Pod Insights Life Kit Plus How caregivers can prevent burnout About this episode According to AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, 1 in 5 Americans are acting as unpaid caregivers. The work can be meaningful but also stressful. Caregivers give advice about how to approach the job, find support and make time for self-care. This episode originally published Feb. 20, 2023. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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0:25 Speaker 01 Hey, everybody. It's Marielle.
0:28 Speaker 01 Caregiving is a full-time job, and it's one that more and more Americans are taking on. In fact, the number of Americans acting as unpaid caregivers rose from 43.5 million in 2015 to about 53 million in 2020. Before she was a reporter, TK Dutes was a healthcare provider for 15 years. She worked alongside caregivers every day to help them take care of their loved ones, who might be children, older folks, folks with disabilities, folks who are chronically ill. And she could tell that her presence offered a short and rare break for family members who were on duty all hours of the day. On this episode of Life Kit, TK talks about how caregivers can take care of themselves. She talks with two caregivers about what's worked for them, what they wish they'd done differently,
1:13 Speaker 01 how the experience has changed them, and how we can support the caregivers in our lives.
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2:41 Speaker 07 Imagine this, you're living it up in New York City, six months into the job of your dreams in late night TV, and you get a call that changes everything. That's what happened to Jacqueline Revere in 2016.
2:53 Speaker 01 I was on the subway. I received a phone call from my mom's friend who said, "There's something wrong with your mom. You need to fly home."
3:07 Speaker 07 When she got home, it was really bad. Jacqueline's mom had Alzheimer's disease, and her mental state had been declining. The mortgage hadn't been paid in two months, and a foreclosure notice waited for her.
3:21 Speaker 01 There was spoiled food everywhere, and my mom was not in a mental space where she could be coherent.
3:32 Speaker 07 Before getting sick, her mother was also taking care of her own mother with dementia. Suddenly, at age 29, Jacqueline became a full-time caregiver, taking care of both her mother and her grandmother.
3:45 Speaker 01 I was just dropped into the middle of caring for two people who I love. And so there is a huge emotional, mental, and...
3:57 Speaker 07 And physical side of care that we just don't talk about that much. Becoming a caregiver is a big transition. You go from taking care of yourself, your immediate family, maybe some pets, to taking responsibility for the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of another, often coming out of nowhere, shattering any plans you may have. How did it feel going from college to being a full-time caregiver? Did you feel like, you know, whoa, this is not fair? Or like, damn, like, I gotta leave school? What was that transition like?
4:32 Speaker 00 It was just like, I had to mourn, you know, the life that I was setting up, the life that we even prepared me for.
4:39 Speaker 07 Treasure Empire is a multidisciplinary artist from the Bronx who got her start in music and has since branched off into streetwear and swimwear through her company Conch and Cowery.
4:50 Speaker 00 I'm also my mother's primary caregiver, and I have been my entire adult life. So I just crossed my 20th year as a caregiver.
5:03 Speaker 07 She was leaving for college when her mom had a botched knee replacement surgery that set off a ripple effect of eight more surgeries on the same knee, and eventually, the other knee. As time went on, it would render her mom permanently disabled and in need of continuous care.
5:19 Speaker 00 You know, as an artist, it was a blessing and also a curse to Tor because I didn't know who was going to take care of my mom. And so it just stopped me from doing things. Not that she asked me to, but what are you going to do when you see somebody down? Like, go play superstar?
5:35 Speaker 07 Which brings us to takeaway number one. Feel your feelings. You're going through a life-altering event, and there's no blueprint for taking care of someone you love. Can you talk more about mourning the life that you, you know, you guys prepared you for? Has your mom ever talked to you about that?
5:56 Speaker 00 I mean, we do. It's very difficult to be, you know, I feel like it's messy, like, the roles that we play and have played, you know? We've been each other's caregiver for the same amount of time. And we're very different.
6:11 Speaker 07 People, my mom, obviously loves me and loves me being around. And I love to be around, but as a person, you know, if not for these situations, I probably would be far away. Caregiving changes your life in profound ways. And it also feels like you're having the biggest case of FOMO ever. You start seeing milestones slipping away and you might think, that should be me. For Jacqueline, who started taking care of her family at age twenty-nine. It was hard to see her peers posting about their promotions or engagements online. And it got to a point where I had to like stop social media.
6:52 Speaker 07 Because like it's seeing the highlights of people every day. Meanwhile, I'm here and I'm like, oh, my grandma's incontinent. Like, how do I figure that out, you know? Or she's, you know, just calling me every name to exist. Yeah. I'd be like, where did you get that work from? That's like, I haven't heard that since. She was pulling out those old curse words at you. The old ones, hussy, trial up. I was like, what, you got, you got, let me write these down. Eventually, somewhere between changing bed sheets and feeling old school name-calling, it can feel like you're being punished or that you're being forgotten.
