Caregiver Ceremony

Ongoing, unrelenting, caregiving can wear a person down. It slowly and gradually exerts PTSD-like effects on the brain and nervous system. Whether providing care to a family member or working as a professional healthcare provider, caregivers face loss, change, and transition on a daily basis. Because the losses are chronic, they may not even be recognized, subtly robbing the care provider of their own sense of self (a Soul Injury®). This can produce notable physical and emotional symptoms, that interfere with personal and professional well-being. The literature now recognizes this as “Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder” (STSD).

This ceremony has two parts. The information section provides education on STSD, reviews related research, and discusses ways to transform the brain by installing new “software.” The second portion of the program is the ceremony that acknowledges the hardships that care providers have incurred, teaches them how to grieve and release the losses they face, and helps them learn how to become a “gracious receiver.”

Your Caregiver Ceremony kit includes:

Videos for educating participants about the impact of distress on the brain and nervous system
A facilitator’s guide to administer the program
Supplemental materials: Wounds of Suffering chart, and Self-care Assessment
Facilitated exercise that identifies and bear witness to factors that are interfering with well-BEing
Gracious Receiver buttons for participants
Guided imagery audio download that helps participants practice how to let pain and peace sit side-by-side together without fear
Templates for advertising the ceremony and a sample PSA