Caregiver Support
Kara offers support for caregivers through our Caregivers Circle which brings people together for presentations, group discussions, individual support, and training in skills that can help navigate the many challenges and demands of care giving. Helpful information and links to other support organizations can also be found in our Resources section.
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Caregivers Circle
The Caregivers Circle is designed to anyone charged or entrusted with the responsibility of caregiving. It is open to professional caregivers, as well as those providing care to family, friends or clients across a broad spectrum of needs that include chronic or life-threatening illnesses to caring for and accompanying others through their personal experience of grief.
At this time our 'circle' is on pause and we hope to begin offerings again sometime in 2022. Please check back here for updates.
Sustainable Caregiving
Tips and Strategies for Successful Caregiving
Successful, sustainable caregiving involves a set of skills that can be learned and purposely cultivated. Studies suggest that caregivers who don’t look after themselves are at high risk for physical illnesses, abusive behavior, strained relationships, loss of friends, and far too often – empathetic distress, which is often mistakenly referred to as compassion collapse. Important skills such as learning strategies to mindfully attend to one’s own wellbeing, as well as planning
and problem-solving skills are necessary in order to avoid caregiver burnout.
In this first Caregivers Forum of 2018, we will review the role of a caregiver, what you can do to be more effective in that role and offer some strategies for how, as a caregiver, you can cultivate the practical skills needed to care for yourself. The emphasis here is on ‘practical,’ which means exactly that. We’ll look into how you can develop the skill of ‘responding’ rather than ‘reacting’ to the challenges of caregiving and will provide tips and problem-solving techniques to help you avoid giving to the point of exhaustion or burnout by falling into the trap of forgetting you’re an integral part of the caregiving relationship. This involves recognizing the underlying stressors that create untenable situations for everyone and hijack your peace of mind and heart connection to your own good intentions. If you are, or were, or you anticipate taking on the role of a caregiver sometime in the future, this Forum is designed with you in mind.
Our Caregivers Forum is designed for both the personal caregiver and family member and for professionals who wish to enhance their competency levels as they relate to client issues around psychological distress, burnout or secondary traumatic stress. All are welcome.
About the Facilitator: Robert Cusick trained at Stanford University in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and has studied extensively in a number of different contemplative traditions. He is a Certified Stanford CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training) Instructor and teaches at Stanford University, the University of CA, San Francisco (UCSF), Kaiser Hospitals and in multiple other venues. As a former monastic, he ordained in Burma under the renowned meditation master, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and trained with him from 2003 to 2012. He provides bereavement support for adults and children at Kara where he also teaches and co-facilitates ongoing trainings for Adult Services, Youth & Family Services and for the Caregiver’s Forums. Robert also sits on the board of directors of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.
“It Ain’t So Easy!”
Strategies to Survive the Long Haul and
Support Your Health and Sense of Well-being
The challenges of caregiving are undeniable. They are also complicated, real, often overwhelming and sooner or later – exhausting. Sometimes they seem insurmountable, never-ending. Anyone who has ever found themselves, through circumstances or by choice, in the role of a caregiver experiences this truth. Caregiving isn’t easy!
At our last Caregivers Forum of 2017, we will identify some of the most problematic issues or situations that create or exacerbate stress for caregivers. With this as a springboard, we’ll delve into why it’s important to identify these stressors and offer a number of ways to deal with and reduce the day-in and day-out challenges associated with caregiving. There’s no magic wand but by developing clarity about the events and circumstances that are the most problematic and stressful for us, we’re able to create space for new perspectives and coping strategies that we can use to support and take care of ourselves – helping us survive the long haul. The focus of this forum will be a training on how to access and use these coping tools.
December’s Caregivers Forum is designed for both the personal caregiver and family member and for professionals who wish to enhance their competency levels as they relate to client issues around psychological distress, burnout or secondary traumatic stress. All are welcome.