7:36 Speaker 07 When you're home every day with two people that you love, who are sick and no one is stopping by, or when someone calls, they ask, how are the people that you're caring for? And they don't ask about you. You start to feel like you're not important. And then, you know, I went through various stages of depression, feeling worthless. I was very ashamed for a long time because I didn't know how to explain my role. Like, I'm not a paid caregiver. And I just felt guilty. I thought that I was lacking or that somebody could do it better. But I had to learn, like, no, girl, like, you were traumatized, you know?
8:19 Speaker 07 These things were very difficult to deal with alone. Guilt, loss, shame, and resentment are just a few of the feelings that caregivers have while learning to care for their loved ones. The only way through is to be gentle with yourself and know that everything you do has an effect on the person that you're caring for. It's very easy to give into the frustration of caregiving, but it's what I have to do to be the best person I could be.
8:46 Speaker 00 Like, to really check myself, like, not for her, but for me. Like, you wanna be bothered? You wanna make her feel like you bothered all the time? You cool with that? Forgive yourself, because when you're starting out, you will make mistakes. You will get short tempered, and so you will build up resilience over time. And so you, sitting in a corner, completely having a meltdown, will happen one year, but in year four, you're like, ah, just another Tuesday.
9:21 Speaker 07 Part of building up resilience is the team of people you have around you. For someone that's entering into this world, I would suggest that you install a care team for whoever you're taking care of, as well as a care team for you, whether it's your best friends or a therapist. Some team of two to three people that you can depend on. And make sure you set schedules for your own, uh, life goals. That's takeaway number two: Establish your own care team.
9:55 Speaker 00 Start by figuring out who's all a part of it. Everyone's not meant to bathe mom. Everyone can't mentally put their head around it.
10:06 Speaker 07 Yeah, they're like, nah, not that, but I'll send you, you know, $500, you know?
10:11 Speaker 00 Exactly.
10:13 Speaker 07 Your care team can have specific jobs. Delegating those jobs can invite your community to help alleviate some of the pressure. Start small if you're nervous.
10:22 Speaker 00 Whether it's ordering someone to come and tidy up the house, having a meal sent, scheduling some time to just show up and just walk.
10:35 Speaker 07 Something that one of my friends would do is she would just stop by and she would say, hey, let's walk. And something like so simple would just like help me to clear my mind. Friendships and other relationships look very different for caregivers. Every second is accounted for and not all of our friends are built to deal with complicated feelings and situations. Jacqueline experienced major shifts in her circles. There are people who I expected to show up who were like, this is too much. I can't. Every time we talk, you're like crying and I don't really wanna sit on the phone with you crying every day. And so though I couldn't offer grace in that moment,
11:20 Speaker 07 I can totally see like how my dynamic as a friend had changed. And I couldn't show up for them the same way and they couldn't show up at all. To be honest, while caring for my mom, most of the friends who I made were people who had already cared for someone or who were currently caring for someone. Yeah, it becomes a a club, so to speak. Yeah. Sometime our friends may not ask for help for many different reasons, but it doesn't mean it's not needed. Being proactive can mean the world to our caregiver friends. I guess in terms of relationships, I'm very thankful for everything that anybody could do for me because um I don't expect it.
12:05 Speaker 07 And we are all we really do have. I don't know if that's the healthiest way to have to live, but it's definitely the American way. Takeaway number three has to do with the most American thing ever. Work, hustle, grind. Making your current workplace understand your challenges is important. Having to talk with your boss, trying to help them understand what it means to give care to someone like. Many work cultures understand caring for kids, but they don't really like get what it is to care for a senior. When you're having the talk with your employer, consider asking about the possibility of other options like hours based on need,
12:50 Speaker 07 compressed work weeks, or hybrid work schedules. Look into your workplace's policies and state laws to see if you're eligible under ELEC, which is the Eligible Leave for Employee Caregiving Time Act, to use paid vacation time or sick days to care for loved ones. If not, see if unpaid leave is an option under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Financial burden is a huge stressor for caregivers. It impacts where you can live, what kinds of services are eligible to their loved ones, and since we live in a world that celebrates productivity overall, it narrows down work options extremely. So making sure company culture is aligned with your situation is important. Here's Treasure.
13:33 Speaker 01 Just remember that this is unpaid work, and there aren't a lot of rights for caregivers. Like, you can't deny someone for being disabled, but you can totally deny me for my role as a caregiver to someone who's disabled.
