{"id":28,"date":"2008-09-11T21:54:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-11T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jennifercares\/2008\/09\/online-support-for-caregivers.html"},"modified":"2008-09-11T21:54:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-11T21:54:00","slug":"online-support-for-caregivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jennifercares\/2008\/09\/online-support-for-caregivers.html","title":{"rendered":"Online Support for Caregivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you’re going through a caregiving<\/span> situation, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone. The truth is, of course you are not alone. More than 50-million people in the US are volunteer family caregivers. Many are going through the same kinds of struggles that you are going through.
\nStudies show that caregivers tend to withdraw<\/span> from social situations, and even friends…partly because they feel they just don’t have the time to commit to anything for themselves.
\nStaying connected is so important for your mental health, and I love what one organization I know about is doing to help caregivers stay connected—on their own time, without even having to leave the house!
\nThe National Family Caregivers Association <\/a>(celebrating its 15th<\/span> anniversary) is launching e-communities around the country to help family caregivers to be able<\/span> to reach out to others near where they live. These caregiving<\/span> communities<\/span> have already been established in Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, and Virginia, and more are on the way!
\nThrough these communities, people register and then email others to begin conversations, and share helpful information.
\nI am looking forward to the opportunity to interview Suzanne Mintz<\/span>, president and co-founder of NFCA<\/span> for Take Care!<\/em><\/strong> Her personal story of caregiving<\/span> is inspirational, and her crusade to make life easier for other family caregivers has wonderful support and power. I just received a copy of Mintz’s<\/span> book, A Family Caregiver Speaks Up, <\/em>which offers information regarding how caregivers can best work within the healthcare<\/span> system, as well as discussion on the effects of public policy in a caregiver’s<\/span> life.
\nMintz<\/span> has been on the Today show and other national programs as a strong advocate for caregiving<\/span> issues. I’ll keep you posted on when I’m able to have a discussion with her.
\nj.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you’re going through a caregiving situation, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone. The truth is, of course you are not alone. More than 50-million people in the US are volunteer family caregivers. Many are going through the same kinds of struggles that you are going through. Studies show that caregivers tend to withdraw…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-care-smart"],"yoast_head":"\nOnline Support for Caregivers - Jennifer Cares<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jennifercares\/2008\/09\/online-support-for-caregivers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Online Support for Caregivers - Jennifer Cares\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you’re going through a caregiving situation, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone. The truth is, of course you are not alone. More than 50-million people in the US are volunteer family caregivers. Many are going through the same kinds of struggles that you are going through. Studies show that caregivers tend to withdraw…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jennifercares\/2008\/09\/online-support-for-caregivers.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jennifer Cares\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-09-11T21:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Antkowiak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Online Support for Caregivers - Jennifer Cares","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jennifercares\/2008\/09\/online-support-for-caregivers.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Online Support for Caregivers - Jennifer Cares","og_description":"When you’re going through a caregiving situation, it’s easy to feel isolated and alone. 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