Self-Care for Caregivers: A Twelve Step Approach

Are you one of the growing number of people who serves as a caregiver for an aging or chronically ill friend or family member? If so, you probably struggle to meet both their special needs and still find time and resources for yourself. But now there is reason to take heart. The authors of this down-to-earth, encouraging book can help you make the most of the experience without losing yourself in the process. Using the Twelve Steps as a guide, the authors conduct readers through the pitfalls of caregiving--the emotional snarls and strains, daily struggles, competing needs, and questions about confronting pain--providing hope and tangible suggestions on how to stay strong and sane while providing healthy support and love.

"Self-Care for Caregivers offers sensitive and sensible guidance for the family caregiver. This is a little book with a big message: how to take care of yourself so you can take care of others."
Connie Goldman, producer of the public radio special Hardship into Hope, The Rewards of Caregiving; co-author of Tending the Earth, Mending the Spirit and Secrets of Becoming a Late Bloomer

"This book is an uplifting treasury of hope. The authors gently direct the reader with comforting, practical text that offers empowering caregiving strategies and avenues for emotional and spiritual growth."
James and Merlene Sherman, author and editor of the Caregiver Survival series

Pat Samples is a transformational educator and writer. She is the author of Daily Comforts for Caregivers, and she is also the principal author of Self-Care for Caregivers: A Twelve-Step Approach, and the author of three other books. Samples is the editor of The PHOENIX, a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, that focuses on personal growth. She has published hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles on health, aging, human behavior, addiction, and codependency. Samples speaks and conducts workshops on care giving for family and professional caregivers. Her workshops have been supported through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services and also sponsored by many health care, social service, and religious organizations. She also gives talks and workshops on conscious aging and teaches a course called "Writing Your Own Permission Slip" on using writing and the wisdom of the body to reveal and revise your personal power story. Samples has a master's in Human Development from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota