The Conscious Caregiver: A Mindful Approach to Caring for Your Loved One Without Losing Yourself

by Heddle Nash

Overview

Linda Abbit, founder of Tender Loving Eldercare and a veteran of the caregiving industry, shares her advice on taking care of an older parent or loved one and how to handle everything that goes along with this dramatic life change.

Being a caregiver can be a difficult role. It requires patience, tenderness, selflessness, and hard work. Providing care for someone, whether it’s a parent, a loved one, or as a professional requires a high level of self-love and self-care. But while it may be a rewarding experience to care for a loved one, the emotional and physical stress of caregiving can lead to burnout and exhaustion—causing caregivers to put themselves and their own well-being in the background.

How can you fulfill your role as a caregiver without losing yourself? Conscious Caregiver teaches you how to navigate caring for your loved one, whether it’s full-time in-house caregiving or hiring support from outside services. With information on how to talk to your loved ones about the situation, handle the emotional stress, stay financially secure, and take the time to care for yourself, this guide can help you care for your loved one and yourself at the same time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440597732
Publisher:	Adams Media
Publication date:	09/05/2017
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Linda Abbit is a former caregiver with twenty-five-plus years experience and founder of Tender Loving Eldercare, a blog and community for caregivers. She is a prominent contributor to SeniorPlanet.org, where many of her stories remain in the top thirty articles read on the site. She holds a master’s in education, and has been vocal in the caregiving community for fifteen-plus years. In 2009, she received the Caregiver of the Year Award by Caregiving.com, and her website was nominated for excellence by Best Senior Living Awards in 2012, 2013, and 2014. In 2016, she plans to relaunch her blog as a mobile app. She is the author of Conscious Caregiver.

Editorial Reviews

"[Linda’s] recommendations are remarkably comprehensive, covering everything from communicating with other family members to effectively advocating for a loved one (and for oneself) to handling the transition to assisted living. Her case studies and exercises give her advice a real-world edge. Caring for others can be both stressful and joyful. The Conscious Caregiver may help these dedicated helpers keep the stress levels down enough to actually enjoy time spent with the loved ones who need them so much."

Energy Times

"Author Linda Abbit has a host of practical experience that inspired her to write The Conscious Caregiver. Her book is tremendous. It is well-written, well-organized, and offers a framework for conscious caregiving. The Conscious Caregiver offers practical and logical suggestions for when caregivers may be too confused or stressed to see them on their own. This book should be widely read. Nursing homes, doctors, and churches should make copies available for caregivers. People who provide volunteer care may often feel that they are alone in that world, but they are not, and do not have to be."

Psych Central

"The Conscious Caregiver is an accessible book for family caregivers and those who support them. Linda Abbit’s mindful suggestions preserve caregivers’ and care recipients’ dignity and self-respect. The Conscious Caregiver is one of the more grounded and realistically approachable books for family caregivers and professionals."

The Caregiver’s Voice

"The Conscious Caregiver is a beautiful and well-rounded book written from experience and the heart. It is a much-needed tool to help those both experienced and new to caregiving stay present through the many steps of caregiving. In guiding caregivers to developing self-care practices, Abbit’s book offers a path toward making the journey of caregiving more easeful."

GBONews

"The Conscious Caregiver should be on everyone’s list of most helpful books for caregivers. Linda Abbit, expert caregiver and founder of Tender Loving Eldercare, shares invaluable advice for gracefully handling the demanding role of caregiver. She discusses the hard work, patience and emotional stress caring for another person can cause. She also talks about how common it is for caregivers to sacrifice their own well-being for the good of another person and how doing so can be counterproductive. This compassionate guide emphasizes the importance of caring for yourself while you simultaneously care for a parent or other aged relative."

Caring.com