At the end of our course, you will feel comforted about your past,
feel confident about your future and feel ready to begin your present.
Course: Beginning Again After Caregiving Ends, a 6-Class Course
Time Commitment: Six archived presentation which you listen to at your convenience. Take as much as time you need; the presentations are archived and available when you’re ready. You also can refer to the presentations as often and as much as you need.
Objective: At the end of our course, you will feel comforted about your past, feel confident about your future and feel ready to begin your present.
Levels: Anyone whose caregiving experience has ended.
Instructor: Denise M. Brown, founder of The Caregiving Years Training Academy
Pilot Program: Enroll in this course for free by joining our pilot program. In our pilot program, you’ll complete pre- and post-surveys and receive free access to our course.
To enroll in our pilot program:
After completing the pre-course survey, you’ll be directed to a page with details on how to enroll at no charge. Be sure to enroll right away; our pilot program is limited to 20 participants
What You Get:
- Six archived presentations;
- PDF of Denise’s book, After Caregiving Ends, A Guide to Beginning Again;
- Access to our private group on CaringOurWay.com to share and connect with other students.
Course Testimonial
“I am so appreciating your course, Beginning Again After Caregiving Ends,” says Catrina, a student who cared for her husband. “Many thoughts and ideas have been both practical and inspiring. I have found many gems of wisdom and caring within every session.”
Course Description
Denise first began to think about life after caregiving in 1997 when she wrote a concept called “The Caregiving Years, Six Stages to a Meaningful Journey.” The sixth stage — the Godspeed Caregiver — speaks to that life after caregiving ends. The end of caregiving leaves you a new person, yet without the time and perspective to adjust to that newness. It also brings up a conundrum — how do you move forward as this new person when you’re missing the one who just died?
As a former family caregiver, you have access to information about grieving and settling an estate and selling a house. What you can’t find is information about how to close out a caregiving experience. Caregiving ends in an instant and yet the the memory of the experience lingers. You may worry you didn’t do enough to prevent a death. You may fret over discussions you didn’t have with your caree. You might carry resentment toward family members who didn’t step in to help. You might worry about the new make-up of your family; without your caree, will the family stay intact? And, you worry about finding another purpose as meaningful as caregiving.
Organized into six classes, Beginning Again After Caregiving Ends follows Denise’s book, After Caregiving Ends, A Guide to Beginning Again. The first class, Close, focuses on closing out the caregiving experience. In the next class, Open, you learn how to step into a new life, bringing along coping strategies to manage your grief. In Discover, you spend time understanding who you are now, recognizing that caregiving has changed your priorities and values. Experiment, the fourth class, encourages you to explore and try ways to apply your new-found priorities and values in a career, volunteering and relationships. After experimenting, you use information in the Drive section to choose a new life’s path and manage those potholes you might hit along the way. In the class called Share, you understand how to talk about lessons learned during caregiving to help those family caregivers behind you.
During caregiving, so much of your day was about you and your caree. In your life after your caregiving, it’s you. That’s really scary. It’s also really empowering when you bring along the best lessons learned from both caregiving and your caree.
Our course, together with the book, will encourage, motivate and inspire you to move into the next phase of your life, bringing with you the best of what you gained during your caregiving experience. At the end of our course, you will feel comforted about your past, feel confident about your future and feel ready to begin your present.
Our self-study course moves at your pace. You’ll also be invited to a private group on CaringOurWay.com to discuss and share with others students. With the course, you gain information and gather support as you move forward.
After enrolling, you’ll be directed to your class directory which includes your classes and a PDF of Denise’s book, After Caregiving Ends, A Guide to Beginning Again.
Our Agenda
Class 1: Close
Managing Regrets; Reconciling Resentments; Wrapping Up the Story; Working Out Worries
Close 2: Open
Outing Grief; Your Day; Your Routine; Your Health; Socializing; Your Identity
Class 3: Discover
Your Values; Your Passions; Your Gifts; Your Purpose
Class 4: Experiment
Talking about Caregiving in Your Career; Changing Careers; Finding a Job; Volunteering; Relationships; Dating; Travel; Learning
Class 5: Drive
Stocking Up for the Road Trip; Managing the Potholes; Forming a Team for Your Front and Back Seats; Sometimes, Flying Past the Flaggers. Sometimes, Slowing Down; Handling Reviews; Changing Course
Class 6: Share
Your Lessons Learned During Caregiving; Your Life; Your Dreams
Enroll
To enroll in our pilot program:
After completing the pre-course survey, you’ll be directed to a page with details on how to enroll at no charge. Be sure to enroll right away; our pilot program is limited to 20 participants.
About Denise, Your Instructor
Denise began working with family caregivers in 1990 and regularly speaks about the family caregiver experience. Her insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, US News & World Report, USA Today, SmartMoney.com, Time magazine and Chicago Tribune. Her books, including The Caregiving Years, Your Guide to Navigating the Six Caregiving Stages and Take Comfort, Reflections of Hope for Caregivers, provide insights, inspirations and information to those who care for family members. She currently tries her best to care for her parents.