What Families Need To Know

mental health

Knowledge is power.

When you’re trying to help your loved ones find a living situation that works for them, knowledge might be everything. Parents and spouses and siblings and children become experts in diseases and disorders. However, sometimes they don’t know what people need. They don’t always know what a relationship with a caregiver looks like.

So here’s some key points that you need to know.

You’re Not In Charge

Many of us spend a lot of time making decisions for loved ones with illness or disability. We do this because we love them and we know that they need help. However, one of the first thing we focus on at Community Living Centres is agency. We work with the individual and if the individual is capable of making their own decisions as they relate to their care, we’re always going to support that.

We are not their mom. We are not their dad. We don’t set rules in the same way that parents can impose their wishes on a child. That’s not how we work. Sometimes that means that challenges continue because we can’t and won’t just say no. They’re our challenges now. We believe in empowering individuals so that they can take control of their lives. We will always be there to keep them safe, but they’ve got choices to make. There are situations where it makes sense for the family to be involved, but wherever possible, the individual is in charge of their care and of their lives.

Families Still Need To Be Involved

While the day to day activities are controlled by the client, the family is still usually involved in the larger decision making process. This all depends on the degree to which the individual is capable of advocating for themselves, but we want to make sure that people understand that we’re not evicting families from their lives. We’re helping relieve some of the stresses that exist so that you can enjoy the being together.

Most of our families know the primary supports that are in their loved one’s life. We develop a relationship together, with the input and care of families. We want you to be here. We just that time that you spend together to be the best it can be. So we help manage some of the challenges. But you’re not dropping off your family member and walking away. It’s a relationship.

We’re a team.

Who’s The Boss

While it’s important that families connect with supports and caregivers, but there comes a time when major decisions need to be made and when that happens, leadership becomes involved. Whether it’s a supervisor or the director, there may come a time when major decisions need to be made and when that happens, there can be a lot more that goes into that decisions than just one person sees. When important decisions need to be made, we take that very seriously.

We Do What You Need

Sometimes families have been dealing not just with the mental and physical aspects of these situations, but they’ve also been dealing with the logistics. So they have their own mortgage, but they also manage someone else’s living arrangements. Maybe they handle their own utilities, but then they have to handle someone else’s heat, lights and hot water. That can be exhausting.

So when we take on a case, we will often discuss the degree to which the family wants us to be involved.

We love to help relieve stress and we understand how much these tasks can weigh. What a family wants us to do impacts the total cost of care, but we can do whatever the client needs to make it work.

In the end, we want to improve everyone’s life. Not just the individual but everyone who has spent their time caring for them as well. We want to help.