Aging Family Archives ⋆ Page 5 of 14 ⋆ Cathy Cress

Why Does the Nearly Normal Aging Family Melt Down Over the Holidays

November 11, 2018

Many concierge aging families are healthy or a nearly normal family. But discovering they must care for a parent can force them into a tailspin. When the parent figure in the family begins to suffer the losses of aging, a filial crisis occurs.

What’s that-? That is accepting your parent in the here and now. When a Mom or Dad is no longer the north stars they were to the family, midlife adult children need to learn to learn to balance parental love and duty with independence. These midlife kids must create a two-way relationship instead of the parent sending, love, money and nurture only one way. This can throw adult children in a nearly normal family into a parental panic.

Nurturing and care have always been a one-way street – ending with them. Were they selfish – no? That’s what good parents do- nurture their children through all the stages of life. However, this new stage takes a two-way street.

The healthy nearly normal family is also thrown off balance by a shock to the system- someone has to replace the Queen or King bee. The person who took the lead role on the family stage has not shown up or forgets their lines. On the holidays they don’t decorate the Christmas tree, forget the words to the blessing on Chanukah, the recipe for Latkes or their famous Christmas sugar cookies.

Now the adult kids must make the Christmas cookies, Latkes, lead the Chanukah prayers or host Christmas. Many are reluctant to step up to the plate, take over the work of a ritual- be the head of the family

At this giant pause in family play, the family system, even in the normal family must face the loss of control in the system because the parents or parent figures usually have that control. When they can no longer manage on their own, or function as the main gear or guide that moves the family system forward, even the normal spins out of control.

Join me in my new Webinar

5 Ways to Tame the Turbulence of Holiday Meltdown in Aging Families

During the busiest season for care management referrals-

You Will Learn:

How to give hope to frantic children who call, after seeing their aging parent struggling with the rituals
How to sell services during intake, to desperate adult child callers
How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos
How to use financial forecasting to prepare for growth during the holidays
How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holiday

BY THE AUTHOR OF HANDBOOK OF GERIATRIC CARE MANAGEMENT

Do Holidays Open the Sibling Wound Mom Loved You Best –Treated With Lots of Alcohol?

November 9, 2018

Holidays can sometimes trigger old brother or sister hurts that never healed. Joy to the World can turn into something from Black Sabbath. Perhaps an adult child avoids midlife siblings and family Thanksgiving because there’s “bad blood” from childhood. Maybe they steer clear of Mom’s holiday dinner so you can skip seeing sisters and brothers who gouged childhood wounds. The scar has built up over decades and if they attend they dive for the alcohol which is plentiful in these ritual celebrations. What can result is nasty sibling fights over the past not Mom and Dad needing care.

Maybe there just was not enough love your rickety family nest, making siblings scramble for the few caring crumbs. Kid brothers could have slugged other siblings behind Mom’s back. Maybe a sister got the new prom dress when younger girls did Goodwill or the hand me down.

Divorce often shattered families leaving you with two houses, two beds, two sets of parents, and stepsiblings who fought for parent’s diminished love. No matter what the grievance story – holidays are when they might want to think about forgiveness because all hands are needed on deck when parents are failing with age.

The season of not so much joy brings calls to care managers from desperate adult children noticing melting down parent’s who are fixture in the family. They call a GCM for advice and the main task is often to make a family sibling team that was not a team 30 years ago.

Need help in creating that team?

Join me in my new free Webinar

5 Ways to Tame the Turbulence of Holiday Meltdown in Aging Families

During the busiest season for care management referrals-

You Will Learn:

How to give hope to frantic children who call, after seeing their aging parent struggling with the rituals
How to sell services during intake, to desperate adult child callers
How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos among siblings
How to use financial forecasting to prepare for growth during the holidays
How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holidays
- Sign Up

Take This Test -Can You Take A Dysfunctional Family Case Over the Holidays ?

November 8, 2018

Do You Have the Clinical Skills to Give Hope to The Dysfunctional Family Calling Desperately On the Holidays – What does it Take?

Do you know the right caseload mix so you have the intense time to handle these very heavy care families?
Do you have 5 years of geriatric care management practice, a master’s degree to understand and work with them???
Do you have the business model to realign your caseload for both light & Heavy cases?
Can you increase your staff to do it?
Do you know aging family dynamics or do you have a staff member who does?
Do you have care managers who can work with complex aging dysfunctional families?
Do You Know How to do a two call intake and complimentary consultation
Do You know how to make the sale to dysfunctional aging clients
Are you ready to be fired and have an account receivable problems that come with these cases?
Do you know how to answer the challenge the adult children face and the client’s needs at the same time
Do you know how to hold an impromptu family Dysfunctional meeting with adult children, over the hectic holiday to plan care for aging parents?
Do you understand the executive function loss that older woman experience when trying to plan a holiday ritual dinner that fails, upsetting their adult children?
Can you work with narcissistic entitled older clients who are very demanding
Can you take the demeaning, blaming attitude of narcissistic old and new monied clients
Do you know how to avoid the VIP Syndrome with Concierge Rich and Famous Dysfunctional Family To Learn More Clinical Skills Before the HolidaysJoin me in my new Free Webinar 5 Ways to Tame the Turbulence of Holiday Meltdown in Aging Families During the busiest season for care management referrals-
You Will Learn:
- How to give hope to frantic children who call, after seeing their aging parent struggling with the rituals
- How to sell services during intake, to desperate adult child callers
- How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos
- How to use financial forecasting to prepare for growth during the holidays
- How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holidays
  - Sign Up

Why Do Care Managers Need Social Media Now and 4 Simple Steps

November 7, 2018

The holiday season is here when you will get the most referrals from adult children seeing their aging parents or relatives and alarms bells blaring that they need help. But how do they know your agency is 911- marketing and especially social media.

