November is National Family Caregivers Month. This year’s theme, “Take Care to Give Care,” is focused on practicing self-care while caring for others. This is an excellent opportunity to highlight the challenges that family caregivers face and share how you help them get respite and reassurance that their senior loved ones are receiving great care. 
Content Tips for Any Senior Care Company
Interview, feature or profile some of the family caregivers you support (with their permission and opt-in of course). Include ways your organization has partnered with them in the care of their senior loved ones, and mention ways you’ve been supportive to them as well. Provide a platform for them to share their stories, and include compelling images — photos of real people are so much more appreciated than stock photography models.
Do a blog post with a list of reasons you’re thankful for family caregivers: how they work with your staff in ensuring the well being of their senior loved ones, how they go with their senior loved one to the doctor and help with medication management, how they cared enough to contact your organization for help in the first place, how they keep you informed about concerns or changes regarding their loved one, how often they visit their loved one, as just some possible examples. This is also timely with Thanksgiving this month, and offers a positive, relationship-building content opportunity.
Many family caregivers already know they need respite, and some can get irritated when told to take care of themselves, particularly if they’re struggling financially, emotionally, physically, and/or aren’t juggling well their career, family, and other responsibilities due to the constraints of caregiving. They may realize that they’re exhausted and need a break, but can’t figure out how to actually take one. Consider that perspective in your respite content this month — and give practical, empowering guidance that they can actually use immediately. It could be cost-saving tips that free up funds for in-home care a few hours a week. It could be suggestions for 5-minute mini mental breaks, or ‘staycations’. It could be “ways to ask other family members or friends to help”. Or you could ask the family caregivers you know to give tips for others on how to get the respite they know they need and compile that into a blog post.
Content Tips for Senior Living Communities
Does your community offer temporary, respite or vacation stays? If so, this could be a good month to highlight that option for family caregivers, given the theme of this month’s observance./li>
Content Tips for Home Care Agencies
Have any of your professional caregivers also been a family caregiver? Perhaps they were inspired to become a professional caregiver after such experience? For instance, Selena Brown at Rest Assured Nursing (the top bonus-earning Caring Champion of 2013) began as a family caregiver to her grandmother, then served in the U.S. military, and then become a professional caregiver. Hers is a wonderful story, and if you have professional caregivers with the family caregiving background as a source of the inspiration for their career path, consider highlighting them this month, while honoring all family caregivers.
Caring Resources to Support this Spark
Caregiver Wellness Solution Center
8 Types of Respite Care
Caregiver Identity Series: Which Family Caregiver Are You?
Caregiver Journey 2016 — Data from Family Caregivers on Caring.com
True Stories about the Cost of Family Caregiving in 2016
Online Support Groups for Family Caregivers
How to Say Thank You to a Family Caregiver this Thanksgiving
Example of a National Family Caregiver Month profile series on Facebook
Additional Resources to Support this Spark
Presidential Proclamation for National Family Caregivers Month 2016
National Alliance for Caregiving — National Family Caregivers Month info center
Caregiver Action Network — Theme for National Family Caregivers Month 2016
Content Sparks are part of Caring.com’s Content Made Simple program. See all of the November 2016 Content Sparks.