About the Facilitator: Robert Cusick trained at Stanford University in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and has studied extensively in a number of different contemplative traditions. He is a Certified Stanford CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training) Instructor and teaches at Stanford University, the University of CA, San Francisco (UCSF), Kaiser Hospitals and in multiple other venues. As a former monastic, he ordained in Burma under the renowned meditation master, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and trained with him from 2003 to 2012. He provides bereavement support for adults and children at Kara where he also teaches and co-facilitates ongoing trainings for Adult Services, Youth & Family Services and for the Caregiver’s Forums. Robert also sits on the board of directors of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.
Resilience and Mindfulness: Strategies for Caregivers
Recent studies suggest that higher levels of both resilience and mindfulness are a significant predictor of lower levels of psychological distress and burnout. The theme and purpose Kara’s Fall Caregivers Forum is to increase understanding about the roles and importance of resilience and mindfulness and how these qualities serve to reduce psychological distress, burnout or secondary traumatic stress in caregivers.
Caregiving is, by its very nature, whether for a family member or friend or in the role of a human service professional, laden with challenges for both the caregiver and the care-receiver. It is charged with emotionally demanding stressors and interactions. This obvious and undeniable fact is often a breeding ground for conflicting emotions that lead to negative or deleterious results such as burnout or secondary traumatic stress. In this ‘Forum,’ participants will explore what resilience means in the context of caregiving and learn ten distinct strategies to build resilience and develop immediately practical skills for cultivating and sustaining resilience and mindfulness, as a buffer to the impact of caregiving in their own lives.
September’s Caregivers Forum is designed for both the personal caregiver and family member and for professionals who wish to enhance their competency levels as they relate to client issues around psychological distress, burnout or secondary traumatic stress. All are welcome. While not required, registering for the evening helps us plan accordingly. You can register by clicking on the link above. Additionally, you can sign up on our email contact form below to be notified about Caregivers Forum information.
About the Facilitator: Robert Cusick trained at Stanford University in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and has studied extensively in a number of different contemplative traditions. He is a Certified Stanford CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training) Instructor and teaches at Stanford University, the University of CA, San Francisco (UCSF), Kaiser Hospitals and in multiple other venues. As a former monastic, he ordained in Burma under the renowned meditation master, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and trained with him from 2003 to 2012. He provides bereavement support for adults and children at Kara where he also teaches and co-facilitates ongoing trainings for Adult Services, Youth & Family Services and for the Caregiver’s Forums. Robert also sits on the board of directors of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.
Is There More to Empathy?
Empathy helps us understand the perspectives, needs, and intentions of others. To state the obvious, it helps us put ourselves into the shoes of someone else. In our next Caregivers Forum, on Thursday, 6/29, we will explore three different types of empathy and look into what role empathy plays in seeding and bringing forth a compassionate and sustainable response in caregivers.
Empathy has two components: emotional and cognitive. Both have to be considered when talking about its importance and how to balance and sustain empathy whenever we are caring for others. It is our ability to imagine we understand what another might be thinking or feeling and the willingness to feel what they might be experiencing.
Emotional Empathy allows us to be moved by the emotional needs or suffering of those in our care but when emotional empathy is unbalanced we can easily be overwhelmed and swept away on the one hand or shut down and isolated on the other. It is one of the main causes of BURNOUT in caregivers and first-responders.
Cognitive Empathy, by comparison, is sometimes called "perspective taking" and refers to our ability, as caregivers, to UNDERSTAND the emotional perspective of those in our care. When cognitive empathy is expressed positively, we learn to recognize if we're about to tip into overwhelm or are about to shut down.
Stand Alone Empathy refers to a strong resonance with the suffering of another without allowing compassion and altruistic love to grow in us or be expressed. This kind of emotional reaction is what's known as "empathetic distress" and is often mislabeled 'compassion fatigue.
