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First, care for yourself.
On an airplane, an oxygen mask descends
in front of you. What do you do? As we all know, the
first rule is to put on your own oxygen mask before you
assist anyone else. Only when we first help ourselves
can we effectively help others. Caring for yourself is
one of the most important—and one of the most often
forgotten—things you can do as a caregiver. When your
needs are taken care of, the person you care for will
benefit, too.
Taking Care of YOU: Self-Care for Family Caregivers
Self-care is crucial for those of you who
choose to give care to someone you love.
Most articles written about care giving
tell you to take care of yourself. Being my own
caregiver while providing care for my injured, ill, and
then dying husband was not as easy as it sounds. I had a
lot to learn in the 16 years he was sick…. Self-care is
crucial for those of you who choose to give care to
someone you love. Take some time, whenever you can, to
experiment with different activities that might comfort
you. And when you have no time, use your self-talk. Talk
to yourself as you would to a good friend. This won’t
change your situation, but it might lift your burden a
bit.
Self-Care, Sadness, and Care Giving
Adopt some kind of practice.
We encourage the people we work with to
adopt some kind of practice, one that suits their own
life and preferences, but ideally a daily practice, one
they can stay with, something to which they give first
priority, something they do at a regular time, and do
even if they don't feel like it on that particular day…
It might be meditation or yoga, tai chi, running, silent
prayer, massage, playing an instrument, karate, judo,
writing in a psychological diary, breathing exercises,
or the practice of an art or craft —whatever is right
for their temperament and their preferences. Something
that will encourage them to pay attention. We find that
this kind of a daily practice is perhaps the most
powerful tool for building awareness.
Conversations with Leaders in Self-Care, Interview with
Steven Levine
Almost no support system.
If you look at the literature on burnout
and talk to lots of health care providers, as I have,
it's rare that people say that the work itself burns
them out. It's usually the structures within which they
work--an unnecessary amount of regulation, inhuman
schedules, a failure to recognize the very personal
human needs of someone who is working on the edge of
death day in and day out, with almost no support system.
Work-Life Wisdom from a Hospice Zen Master
Once on the Zen Hospice site, scroll down to the
"Exhausted Clinicians" section.
Farewell my friend.
This booklet was created by the Life's
End Institute: Missoula Demonstration Project’s Faith
Community Task Force. We have learned that most people
believe a sense of spiritual well-being is important at
the end of life. Too often, however, people¬¬ for a
variety of reasons¬¬ do not receive the spiritual care
they want. We decided that one way to help people gain
access to end-of-life spiritual care would be to give
them a “taste” of differing practices. During our first
year working together, we shared faith stories revolving
around the themes of illness, death, and bereavement.
This process was so enriching that we decided to make an
interfaith conversation available to others through this
book.
Farewell My Friend
What happens when I can’t fix the problem?
Over the last six years, my work as a
palliative care physician has challenged me in many
ways. As I walk past the door of someone who is wasted
and too weak to get out bed, I wonder what is it that I
have to offer. How much easier it would be to simply
walk by rationalizing that this person is comfortable
and has no need for my expertise as a physician. As a
physician, I was trained to investigate the problem,
make the diagnosis and prescribe the treatment. What
happens when I can't fix the problem and there is
nothing I can do to make it go away? How do you help
someone deal with a lifetime of disappointments and find
words when there are no words?
Healing the Rift Within: Confessions of a Palliative
Care Physician
Helping the human spirit in its search
for peace.
What do we mean by spiritual care?
Spiritual care for the purpose of this handbook is soul
care, helping the human spirit in its search for peace.
It is the attempt to help those near the end of life
feel whole, fulfilled, and in harmony with their world
and their higher power. Religious experience may or may
not be spiritual, and spiritual experience may or may
not be religious. Regardless of the dying person's
religious persuasion or faith tradition, spiritual care
near the end of life supplies a deep human need.
Parting, A Handbook for Spiritual Care Near the End of
Life
Emotional and spiritual exhaustion - compassion fatigue.
Andy has a form of burnout called
compassion fatigue, a deep physical, emotional and
spiritual exhaustion accompanied by acute emotional
pain. Whereas physicians with burnout adapt to their
exhaustion by becoming less empathetic and more
withdrawn, compassion-fatigued physicians continue to
give themselves fully to their patients, finding it
difficult to maintain a healthy balance of empathy and
objectivity.
Overcoming Compassion Fatigue
Additional Resources
Send your favorite sites to Jill Darrington, A Better Way Coalition
.
If you find a dead site - let us know!
Growth House, Inc., Psychotherapy with Dying People
Hospice Care and End of Life Issues
Integrating Spirituality into Health Care Near the End
of Life
Nurturing the Spirit When Cancer is Advanced
Preventing Caregiver Burnout
Relaxation, Self-Care and Activities of Daily Living
Self Care as a Necessity
Self Care for Physicians Dealing with Life’s End,
Selected Readings
Self Care for the Palliative Provider
Transitions at the End of Life – Taking Care of Yourself
Taking Care of Yourself
The Intimacy of Dying – Dying in Living
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