Why do you need social media.? Not having it is like being at a business meeting with an elder law attorney and pulling out you flip phone and wondering why your competition got her client instead of you.

But some geriatric care manager owns flip phones and dig in their heels and say what is social media marketing going to do for my kind of business and do I really need it?

It doesn’t matter if you run a solo practice or a big national company. Social media is an essential piece of your business marketing strategy.

Social platforms help you connect with your customers, increase awareness about your brand, and boost your leads and sales. With more than three billion people around the world using social media every month, it’s no passing trend.

So, if you are just starting your aging life or geriatric care management business or one of those folks who has dug in your heels against this is what you can do to get more customers using social media

1. Write a blog

How

Choose Word Press or another blog software set up an account to start position information to potential clients.

2. Use Email newsletter

How

Design the format (they have templates), write content, publish on a least a monthly basis, consider services like Constant Content

.3. Open twitter Facebook, Linked in Pinterest Accounts

How

Sign up and learn how to use social media. Best if on your website and automatically posts

Services needed to complete

4. Join Linked in for professional referrals: Develop a Profile, get testimonials, join Linked in groups like Aging Life Care Asso group

Create a Facebook fan page for your GCM business

Learn to use Pinterest for your business

Create a Twitter account for your business

If you feel you do not have the time or the skills to do this- very likely for folks over a certain age- we did not grow up with this language- hire someone to do this or best bet a grandchild. I have two grandchildren who have helped me over the years, although I now have a webmaster.

You can also have a professional create marketing content, newsletters, blogs for you using businesses like Elderpages

Get ready for the onslaught of customers who call you

Join me at my newest free webinar

5 Ways to Tame the Turbulence of Holiday Meltdown in Aging Families

During the busiest season for care management referrals-

You Will Learn:

How to give hope to frantic children who call, after seeing their aging parent struggling with the rituals
How to sell services during intake, to desperate adult child callers
How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos
How to use financial forecasting to prepare for growth during the holidays
How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holidays
- Sign Up

What are 7 Spiritual Quality Of Life Activities for Elders in the Coming Holiday Season?

November 2, 2018

Spirituality can matter more as you age. Now that we are entering a season of high spiritual celebrations like Christmas, Hanukkah, Orthodox Christmas, Feast day – Our Lady of Guadalupe- this is the most important season to involve elders in spiritual communities. Religious communities offer socialization thus the quality of life to so many elders and can return joy their lives.

Leonie Nowitz, a geriatric care manager who has a deep interest in spirituality and writes about it often, once told me to look at spirituality as a question ” What is this all about”. As we age this question becomes primal, as we face death coming at a rapid pace. We wonder- do I go to heaven, to hell, or just energy or dust. Will I meet angels- my wife in heaven.?

Ms. Nowitz said that when you define religion, look at it as a filing cabinet with each drawer is a religion with it’s answer to spirituality ” “What Is this all About”. There is one for Jews, Protestants, Hindu’s Muslims, Quakers, The Environment- all religions and belief systems.

One assessment care managers can do is a Quality of Life assessment to find out where joy can be found again. If spirituality is something that would increase an elders quality of life, here are some activities that you may suggest to an older client or their family, especially on holidays when places of worship have their most spectacular music, smells, and bells and pageantry.

Spiritual Quality of Life Activities

If an older person appears isolated and is unable to attend their place a worship, especially on holidays, because of not driving or disability, and they wish to still join a congregation, contact the head of the religious group and ask if members could transport him or if they have a van service or arrange for members to transport them to services. If they cannot get out ask if the spiritual leader or congregation members would make home visits.
If an older person is not now a part of a religious group but what once was and has some interest in returning, holidays are the best times to reconnect.Contact the head of the religious group and ask him/her to make a home visit and the care manager follow-up with transportation arrangements if yes.
If an older client has had a recent close relative or friend die and wishes to return to a spiritual group she knew before, connect them, with the congregation they are familiar with for solace or grieving.
If an older person moves to a new area and is part of a religious group connect them to the same religion and place of worship in the new town and arrange transportation and a new member to greet them
If an older person has dementia if possible reconnect him her with his spiritual background through familiar prayer, music etc.
If an elder has dementia and can attend services without being disruptive, arrange for a caregiver to take them as they can still be drawn in by the ” Smells and Bells’
If you have a homebound client who wishes to return to a religious group, reconnect them by arranging, in their, spiritual music, religious icons (a rosary or image, for example), readings from a sacred text, watching a service on television, listening to one on the radio or via computer.

Find out more about helping elders and their families during the coming holidays

Join me in my new Webinar

5 Ways to Tame the Turbulence of Holiday Meltdown in Aging Families

During the busiest season for care management referrals-

You Will Learn:

How to give hope to frantic children who call, after seeing their aging parent struggling with the rituals
How to sell services during intake, to desperate adult child callers
How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos
How to use financial forecasting to prepare for growth during the holidays
How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holidays
- Sign Up

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