balance
How I coped with my mum’s dementia
This week’s storyteller is Lesley Trenner. Lesley, an Ageing Parent Coach, describes how she learnt to deal with her mum’s advancing dementia while making career decisions. She talks about how she now offers support to others facing similar challenges with their parents. Looking back, we aren’t entirely sure when mum’s mental condition started to decline […]
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Carers support groups, can they help?
Adrienne Gruberg, Founder of US site The Caregiver Space, talks about how she cared for her late husband and mother-in-law and shares how support groups helped her cope. When you read things in the news about how people have become full-time carers for their parents and partners you never think it’s going to happen to […]
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Tips to change festive pressure into pleasure
Juggling the needs of family, friends and work can come to a head during the festive season, especially if you‘re the sort of person that wants everyone to have a wonderful time. Trying to meet the needs of older family as well as the young can be daunting. Dr Mariette Jansen offers a few tips […]
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Cruise review: recuperative, fun or a health challenge?
Written by Kathy Lawrence Update. Cruises are massively popular today, and some countries and cities have started to put a limit on how many visitors they are willing to accept. If you’re thinking of booking a cruise for yourself or a relative, the latest Which? report on cruises has been published in February 2020. It […]
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Reaching the other side of dementia care
This week’s storyteller has chosen to be anonymous. Our storyteller this week coped with the massive demands of caring for a mother with dementia, and is now reclaiming her life. Looking back she realises there was an imbalance in caring responsibilities between herself and her siblings and their families. As a full-time working mum, I […]
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Cool, calm and collected or collapsing, crying and crumpling?
However much we love our parents, taking on responsibility for their challenges can be incredibly stressful, especially as we have no idea of knowing when the next crisis will occur. Our expert Dr De-Stress explains how stress can undermine our well-being and offers tips on what to do about it. Life can be demanding, especially […]
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Dementia is stealing away my hero dad and I feel useless
Dear Lesley, My lovely dad is 73 years old and for the past four years has been suffering from dementia. He has always been my hero and my absolute closest friend but now the dementia is robbing him of mind and body. He’s confused, and often angry and upset, and I just want to scoop […]
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How do I deal with a mean mother?
Dear Lesley, It sounds awful but I have such a struggle with my mother, her constant demands and toxic ‘snidey’ comments. Everything is a crisis, when sometimes the ‘crisis’ is the cable coming out of the back of the TV and the TV not working. What I do is never enough and she is constantly […]
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How to support an elderly carer
Dear Lesley,My father died 15 years ago and my mother has been with a new partner for the last 10 years, although they don’t live together. In some ways their relationship is quite traditional in that he seems to make most of the decisions, pays for meals and holidays, and she drives him around, cooks […]
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How to cope when you’re a whistleblower
Dear Lesley, How do people cope if they’ve been the family whistle-blower, trying to report abuse of elderly parents by close relatives? 9 years ago I warned both the NHS and the local social services department that my parents were at risk of abuse. My letters and phone calls were ignored and my visits have […]
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