below.
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— Laura Rice-Oeschger, LMSW
Wellness Initiative Managing Director
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Upcoming Program Registration | |
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Catching Your Breath
November 14, 10 - 11:30 a.m., Virtual
Catching Your Breath is a monthly program focused on learning and practicing stress resilience skills for continued health, balance, and well-being. The program is for family caregivers of adults living with a dementia.
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Mitten Minds Support Group
November 15, 3 - 4 p.m., Virtual
The Mitten Minds Support Group is a monthly support group for individuals with mild cognitive impairment or early stage dementia. The support group provides a space for individuals living with memory loss to meet and learn from others going through similar experiences.
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Cultivating Creativity
December 6, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., In-person at Vibrant Life
Cultivating Creativity is a monthly arts program for persons living with memory loss and their family caregivers. Participants will enjoy an instructed and dementia-friendly art activity together. Projects include painting, print making, ornament and coaster decoration, and cardmaking among other activities.
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Soothing Word of the Month | |
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Samar (Arabic)
Staying up late after the sun has gone down and enjoying time with friends & family.
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Breaking the Dementia Stigma: Why We Wrote Finding the Right Words
Presented by Bruce Miller, M.D. and Cindy Weinstein, Ph.D.
November 22, 12 - 1 p.m.
Virtually on Zoom
Bruce Miller, M.D. is the A.W. and Mary Margaret Clausen Distinguished Professor in Neurology, Director of the Memory and Aging Center, and Co-Director of the Global Brain Health Institute at the University of California San Francisco
Cindy Weinstein, Ph.D. is the Edith and Eli Broad Professor of English at the California Institute of Technology
Registration is required at the link below.
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The Problem of Alzheimer's: How Science, Culture, and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It
Book Talk with Jason Karlawish, M.D.
November 28, 6 - 7:30 p.m.
Literati Book Store
124 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Part case studies, part meditation on the past, present and future of the disease, The Problem of Alzheimer's traces Alzheimer’s from its beginnings to its recognition as a crisis. Rich in science, history, and characters, The Problem of Alzheimer's takes us inside laboratories, patients' homes, caregivers’ support groups, progressive care communities, and Jason Karlawish's own practice at the Penn Memory Center.
Registration is not required.
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10 Life-Changing Lessons from Family Carepartners with Laura Rice-Oeschger, LMSW
November 16, 2:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Turner Senior Resource Center
2401 Plymouth Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
While quick advice and shortcuts run contrary to the hard-won, long-term commitment and transformations found in caregiving, there are many insights which may affirm and help caregivers correct course for happiness and well-being. Participants will be invited to explore 10 lessons, alongside their own wisdom, with the intention to lead more grounded and self-compassionate lives while caregiving. As care partners, we protect the well-being of another. This should not be at the expense of your own.
For more information and to register, contact Shannon Etcheverry, LMSW at germedsilverclub@umich.edu.
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A Meaningful Life with Alzheimer's Disease
November 11, 8:30 a.m. - 12:50 p.m.
Virtual on Zoom
This annual one-of-a-kind conference brings together healthcare professionals, caregivers and those living with Alzheimer's into a shared conversation. Learn about the state-of-the-art research, treatments and caregiving options for those living with cognitive decline. This is a collaboration between the Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology and the Michigan Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.
3.5 CE's are available for healthcare professionals.
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Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Center | | | | | |