13:47 Speaker 07 That's another way we can show up for caregivers. Jacqueline reminds us to vote, petition, be on the front lines fighting for paid leave, caregiver, and domestic workers' rights. Learning about advocacy, learning movements that are happening to get family caregivers paid, the movements to have more social supports, like, this is kind of a field where we need to advocate for what we need in order to get it. While you work to advocate for the care of your loved one, Treasure, my personal self-care guru, reminds us to make time for ourselves. That's takeaway number four: Find time for yourself. Whether it's just to help alleviate your stress,
14:31 Speaker 07 having hobbies or working towards larger goals is important, because Treasure told me that you have the right to be in need as well.
14:38 Speaker 01 You should not be trying to take care of anybody before yourself. Your day's gotta start for you first. Your relationship with your life has
14:47 Speaker 07 To begin first, you have to construct a system that allows that. And if it can't be first, then it has to be last, but there has to be time that is yours. What what does your system look like or like what could a system look like? A a good system for me is start your mornings quiet, either like movement meditation, just to stretch your body and I pray over myself to hold on to my life. I try my best to also journal these days, just to to cut the time off to just make sure that however you felt throughout the day, you could leave it somewhere. You can also build time in with yourself by making distance.
15:28 Speaker 07 Booking a short getaway or spa day outside the house gives you something to look forward to that's for you and only you. Making appointments is a way to make sure you stick to your self-care plans. As for Jacqueline, remember at the top of the episode, she was six months into a promising career as a TV writer when she had to stop and switch gears? She turned to online courses and let her care work infuse her writing. I wrote a pilot based on care. And so what's sort of happening is that like care and letting care take up my life
16:09 Speaker 07 and caring for people that I love and trying to learn as much about it has led me into the same path that I had started in. Being in community online has been so instrumental to Jacqueline's caregiving that she started a social media account, Mom of My Mom, where she shares her experiences taking care of and spending time with her mother who had Alzheimer's disease. Nearly eight hundred thousand people look forward to her advocacy, having a place to vent, or just finding support there. And so my life became care. Cause I didn't know how to be a caregiver without my life becoming it.
16:52 Speaker 07 Caregiving is about growth. The person you were when you started the journey is not the person you become. I shouldn't have expected of myself to know what to do. As someone who's not taught how to do that, to have to learn in a very um survivalist.
17:05 Speaker 01 But nobody really taught me. I didn't start like dealing with things where even the medical teams would be like, let's teach her until recently.
17:13 Speaker 07 Caregiving is hard. You'll be challenged at every turn, but the life lessons and gifts it provides are invaluable.
17:20 Speaker 01 Ah, I hate to say it, but if I could do it again, I would because I would be so much better at it. And I would have less resentment and I would just know how to move about it in a much healthier way. And and know that there is good that can still come from something that is so sad.
17:47 Speaker 07 What have you learned as a caregiver that's gonna carry into the rest of your life?
17:52 Speaker 01 I love the senior community in a way that I would not have. Because they are very much invisible. Um, when you're not contributing to society in a monetary way. I think people tend to not seek you. I can look past that now. I can look past the monetary value of a human, which I think is what's most important.
18:28 Speaker 07 Let's recap. Takeaway number one, feel your feelings and process them. Know that you're trying your best and no one is perfect, so be gentle with yourself.
18:39 Speaker 01 How do you take care of yourself? How do you show up for yourself?
18:43 Speaker 07 Takeaway number two, let people help you. Make sure you have support for your loved ones and yourself.
18:50 Speaker 01 Figure out all of the supports that you have, let them know what they can do to help.
18:56 Speaker 07 Takeaway number three, learn all the ways your job can support your role as a caregiver. Have frank discussions with your employer about how you can be best supported at work. Find out if your state laws or workplace policies offer paid or unpaid leave.
19:12 Speaker 07 Takeaway number four, make time and space for yourself, non-negotiable.
19:18 Speaker 01 I need the balance so to be able to keep it going. Otherwise, I'm no good to either of us.
19:24 Speaker 07 Finally, a bonus takeaway, make memories.
19:29 Speaker 01 I think what's most important is making moments, making value of the time that you have.
19:36 Speaker 01 Really important.
19:42 Speaker 01 That was reporter TK Dutes. For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. We've got one on resilience and another on how to switch careers. You can find those at npr.org/lifekit. And if you love Life Kit and you just cannot get enough, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org/lifekitnewsletter. This episode of Life Kit was produced by Sylvie Douglas. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan. And our digital editor is Malika Gharib. Megan Kane is our supervising editor and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tagle, Margaret Serino, and Claire Marie Schneider. Engineering support comes from Patrick Murray, Neil Tevalt, and Carly Strange. I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.
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