Training on Caregiver’s Burnout

– What is Burnout;

– Burnout signs and symptoms;

– Preventing Burnout;

– Dealing with Burnout;

-The importance of asking for help.

Anyone who takes under responsibility a person who suffers of some kind of incapacity, will probably be glad to know that occupational therapy is also often used to help caregivers.

Regardless of whether the person under care has reduced mobility, suffers from dementia, is handicapped, has been exposed to prolonged illness or is simply feeling the effects of old age, the caregiver is always under stressful activity and emotional waste. The occupational therapist may be an important ally, conveying relevant information and personalized counseling on how to organize daily activities and create healthy routines (for the caregiver and for the person under care), such as how to organize occupational environments, how to save your own energy and protect your joints (namely the correct ways of transferring the person under your care and which assistive devices to use), strategies to communicate and deal with persons who have cognitive deficits or dementia, how to empower the person under your care instead of doing things for her, among other issues.

One of the occupational therapist’s main objectives in this area is to value the positive aspects of caring for someone, and to avoid caregiver’s burnout, a condition of physical and mental exhaustion that may be prevented when the caregiver understands the need to take care of himself, enjoying enough moments of rest and leisure, seeking and accepting the help of friends and family with whom to share the workload and the responsibility involved in caring, as well as finding support groups with whom to share their experiences.