iCareforCaregivers: National Family Caregivers Month
Wednesday October 26, 2022
November is National Family Caregivers Month, so we are doing all sorts of things to show caregivers some love. #iCareforCaregivers is a special digital media campaign that aims to raise awareness about caregiver isolation and stress and to inspire our community to care for caregivers. We will do this by sharing ways you can care for caregivers and ways caregivers can care for themselves.
Join the conversation!
Get on your favorite social media platform, and share your thoughts with our fancy hashtag #iCareforCaregivers. Brag on caregivers in your life. Share a way that you care for caregivers. Share your caregiving story. Raise awareness about caregiver stress by sharing one of our social or blog posts. Encourage your friends to love on the caregivers in their own lives. Let’s create a buzz that will inspire our community to action.
Check out our Facebook and Instagram pages. We will be posting lots of great things about caring for caregivers. Feel free to share and comment on any of our posts. And please tag our pages if you decide to join in on the conversation. We would love to hear from you!
Blog Posts to Read and Share
31 Ways to Care for Caregivers
How to Communicate with Someone Who Has Dementia
Creating a Caregiver Wish List: How Caregivers Can Ask for Help and How Others Can Offer Help
Self-Care for Caregivers
Caregivers Need You: Don’t Disappear
Weekly Challenge
You have probably heard about random acts of kindness, but we are encouraging everyone to engage in purposeful acts of kindness for caregivers. Each week we are going to be challenging you to engage in one purposeful act of kindness. And be sure to share on social media if you participate! Why? Because we want to spread the word. Your participation and sharing may inspire your friends to join in. If you participate, share about it on your favorite social media platform. Be sure to tag our page and use the hashtag #iCareforCaregivers.
Challenge 1: Mail a card to a caregiver AND their loved one.
Challenge 2: Help a caregiver complete their to-do list (examples: yard work, spring cleaning, grocery shopping).
Challenge 3: Call or text a caregiver and set up a time to visit.
Challenge 4: Bring a caregiver their favorite treat.
More Good Stuff
Join us for an In-Person or Virtual Support Group
Check out our Awesome Caregiving Blog Archive
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for All the Good Content
How did #iCareforCaregivers come about?
We have noticed a pattern of caregiver stress and isolation among the families we serve. Too often while someone is caring for a loved one, friends and family pull away as the disease progresses. Social and support circles for caregivers and their loved ones disappear. On the other hand, we have noticed that funerals for former clients are often packed – standing room only. Which leaves us wondering: Where were all these people?
Where were all these people when this caregiver needed support? When this caregiver just needed to get out of the house? When this person with dementia needed to feel wanted and normal? Maybe friends and loved ones of caregivers don’t know how to care for caregivers. Maybe caregivers don’t know how to ask for help. Maybe people don’t know how to interact with someone with dementia, don’t know how to communicate or what to say. Maybe our community just isn’t aware of how stressful and isolating caregiving can be.
With #iCareforCaregivers, we hope to address these issues by sharing ways people can care for caregivers, advice for caregivers on asking for help, tips on communicating with someone with dementia, and information on caregiver stress and how to reduce it.
What is the purpose of #iCareforCaregivers?
The purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness about caregiver isolation and stress and to inspire our community to action. We want to reduce caregiver isolation and stress one good day at a time. We want caregivers to feel seen, loved, and surrounded by support. It’s a tall order, but we think this can happen with your help!
What are some goals of #iCareforCaregivers?
- Empower caregivers by sharing their stories and encouraging others to share words of encouragement
- Educate our community about caregiver isolation, caregiver stress, dementia, and more
- Foster a dementia-friendly community that embraces and surrounds caregivers and their loved ones
- Inspire people to go see and do things for the caregivers they know
- Share practical tools for non-caregivers (how to help, how to best communicate with those with dementia, how to spot caregiver stress and what to do, etc.) and caregivers (how to ask for help, resources, stress relief, etc.)
How do I use a hashtag?
Great question! Do you have a favorite social media platform, like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? That’s where you want to be using our #iCareforCaregivers hashtag. When you use a hashtag in a social post, you’re categorizing those things that you’re sharing. So when someone goes on that social media platform, he or she can search for that hashtag (for example, #iCareforCaregivers) and see what everyone’s been saying and posting about the topic. Think of it as a file folder for a virtual conversation. So if you want a share a way that you’re caring for caregivers, or if you want to brag on a caregiver in your life, be sure to tack the hashtag on to your post or tweet.