Stage Two, Section 6: Relief Through Self Expression

Start a personal journal and offer your care recipient a journal. Use a simple notebook or a book with blank or lined pages a lovely cover.

Your journal may serve as a place to:

• keep a daily diary of your experiences. Include anything of interest to you - some caregivers even include the weather and what was going on in the world that day.

• list enjoyable activities you can do to reward yourself or to get away from caregiving for short periods of time. Record something nice you did for yourself every day, choosing ideas from the list of enjoyable activities.

• vent rage or write poetry - a private book in which you can write down your feelings of disappointment, sadness, anger, and fear.

• record or glue inspirational verses and stories you find in a daily text, magazines, or caregiver newsletters.

• write down advice from other caregivers you meet in your support group.

• glue, tape, or staple in comic strips or copies of other humorous things you have seen and want to look at again when you need cheering up.

• record moments in which love between you and your care recipient is expressed through quiet experiences you share - watching the fish in your fishpond, feeding birds, or looking at an old photograph album together.

The person for whom you are caring may be physically challenged but mentally capable. Having a journal as a private place to express the feelings of helplessness, sadness, and frustration that accompany the condition that has completely changed his or her life and dreams could be emotionally healing. If your care receiver has trouble writing, consider a tape recorder. There are small, inexpensive tape recorders that are fairly easy to use. Some are voice activated.

If your care receiver hesitates to express feelings in a journal, he or she might like to write down or record stories and memories from his or her life. Your care receiver might enjoy leaving this behind as a gift for family and friends, and recording these stories might lead to opening up to express other thoughts.

Art

In addition to journaling, you and your care recipient might enjoy art. There are journals with unlined pages, art sketch books with bigger pages, and paper, canvas, and other materials for drawing and painting. Other types of art such as working with clay might be helpful, too, and can be done by people with conditions such as dementia. Art could be an activity you do together. If your care recipient is able, many of the senior centers offer art classes. If you live in Florida's Pinellas or Pasco Counties, see our list of Senior Centers.

The local recreation departments also offer a variety of art classes, and some activities are offered for those who are physically or mentally challenged. Look for parks and recreation department or leisure services under your city in the blue government pages of the telephone book. Ask whether there are any therapeutic programs for people who are challenged. Many recreation departments in Florida's Pasco and Pinellas Counties have their regular and therapeutic activities listed in brochures they can mail to you. They may also give you the address for their web site if they have one.

Creative Clay Cultural Arts Center in St. Petersburg and Safety Harbor, Florida, provides classes in pottery, watercolor, poetry, sculpture, voice lessons, etc. Creative clay is certified to work with persons with physical and/or developmental challenges. Grants and private sponsors fund them, and their therapeutic art philosophy has proven useful in rehabilitation centers and nursing homes. They had a resource table at a local Stroke Conference. Call 727-825-0515 or visit their web site, www.creativeclay.org.

Photographs and Videos

While you may feel that there are no reasons to take photographs, nothing to celebrate anymore, it is a good idea to keep cameras handy and be ready to make a record of this time spent together. Photographs may be a source of peace for you and meaningful to family and friends. Consider organizing these into a photo album or scrapbook. Digital photographs may be e-mailed to relatives and friends and can also be printed.

An audiotape or video recording (VHS or DVD) can be a treasure, too, especially if you record your care receiver's voice. For more about making a reminiscence tape, read "Family Gathering" in Stage One, Section 2.