Care Consultation is a braiding of the many here-and-now practical concerns with the very personal, emotional responses you may have in the face of life’s big transitions, especially at times of illness or of aging-related changes.
Care-giving and care-receiving do not come naturally to most of us, but these complex roles can be developed. I help individuals, couples and family-groups identify, understand, and enhance their abilities both to give and to receive care.
Over my years of work with San Francisco community-based organizations, hospitals, and professional associations, I have developed both a body of knowledge and expertise about the challenges and the resources for care, and a deep regard for each person’s situation and preferences.
In Care Consultation meetings, my goal is to provide you with information, identify steps, and map ways to proceed with your challenges. These meetings may help with any of the following:
- Identify specific care needs now and those likely to arise
- Identify community resources and sources of respite
- Information on types and levels of care in the health-care system
- Ways to work with behaviors that may arise in someone with a brain disorder, and how best to communicate as abilities change
- Tools to advocate for care in complex health care systems
- Long-term planning – resources, options
- Care-Giving – stages, strategies, supports
- Care-Receiving – ways to “shake hands” with your new needs
- Family differences – help to explore and mediate roadblocks
- Support for emotional turmoil
Who Requests Care Consultations?
- People with a newly diagnosed chronic or life-threatening illness, and those who are partnering in this transition
- Adult children, grandchildren caring for elders in the family
- Spouses caring for an ill/disabled spouse
- Friends caring for an ill/disabled friend