Family Caregivers Support Program

Support and therapeutic services

Information and referral

A counsellor is available by telephone Monday to Friday, during work hours or by appointment in the evening. She will provide an empathetic ear, as well as information and support for your individual situation. With you, she will explore any needs or desire for services and activities offered through the Family Caregivers Program, or find other available resources that could be helpful to you.

Individual support and counselling

Individual sessions with a counsellor allow for a more in-depth consideration of your ongoing situation and needs. Your counsellor will meet with you regularly to support you emotionally, as well as accompany you through the many practical difficulties that the caregiving role involves. She can help lessen your load by finding information and resources for you, and by helping you to better understand and navigate the systems involved in managing the care and responsibilities you carry. She can work with you to find new ways of managing your existing situation. Your counsellor will listen to your worries, give you a safe space to vent, and help you with common caregiving experiences such as guilt, frustration and feeling overwhelmed. Individual support can be up to 12 sessions, and can be arranged at a time and frequency that is convenient for you. In certain cases, the location of the sessions can be adapted to your needs, or other alternatives such as telephone or internet sessions can be arranged.

Family Support and counselling

The help described in the previous section can also be offered to the caregiver WITH the person she cares for or with the family.

Art Therapy

Art therapy is a therapeutic experience that uses creativity to express and become aware of certain emotions or situations. This process is aimed at bringing positive change to the participant’s current life difficulties. Various methods such as collage, drawing, painting, sculpture and more, are used to offer a new and tangible perspective of problems or feelings. The interaction between the creation and the creator encourages a deeper connection with the self in a safe and non-judgemental environment. No artistic ability is necessary. Art therapy is offered in both individual and group sessions.

Therapeutic workshops

Becoming a caregiver involves significant per­sonal life adjustments, as well as changes in relationships, Adapting to all this can be diffi­cult and even overwhelming. Most caregivers struggle at some point with finding a healthy life balance. Feelings of guilt, frustration, stress, worry and ongoing grief are extremely common. The Support to family caregivers program has created a series of workshops aimed at helping caregivers better understand many of these experiences and at finding ways to reduce the psychological and emotional load they often bring.

Current workshops :

• Guilt
  
• Finding balance : setting limits
• Adapting to changes
  • In the person you care for
  • In your personal life
    
  • In your entourage
    
• Managing stress and anxiety
• Using anger
• Experiencing dementia
• Using dreams as a tool for personal development and problem solving.

Using dreams as a means of personal development and problem resolution

A space for caregivers to explore the content of their dreams in a group and have the possibility of finding solutions to problems they are experiencing. After the sharing of a dream by a participant, the group is invited to suggest different interpretations of the dream. These exchanges, as well as a brief creative response, are aimed at helping the participant better understand her dream. This in turn may help clarify or even resolve certain life difficulties. It is not necessary to remember your own dreams in order to participate in the group. Many caregivers experience personal development and understanding through listening to the interpretations of other people’s dreams.
Tuesdays, February 12, March 12, April 9 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Seeing aging differently

Confronted with the realities of aging in the people we are caring for, many of us adopt a negative view of our own aging process. And if it could be different?  In this workshop, you will be guided through the exploration of different perceptions on aging to discover if it is possible to see the process more positively.
Thursday, March 28 from 1 to 3 p.m.