CONTACT: 

Dr. Sally Gelardin

415 312 4294

Email

 

Careerwell brings innovative wellness programs to support family caregivers. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available.

Caring for the Caregiver: Introductory session for family caregivers and professionals who support caregivers,

Family Caregiver Counselor Certificate Program: Training for licensed or nationally certified counselors who currently serve or who are interested in expanding their practice to serve family caregivers

Degriefing Certification (Level 1): Training for family caregivers, care receivers, support professionals, and others who are experiencing loss and bereavement

Family Caregiver Distance-Delivered and Onsite Book Club.  Call 45.312.4294 for more information.

Rationale for Family Caregiving Programs

Family caregivers provide (usually unpaid) care by looking after an ill, frail, aging or disabled family member, friend or partner. The role of family caregivers is becoming increasingly important, due to the rapidly growing aging population throughout the U.S.. They often lack training or knowledge needed to manage the multitude of care-giving challenges.

An estimated 120 million adult Americans (57 percent) are either providing unpaid care to an adult family member or friend or have provided this care in the past (Source: Opinion Research Corporation, 2005). 

Studies are showing that care-giving responsibilities can exact a drastic emotional, physical and financial toll, with caregivers experiencing high rates of depression, stress and other physical and mental health problems, .....but evidence is also mounting that caregivers can cope better when they receive counseling sessions, in-home skills training, support groups, and assistance juggling care responsibilities (Landro, 2007).

The goal of the Family Caregiver Wellness Program is to help family caregivers and support professionals identify their strengths and in what areas they need support to both manage the needs of those who are being cared for and their own needs.

Caring for the Caregiver and Family Caregiver Counselor Certification Training

Participants become familiar with a unique Family Caregiver Wellness Model that emphasizes financial, legal, move-management, and home-modification skills, as well as physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual techniques. In addition, participants explore ways to balance care-giving demands with career and self-care, and learn how to provide a range of short-term, transitional counseling services and resources for caregivers.

The Family Caregiver Programs are designed and developed by Dr. Sally Gelardin, NCC, DCC, counselor educator, and Donna Christner-Lile, NCC, DCC. Gelardin, who earned a doctorate in International and Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco, has designed, administered, and instructed in-class and distance delivered educational programs for counselors and adult learners for 25 years. She is an internationally recognized author, public speaker, guest editor of the Winter 2007/2008 issue of the Career Planning and Adult Development Journal on “Making a Career of Counseling Caregivers” and author of an upcoming National Career Development Association monograph on "Career and Caregiving:  Putting the Pieces Together." Ms. Christner-Lile, author of Aging in Place: Safely living in your “Home Sweet Home” until you’re 100 Plus, counsels caregivers on a daily basis throughout the Bay area. Both are National Certified Counselors and Registered California Professional Counselors.

Degriefing Certification Training

The premise of the Degriefing Therapeutic Process is simple. Grief creates a state of physical and mental disharmony. The body and mind are inextricably linked. Therefore, health care techniques that attempt to alleviate the effects of grief must include both physical and mental treatments. Including somatic treatments along with appropriate verbal counseling will greatly promote the healing process. In addition, educating individuals about grief and teaching them practical self-care techniques can minimize the potential for developing serious, long term disorders when that individual invariably experiences grief again.

Lyn Prashant, M.A., C.T., C.M.T. (Ph.D. candidate) is a Marin County practitioner and nationally recognized certified grief counselor with 20 years of specialized training in physical health care practices. She is a certified yoga teacher, massage therapist and physical education teacher and one of the few professional grief counselors working in the United States to specifically address the somatic aspects of grief.

References

Family Caregiving in America: Facts at a Glance Landro, L. (2007).

More Resources Help Caregivers Help Themselves. Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2007.