The initial thought when I started thinking of this potential blog post was interviewing a bunch of different perspectives and get as many opinions as possible. Unfortunately, that didn’t work in my favor. So, the final product is interviewing my friend Aubrey. Aubrey has been in this field for over a year. I met her while working at LifeROOTS. She got a job as a caregiver for a company called Footprints. I, like she spend most of our days tending to the needs of others as caregivers. I know what it is like for me, but I was curious to see what it was like for her. I decided to ask her a simple, open-ended question: “What does a day in the life of a caregiver at Footprints look like?” I then asked if she liked it or disliked it. Her response was this: “My thoughts on being a caregiver are that it is exhausting, not only physically but mentally. A normal day for me entails transfers, toileting, personal care, showers, dressing clients, cooking, cleaning, running errands, meetings, paperwork, etc. Most days run smoothly, but there are days that make you wish you never got out of bed. Once one thing goes wrong it feels like the rest of the day follows. Being a caregiver is a very important and much needed job. When I'm with clients they are placing their trust into me and it can cause a lot of pressures and anxieties. It's important to always take a moment to breathe when feeling overwhelmed. You have to remember that your needs matter too!” As for me, I work with people with IDD my days are like Aubrey’s but can be different as well. My job title is Job Coach. I work with individuals at their workplace and depending on the duration of their shift I do the same things while job coaching. Granted it’s not as much at jobsites, but when I am done job coaching, I usually spend the rest of my day in the day hab’s at LifeROOTS. I feed, perform personal care, do dishes, laundry, and tend to our participants needs. It can be quite exhausting. I do this five (or more) days out of the week. For a while I was burnt out and thought about leaving. I needed a break because if I didn’t, I would have ended up quitting. I was so busy taking care of everybody else, I neglected my needs! I can agree, caregiving is important and much needed, but if you think caregiving is for you and want to do it, please, and I cannot stress this enough, don’t forget to take care of yourself! I love what I do, but caregivin’ ain’t easy!
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DreaAlways remember to love yourself. Archives
November 2022
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