In this Forum we will explore the pros and cons of these 3 different types of empathy and talk about how to balance our natural empathetic responses in order to cultivate a sustainable and compassionate attitude for those in our care, as well as for ourselves. Everyone is welcome. If you are currently providing care to a friend or family member or are a professional caregiver or have served as a caregiver (in any capacity) or simply have an interest or experience to share about this topic, please join us. These ‘Forums’ are for you.
About the Facilitator: Robert Cusick trained at Stanford University in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and has studied extensively in a number of different contemplative traditions. He is a Certified Stanford CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training) Instructor and teaches at Stanford University, the University of CA, San Francisco (UCSF), Kaiser Hospitals and in multiple other venues. As a former monastic, he ordained in Burma under the renowned meditation master, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and trained with him from 2003 to 2012. He provides bereavement support for adults and children at Kara where he also teaches and co-facilitates ongoing trainings for Adult Services, Youth & Family Services and for the Caregiver’s Forums. Robert also sits on the board of directors of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.
While not required, registering for the evening helps us plan accordingly. You can register by clicking on the link above. Additionally, you can sign up on our email contact form below to be notified about Caregivers Forum information.
Is it Compassion Fatigue?
As caregivers, we share the wish to be kind in the face of challenge; strong, courageous and honest in the face of suffering, and the wish to be real. Among the many challenges that caregivers face are the issues of burn-out and compassion fatigue which can happen anytime. We'll take a close look at compassion fatigue – what it is, what it isn’t, and explore practical methods to ease the suffering associated with illness, dying and death. This Forum is offered for people facing or living with life-threatening or chronic illness, as well as for caregivers to those diminished by illness or age and grieving the loss or impending loss of a loved one. It is designed for both the personal caregiver and family member and for professionals who wish to enhance their competency levels as they relate to client issues around aging, illness, death and bereavement. Light refreshments will be provided.
About the Facilitator: Robert Cusick trained at Stanford University in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and has studied extensively in a number of different contemplative traditions. He is a Certified Stanford CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training) Instructor and teaches at Stanford University, the University of CA, San Francisco (UCSF), Kaiser Hospitals and in multiple other venues. As a former monastic, he ordained in Burma under the renowned meditation master, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and trained with him from 2003 to 2012. He provides bereavement support for adults and children at Kara where he also teaches and co-facilitates ongoing trainings for Adult Services, Youth & Family Services and for the Caregiver’s Forums. Robert also sits on the board of directors of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.
While not required, registering for the evening helps us plan accordingly. You can register by clicking on the link above. Additionally, you can sign up on our email contact form below to be notified about Caregivers Forum information.
Why Are We Doing This? Helplessness in the Face of Suffering
In our next Forum, we’ll collectively focus attention on how to reframe and work with the debilitating effects of feeling helpless in the face of suffering. Having reframed our experience, we'll explore how we can deliberately shift away from a ‘reactive’ level of over-or under-engagement (hyper-or hypo-engagement) with our loved ones or patients towards a more measured ‘response’ that is balanced, constructive, compassionate and sustainable. Whether you are a professional caregiver, a family member or friend attending to a loved one, or have served as a caregiver (in any capacity) and have an ongoing interest or experience to share, please join us. Light refreshments will be provided.
About the Facilitator: Robert Cusick trained at Stanford University in the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) and has studied extensively in a number of different contemplative traditions. He is a Certified Stanford CCT (Compassion Cultivation Training) Instructor and teaches at Stanford University, the University of CA, San Francisco (UCSF), Kaiser Hospitals and in multiple other venues. As a former monastic, he ordained in Burma under the renowned meditation master, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, and trained with him from 2003 to 2012. He provides bereavement support for adults and children at Kara where he also teaches and co-facilitates ongoing trainings for Adult Services, Youth & Family Services and for the Caregiver’s Forums. Robert also sits on the board of directors of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.
While not required, registering for the evening helps us plan accordingly. You can register by clicking on the link above. Additionally, you can sign up on our email contact form below to be notified about Caregivers Forum information.
