Caregiver Mental Health

If you’re struggling with parents refusing help when you know it’s needed, try these tips.

It’s a challenging scenario many family caregivers face: your aging parents, who once cared for you, now resist the help they so desperately need. It’s a delicate balance between respecting their freedom and ensuring their safety and well-being. If you find yourself with parents refusing help at home, you’re not alone! We understand the range of emotions that go along with accepting the need for care, and have some tips to help you and your parents get on the same page.

Letting go of caregiver guilt opens the door to peace, balance, and renewed strength.

If you’ve ever said, “I’ll handle that once Mom’s settled,” or “There’s just no time for me right now,” you’re not alone. Nearly every family caregiver has been there — caught in the trap of self-sacrifice and caregiver guilt. It feels noble to put your needs last. After all, someone you love depends on you.

When caregivers were asked what they really needed, here’s what they had to say about family caregiver support.

It might be hard to imagine feeling invisible when you spend so much time with someone you love, but for many family caregivers, it’s a common theme. They describe their daily role as both rewarding and exhausting—a balancing act where their loved one’s needs come first and their own often fall last. Over time, that imbalance can take a toll.

Time management for caregivers is possible with the right support, structure, and a little help from Hired Hands Homecare.

How much extra time do you have on your hands? If you’re like most family caregivers, the answer is probably… not much. Between appointments, meal prep, medication reminders, housework, and all the unexpected challenges that pop up in a day, carving out time just for yourself can feel impossible.

From painting to poetry, the benefits of art for seniors include memory support, emotional healing, self-confidence, and more.

It might start with a paintbrush, a lump of clay, or a blank sheet of paper. But what happens next can be truly transformative. For older adults, engaging in creative expression is good for the brain, the heart, and the soul.

Loss is never easy, but it tends to feel even heavier with age. After a lifetime of building meaningful relationships, each goodbye can feel like a piece of the heart breaking away. If you’re supporting an older adult through grief, you may feel unsure of what to say or do, but your presence and empathy can make all the difference.

Knowing what to expect emotionally when your caregiving role ends can help you heal, reflect, and begin to rediscover yourself.

When caregiving becomes your full-time reality, it can be hard to imagine life any other way. So, when that chapter comes to a close, the quiet that follows can feel overwhelming. If you’re struggling with what to expect emotionally when your caregiving role ends, you’re not alone.  This transition brings a wide mix of feelings that can be confusing, unexpected, or even contradictory.

Spousal caregiver resentment can leave you riddled with guilt, but you can overcome it with the right support.

You meant every word of those vows: through sickness and health, for better or worse. But no one warned you how exhausting it might feel to live those promises day in and day out as a caregiver. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, or even resentful while caring for your spouse, take a deep breath: you’re not failing, you’re just human.

Repetitive questions in dementia aren’t always easy to manage, but these tips will help.

If you’ve ever heard the same question five times in five minutes from someone you love, you know just how draining it can be. Repetitive questions in dementia are one of the most common and challenging behaviors families encounter. But these loops aren’t something the person can control. They’re a window into how dementia changes the brain.

Make sure to prioritize privacy as a caregiver to protect your health and well-being.

Think back to your teenage years. Remember how important it was to find a safe place to be by yourself, to shut out the world, turn up the music, and write your most secret thoughts in your diary?

The need for privacy that began then may become overshadowed when providing care for someone else. Yet it’s still vitally important to be able to separate yourself both physically and mentally from your caregiving role to take time for yourself and prioritize privacy as a caregiver.

How Can a Caregiver Make Privacy a Priority?

Frankly, it isn’t always easy. You may feel as though you need to always have at least one ear and eye open to the needs of the person in your care. There … Read More »