Helping the Grieving Caregiver

Giving a caregiver advice on how to cope with grief is a bit like telling someone at a funeral that you’re sorry for their loss. Neither one is very helpful, but then, neither is silence. There is no way to tell someone how to move past the wound of loss when they spend every  day feeding, bathing and caring for the person they’re losing, or feel they have already lost. 

The difference between helping a grieving caregiver and helping a grieving widow, of course, is that the caregiver still needs help with their loved one. There may be nothing you can say, but there a lot of things you can do. You can run errands, drop off a meal, stop by for a chat or give them a caregiving break.

If you care about a caregiver, you can make a difference. You just have to do it.