What is Respite?
Respite is an opportunity for caregivers to have time away from caregiving.
Education / Training
For education, support, and advocacy for family and professional care partners see Living Dementia Consulting. Living Dementia Consulting is a training and consulting firm specializing in dementia care.
The primary educational focus is to provide skills training for family caregivers of persons with Alzheimers disease and related dementia. The caregiving seminar is delivered in a sensitive and dynamic manner which enables the participants to better understand their loved one’s behavior. Graduates of this seminar are able to
- manage challenging behaviors,
- communicate effectively, and
- assist in activities of daily living.
This is an interactive caregiver support seminar where participants engage in facilitated exercises. The participants are encouraged to share daily challenges they are presently facing with their loved ones. These examples are then problem-solved within the group setting. Through this problem-solving process participants rediscover their sense of humor and feel empowered in their caregiving role.
Consultation
During the Cruise
Ongoing consultation is designed assist elder caregivers in developing coping strategies to care for themselves and their loved one with Alzheimer's disease. These confidential sessions offer individual education and support in a serene, private setting.
The areas of consultation may include:
- stress management techniques,
- challenging behaviors,
- feelings of anger and burden,
- self care.
Due to the high demand of these sessions, please schedule an appointment.
Post-Cruise
Ongoing e-mail support is designed to offer family caregivers a broad database of family caregiving resource materials.
In Services Training / Speaking
Gwendolyn de Geest is an accomplished speaker, and is available to deliver custom presentations and keynote lectures, focused primarily on providing insights into "sharing the lived experience of family caregiving." The typical presentation is 60 minutes to 90 minutes in length at a corporate or conference event.
Future caregiver support seminars can be uniquely designed according to the individual elder caregiver. The complete seminar package includes the training sessions with workbooks, reference materials, power-point presentation and guided group and individual skills practice with selected modules.
