This week, Rayna Neises, your host, talks with Jammie Johnson. Jammie is an academic advisor, motivational speaker, and certified caregiver. She founded The Caregivers Friend in hopes of helping others based on her experiences as a caregiver for her aunt and both of her parents. She enjoys life and encourages others to do the same. She provides the following insights:
- Utilize Four Steps to keep your peace in your caring season:
- Be flexible. Adjust and keep moving.
- Use your resources. Find what is already out there vs. spending time researching on your own.
- Commit to self-care. Identify the little things that work for you.
- Build a tribe. You will be surprised at everyone willing to help if you ask.
- Involve others by finding a task they are comfortable with or something they are already doing themselves (i.e., grocery shopping, washing clothes, running to the bank).
- You have depended on your parents all your life. In the Caregiving role, there is a shift where they depend on you and that is not comfortable.
- Remember to have compassion for your loved one’s experience.
- Balance is key for your work, Family, and personal life.
- Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/thecaregivercrew and request to join the group to get the encouragement that you need from Jammie for your caregiving season.
Rayna Neises understands the joys and challenges that come from a season of caring. She helped care for both of her parents during their separate battles with Alzheimer’s over a thirty-year span. She is able to look back on those days now with no regrets – and she wishes the same for everyone caring for aging parents.
Rayna is the author of No Regrets: Hope for Your Caregiving Season, an ICF certified coach, the host of “A Season of Caring” podcast, Positive Approach® to Care (PAC)Independent Certified Trainer and speaker who is passionate about offering encouragement, support, and resources for regret-free caring aimed at preventing family caregivers from aimlessly wandering through this important season of life.
Rayna lives on a farm in southeast Kansas with her husband, Ron, and small pack of adorable dogs. She is the baby of her family, but most would never guess that. She is a former teacher who enjoys crafts of all kinds and spending time with her grandkids most of all.
