I truly feel that there should be a support groups, care giver classes for anyone going through in dealing with any major life change. It can be very difficult. Daily life can be tough. Right now I help with my 90 year old mother who has dementia. I spend every weekend with her to give other family members a break that helps take care of her too. I do attend classes on dealing with this. I also have a support group of women that I attend who are going through in dealing with cancer. Listening to them has helped me a lot and I am just beginning. Mental support is so important.

I worked as a caregiver for a lot of years, both privately and for a company. Being a family member as a caregiver is very hard. It's not like you can put in 8 to 12 hrs then leave and come back after a good night's rest. My heart goes out to families that have to give 24 hour care because they can't afford to hire someone to help. What these in-home health care company's charge for care is unbelievable! I think support groups/counseling are definitely needed. People get totally burned out if they don't have some kind of reprieve and a way to vent their feelings. To understand why they have these feelings of anger,resentment, etc., because they're exhausted and not feel ashamed or embarrassed is very important. To be a good caregiver you need to take care of yourself so that you can give them your best.

I absolutely believe that there should be caregivers’ support groups . One of our team members expressed this by saying she feels her spouse is “abandoning” her and she feels he would benefit from getting support and counseling. The problem is that many caregivers start feeling defeated and don’t think that they need this support. When caregivers start “resenting” the way their lives have changed, that is the most crucial time for them to get help.

I don't have (or need, right now) a caregiver. Both my daughters who would be my caregivers if I were to need them, are nurses who receive some of their support through their jobs. But if they were to take on family caregiving responsibilities, I think classes or groups might be helpful to them. Whether they would have time for those things and whether the classes or groups would fit into their schedules of work and caregiving would be a concern.

The people that support you need someone to talk with,someone after all think about it if they weren't very supportive where would us the patient be