Just Completed - September 8, 2016
Unpacking the Heart
Anyone who serves as a caregiver knows that the process of caregiving is multifaceted. It can be deeply satisfying to us and beneficial to those in our care or the opposite. Some are thrust into the role while others choose it. It often can feel lonely and groundless, sometimes never-ending. At best it's confusing and can fill caregivers with conflicting thoughts and emotions and doubts. This is normal but also stressful.
During our next Caregivers Forum, facilitated by a masterful writer, Marti Paschal, participants will have an opportunity to put words to their own experiences about caregiving and explore through a guided writing exercise and discussion how this kind of practice can deepen understanding and lead to insights. For many the first step involves learning how to (gradually) meet the reality of their circumstances with honesty and a compassionate attitude rather than reacting out of resistance, denial, fear, or a heavy sense of burden which often leads to burnout. Writing about our experience can put us in touch with our hearts and with those in our care in new ways that nourish kindness, as well as genuine self-care. This practice can be learned and is both skillful and sustainable.
Whether you are a professional caregiver or a family member or friend attending to a loved one, please join us for this Caregivers Forum.
While not required, registering for the evening helps us plan accordingly. You can sign up by clicking on the link below. Additionally, you can sign up on our email contact form below to be notified about Caregivers Forum information.
About the Facilitator - Marti Paschal
Marti Paschal's younger brother Martin died of AIDS in the early 1990's. She will share her essay about his dying and death. It's a remarkable account about care. It's about caring for Martin during that time but it's also a narrative about Marti's own experiences and insights of 'being with' Martin while being deeply present with herself and her mother who was Martin's primary caregiver. Her essay will be published in the 2017 Women of Color Anthology: All the Women in My Family Sing (NBTT, May 2017). Marti is a Stanford Law alum and is currently working on a collection of vignettes about loss and dying.
Past Forum: June 9, 2016 – 7:00 pm
Helping, Fixing, Curing or Serving?
When the brutality of [chronic] illness and disease, as well as loss and grief outstrips our natural desires to ‘help’ or ‘fix,’ the fallout lands squarely on front-line caregivers, i.e., on you and me. We often then end up challenged by a sense of helplessness or overload and not infrequently, by the heaviness of burnout.
Inspired by the work of Rachel Naomi Remen, participants will have the opportunity to explore, in conversation with one another, the impact of our natural desire to help or fix -- which is sometimes absolutely what’s called for and needed. But, is helping and fixing sustainable and are they the same as ‘serving?’ Rachel Naomi Remen, Medical Director of Commonweal Cancer Help Program, writes: “In fixing there is an inequality of expertise that can easily become a moral distance.” Fixing and helping may cure. Service heals.This evening will include periods of didactic, experiential and facilitated full group discussion. If you are, were or are about to become a ‘caregiver’ -- or just interested -- you’re welcome to contribute to and learn from this important discussion.
Past Forum: March 16, 2016 – 7:00 pm
Self-Care for Caregivers: How do caregivers care for themselves?
The very nature of caregiving can be stressful and is often emotionally and physically draining. How easy it is to lose our self in the sincere desire and yearning to help, to give, to provide comfort, to 'fix.' How easy it is to forget about self-care and the importance of attending to our own needs. An essential part of self-care for caregivers involves recognizing the legitimate need for healthy boundaries while simultaneously cultivating a quality of empathetic balance and presence for our those in our care -- and doing this without abandoning our self to the demands of our roles.
In this, the first Caregivers Forum of 2016, we will look at how to recognize the signs of caregiver burnout, empathetic distress and compassion collaspse, often referred to as compassion fatigue. We'll alternately explore ways to cultivate emotional resilience, set realistic goals, and learn from our shared common experience how to be kind, forgiving, and accepting of ourselves. Receiving kindness and support from others is a key part of learning that we can tap into and give the same quality of care and kindness to our self. This supports the well being of both the caregiver and care receiver.