“When I began managing this program, it quickly became very clear to me just how overwhelmed the caregivers who I met were and how little resources were available to them,” Sarina explained. “Although they weren’t isolated, they felt very disconnected from others. Since they were spending so much time caring for their loved ones, they didn’t really have the time to see friends, or engage in hobbies that they had been used to.”
Sarina’s empathy for caregivers began when she was a child and watched her mother and aunt care for her grandmother who was suffering with Alzheimer’s. “I was always very moved by everything they did for her, and I’m just as moved today when I speak with many of the caregivers who come to my program,” Sarina said. “I once had a gentleman come to my program for counseling because his mother had begun to decline cognitively. He was forced to move back in with her, and he would go to work all day, only to come home and spend his evenings caring for his ailing mom. He could never relax, and he began losing sleep and falling into depression.”
This story, like so many others, is the reason Sarina takes such pride in her work. She would meet this client during his lunch breaks, and together, they identified his main concerns, discussed stress-reduction techniques, and other resources that were available to his mother, such as a Life Alert device and assistance from Meals on Wheels. “Caregivers come away from counseling sessions with a host of new skills and resources,” Sarina explained. “Depending on their specific needs, they may be connected with assistance related to transportation, legal services, food, long term care planning, and respite. But more importantly, they learn how to cope.”
