Empowering Families to Lead Peer-to-Peer Caregiver Support Groups

Kari Berit, M.S.National Speaker, Author, and Radio Show Host KYMN1080

www.kariberit.com

Background

• My story

• The two grants

• Today’s webinar

Why Peer-to-Peer?

• Are you kidding? I want professional guidance

• Peer-to-Peer (in person)

• It’s not for everyone—stories from groups

• I was one of the peers

Experiences from Groups

• Women’s Alanon experience

• UCC youth group

• Dad’s grief group

• The Unexpected Caregiver Support Group“It feels like a safe space to share and vent.”

“I am not alone in my challenges.”

Reluctance to Embrace ‘Caregiver’

• Not a ‘caregiver’• Use of ‘Unexpected’ • Focus on aging parents

Unexpected Peer-to-Peer Support Groups

• Researching the landscape of groups

• Discussion topics

• Personal stories

• Guest speakers

• The script

“I am happy this group has structureand education”

Why a Script?

• Settle, breathe, shift focus

The Script

• Set the timeframe & welcome

• Explain goals and rules

• Welcome new participants

• Acknowledge struggles

• Explain confidentiality

• Share group process

• Close the group

Check-in

• I have the floor

• Sacred space

“It’s a safe place to express one’s self, even to cry”

• Moderator’s role

Discussion Topics

“The learning part of each meeting has been surprisingly insightful.”

© 2011 Family Caregiver Alliance

Supply of Discussion Topics

• www.kariberit.com• www.caregiver.org

Discussion:What do family caregivers want/need? (type in your response to the question box)

“I learn from other participants’ experiences, and maybe I can use that information

to help my mom.”

Launching the Groups• Awareness raising

• ID potential sites

• Meet and enlist potential moderators/leaders

• Advertise groups-specific time period

© 2011 Family Caregiver Alliance

What Worked & What Didn’t

• NRC

• St. Peter’s Lutheran

• St. Olaf College

• Wells Fargo

• Northfield Senior Center

• Overall church response

Future Plans

• Respite for caregivers to attend groups

• Ad hoc methods (telephone, etc.)

• Video training

• Web forum

• Further discussion

Resources• Peer-Centre of Excellence in Peer Support-www.peersupportvic.org

• The Support Group Sourcebook by Linda L. Klein

• Adult Children of Alcoholics by Janet Geringer Woititz, Ed.D.

• Al-Anon’s Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions

• Telephone interviews with psychologists, social workers, health care workers

• Telephone participation in on-line support groups, participation in in-person support groups

• Focus group interviews

• www.caregiver.org Family Caregiver Alliance

• www.unexpectedcaregiver.com Unexpected Caregiver

• www.liftcaregiving.com Lift Caregiving

• www.girlfriendswithagingparents.com Daughters with Aging Parents

Family Caregiver Alliance is a public voice for caregivers, illuminating the daily challenges they face, offering them the assistance they so desperately need and deserve, and championing

their cause through education, services, research and advocacy.

•FCA established the National Center on Caregiving (NCC), to advance the development of high-quality, cost effective programs and policies for caregivers in every state in the country. The NCC sponsors the Family Care Navigator to help caregivers locate support services in their communities.

•FCA also operates the Bay Area Caregiver Resource Center in the six-county San Francisco Bay Area. The staff of family counselors works closely with families caring for ill or elderly loved ones. Our services, education programs and publications are developed to offer these families direct support, vital information, and effective tools to manage the complex and demanding tasks of caregiving.