4 Steps to Develop your Resiliency with Caregiver Resources

By Family Caregivers of BC

Family and friend caregivers often speak of the stress that comes with managing time, financial matters, and the numerous day-to-day demands of caregiving. Without adequate support and with little time for themselves, caregivers can soon find themselves feeling overwhelmed due to physical and emotional exhaustion. At the same time, family/friend caregiving can be very rewarding, with many caregivers expressing positive thoughts about their role and how much it means to them.

Developing resilience is one way to help decrease caregiver burden and burnout. It helps make the challenging parts of caregiving more manageable. Resiliency is a learned skill set. We add to our resiliency tank the more we practice self-awareness, self-care, and the setting of healthy boundaries. Building resilience helps caregivers sustain their health and capacity to care for themselves and others. When caregivers feel resilient, it expands their capacity to move through difficult situations that are part of their caring role and reduces their vulnerability to stress.

There is no “one-size-fits-all” resilience plan, however, a common thread to building resiliency can be found through fulfilling activities that support your physical, emotional, mental, and/or spiritual health. When you are able to commit to at least one of these areas, research has shown that it greatly contributes to personal well-being and your ability to cope with stress.

Step One: Start with a Resiliency Check-In

Start by checking in with how resilient you feel. Take our ‘How Resilient Are you Feeling’ quiz to learn about your strengths, celebrate your wins and acknowledge your healthy behaviours. This check-in also reveals areas where you’d like to build more resilience.

Step Two: Resiliency Review: What Resonates With You?

Look at your resiliency quiz results, reflect, and then write out the areas where you’d like to build more resilience. Even building up one area of your resilience domain can have an impact on your overall well-being. For example, you might acknowledge to yourself, on paper, or to someone, “I want to feel less stressed”, “I want to have more connection with others”, and/or “I want to prioritize my health”.

Step Three: Build your Caregiving Plan

A personal caregiving plan is driven by your needs and is tailored to what will give you the greatest support to reduce emotional and physical stress and increase your personal resiliency.

We have the perfect tool for you, our Caregiver Support Plan will guide you through reflective and actionable steps to help you feel empowered as a caregiver. The Caregiver Support Plan can be completed at your own pace, or you can call one of our Caregiver Support Specialists and they can guide you through the process. Call FCBC’s toll-free BC Caregiver Support Line to speak with one of our Caregiver Support Specialists at 1-877-520-3267, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm PT, Monday to Friday.

Step Four: Build your Resiliency Toolkit

Go to our Resiliency Toolkit for a curated list of resources to help you build your resilience. We’ve taken key areas from the Resiliency Check-In and compiled resources to give you everything you need in one spot.

We invite you to consider using the Caregiver Resiliency Toolkit throughout your caregiving experience. By revisiting supportive tools and resources along the way, you’ll be providing yourself with valuable check-ins and reminders to help you maintain resiliency and navigate the everchanging landscape of being a family/friend caregiver.