In this month’s OneOp Military Caregiving webinar, the topic at hand was “Respite,” with an emphasis in understanding the value of respite care for family caregivers. As the month of June draws to a close, let’s recap some of the items and key takeaways you can use in your work with clientele from ‘The Value of Respite for Family Caregivers’ training.
Respite care is a term used by professionals who work with family caregivers on finding ways to care for themselves. This month’s webinar presenter and caregiver consultant, Mary Brintnall-Peterson, Ph.D. defined respite in her training as essentially “having ME time.” No matter if we are professionals or family caregivers, we can all use a little “me time.” The question is, “Do we really understand the importance of caring for ourselves and alternative care solutions?”
If we look back at Dr. Brintnall-Peterson’s presentation, she identified potential benefits to using respite such as, reduce caregiver stress, improve health and well-being, minimize precursors to abuse and neglect, and strengthen marriages and family stability. She also discussed the two types of respite care: (1) home-based respite and (2) out-of-home respite. If we break down the two types of respite care further, examples include:
- Home-based respite: professional services; sitter companion services; family and friends
- Out-of-home respite: Assisted living facilities; residential facilities; camps; retreats, hospital type programs
The June caregiver training also increased awareness of available respite resources for both caregivers of wounded service members and those caring for individuals with special needs. What was so unique about this particular professional development webinar was that the presenter engaged participants with thought-provoking questions and scenarios on how they would respond to their particular clientele using the information they learned in the training. Dr. Brintnall-Peterson left participants with six key takeways to use when reflecting on their caregiver clientele and caseload. Review the image below and think about your own caregiver clientele and how these tips can be helpful as you work through your cases.
If you missed this month’s caregiving webinar, The Value of Respite for Family Caregivers, there is still time to watch the recording and receive continuing education credit or a certificate of completion.
This MFLN-Military Caregiving concentration blog post was published on June 26, 2015.
