Creative Caregiving Solutions: A Peaceful Approach to Navigating Your Relationship with Your Aging Loved One

***Winner of the 2024 Living Now Book Awards for the Caregiving category, which spotlight books that serve as essential tools for connecting, thriving, and inspiring change.***

Creative Caregiving Solutions is a comforting resource for anyone caring for an aging or ill family member.

Older family members value their independence and worry about someone else being in charge of their care. When faced with unpredictability and change, they can easily become resistant and may even be perceived as difficult.

Their caregivers, meanwhile, stressed by the addition of this role to their already busy lives, may struggle to find their new equilibrium. In their efforts to be expedient, they can come across as bossy.

When both parties react by struggling for control, it only increases the tension.

This book is designed to help you and your loved one navigate this challenge more peacefully.

As a home health nurse who started her own geriatric care management business, Joan M. Foust, R.N., has had over 40 years of experience assisting patients and families. She is what’s known as a “people whisperer,” especially when it comes to senior adults and those with memory loss. She and her staff have had success with even the most uncooperative patients, even when others before them have tried, not so much because of what they do, but because of how they do it.
Over time, with determination and through much trial and error, Joan developed a compassion-based model of care that really works. It is presented in twelve chapters:

Chapter 1: Respect
Chapter 2: Listen
Chapter 3: Observe
Chapter 4: Accept
Chapter 5: Show Empathy
Chapter 6: Build Trust
Chapter 7:Encourage Independence
Chapter 8: Be Patient
Chapter 9: Be Flexible
Chapter 10: Be Solution Oriented
Chapter 11: Enjoy the Moment
Chapter 12: Take Care of Yourself, Too

Each chapter introduces a principle to strengthen your connection. The engaging, real-life stories that follow demonstrate how a creative, flexible approach to caregiving can help you solve problems more effectively, reduce your own stress level, and create more joyful shared experiences with your loved one.

BENEFITS
In Creative Caregiving Solutions, you will learn how to:

• Establish appropriate boundaries so both parties get their needs met
• Listen and communicate more effectively for better outcomes
• Speak to your loved one differently in order to gain compliance
• Use tested problem solving and de-escalation techniques to reduce friction
• Reduce your stress and frustration to avoid burnout
• Feel more in control yourself and more positive about your relationship
• Enhance the well-being of your family member by encouraging autonomy
• Increase your resilience so you feel more optimistic and hopeful

This book will give you the tools you need to communicate effectively, solve the many problems inherent in caregiving, and ensure that your loved one remains as happy, healthy, and safe as possible.