New Program Adds Caregiver Coaching and Counseling
Caregivers have such a tough job. To provide the best possible care for a loved one, they often sacrifice their own physical and emotional needs. The experiences involved with providing care can strain even the most capable person. The resulting feelings of anger, anxiety, sadness, isolation, exhaustion—and then guilt for having these feelings—can exact a heavy toll.
JFS is excited to announce a new program designed to support caregivers, PEARLS (Program to Encourage Active and Rewarding Lives) for Caregivers, a short-term counseling and life coaching program specifically designed for caregivers dealing with depression. Counselors provide eight free in home one-on-one support sessions over five months. After the sessions are complete, monthly follow up phone call sessions are offered for an additional four months.
For caregivers who live outside the JFS St. Paul metro service area or who prefer an alternative, PEARLS for Caregivers offers tele-counseling. Sessions can be video streamed from any location. For those who do not have a computer or the internet, JFS will provide them. This enables delivery of service to rural homes to overcome geographical barriers.
JFS offers two additional programs to support caregivers. Caregiver Coaching works with caregivers to help them make changes to improve everyday life at home; whether by promoting better self-care or by offering tips to deal with disease-related behaviors.
JFS also offers a Caregivers Support Group that is free and open to the public. The group meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. at Sholom Home in St. Paul.
The PEARLS for Caregivers program is supported, in part, by a Live Well at Home grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services and by Metropolitan Area Agencies on Aging, Inc. as part of the Older Americans Act Program.