How can counselling help if you’re a dementia carer?
Counselling can help carers cope with complicated feelings, processing a dementia diagnosis and experiencing unexpected changes to relationships.
We can’t make dementia go away, but one-to-one counselling can help you to cope better with different challenges you may be experiencing and enable you to feel more in control. Dr Gemima Fitzgerald, Clinical Psychologist, Dementia Carers Count
What is counselling?
Counsellors are highly skilled listeners who are trained to help you understand yourself and others more. When you talk to a counsellor and share your experiences of the present or of the past, counsellors will quickly gain an understanding of:
- who you are as a person
- what has an impact on how you are feeling
- how you might behave and respond in different situations
You may be surprised at how much you learn about yourself through speaking to a counsellor. You may also be surprised at how a series of regular counselling sessions can build your emotional resilience and help you develop coping strategies.
What feelings and emotions can counselling help with?
As a dementia carer, you may at different times feel angry, resentful or guilty. You may be afraid of the future and what is to come. You may have an overwhelming sense of loss and grief. You may be struggling with difficult family dynamics.
You are not alone. Dementia carers often experience these emotions. Counselling sessions can help you to understand why you are feeling what you are feeling. We can support you to plot a realistic way forward.
Our counsellors can help you feel more in control and at peace with the emotions and challenges you may be experiencing.
Finding things hard is not a personal failing. Too often carers feel that they can’t open up about how difficult everything is. Relationships can be complicated. For example, some carers are now looking after someone who has been abusive towards them in the past and they’ve never shared that information with anyone.
It can feel incredibly isolating to be doing your best to care for someone, when you don’t have anyone you can speak to about how impossible everything is. Dr Gemima Fitzgerald, Clinical Psychologist, Dementia Carers Count
Our team of specialist counsellors understand the challenges of being a dementia carer. Each team member is qualified and accredited and has expertise in supporting people caring for someone with dementia.
Every conversation is confidential. You can talk about whatever you are finding hard in a safe space where there is no judgement.
Talking to Gemima gave me not only support for caring for my mum, but also in finding a deeper purpose in the process, and a way into the future. Dementia carer receiving counselling
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Emotional support group for dementia carers
Meet other carers in our online peer support group, all about supporting your emotional needs as a dementia carer. Afternoons and evenings.
Help and Information
Help for dementia carers covering everything from getting a carers assessment, to continence, washing and eating, to lasting power of attorney
