AARP Meditations for Caregivers - by Barry J Jacobs & Julia L Mayer (Paperback)

About the Book

"Family caregiving has its challenges: emotional overload, time constraints, anxiety, burnout, missed work, adult sibling conflicts, and marital issues. But caregivers also grow personally and spiritually by ensuring the well-being of a loved one. In AARP Meditations for Caregivers, clinical psychologists Barry J. Jacobs and Julia L. Mayer blend emotional and spiritual motivation to maximize the gains of caregiving while minimizing the strains. The book helps readers view their caregiving as a mission from the heart, complete with chapters on accepting your feelings, embracing rewards, seeking support, and managing stress. Each section offers three-part meditations for caregivers: an inspirational quote, an anecdote drawn from the authors' personal or clinical experience, and direct psychological or hands-on advice to foster coping and life satisfaction"--

Book Synopsis

An AARP book for caregivers combining day-to-day advice and uplifting guidance in a daily meditations format.

Family care giving has its challenges: emotional overload, time constraints, anxiety, burnout, missed work, adult sibling conflicts, and marital issues. AARP Meditations for Caregivers blends emotional and spiritual motivation to minimize the strains while helping caregivers view their work as a mission from the heart. Chapters are organized by theme, including topics such as accepting your feelings, knowing your limits, seeking support, and managing stress. Each reading offers a poignant meditation, an anecdote drawn from the author's personal or clinical experience, and hands-on or psychological advice to foster coping skills and a sense of fulfillment.

The meditations in this dispensable book will provide you with solutions to typical care giving challenges, offer relief and renewal through mindfulness, and inspire you to find meaning and value in the work you do.

Review Quotes

"This invaluable, wise, and compassionate guide is frank, inspirational, and altogether timelessly human."--John Rolland, MD, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

"AARP Meditations for Caregivers will help caregivers find their own way to a place of calm and purposefulness."--Carol Levine, director, Families and Health Care Project, United Hospital Fund

"AARP Meditations for Caregivers is filled with stories of hope, perseverance--even transcendence. Drawing from their personal experience as well as others, Drs. Jacobs and Mayer remind us that providing care for a loved one can be a sacred, moral, and enriching endeavor."--Katy Butler, author of Knocking on Heaven's Door

"This collection of lessons and insights assures us that our caregiving experiences are not unique. Stressed caregivers will be able to draw solace from these anecdotes."--Robert L. Kane, MD, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, and author of The Good Caregiver

"Like many of the AARP resources, this one is high on practical advice."
--Outreach NC

"This book is truly a bible for caregivers. Barry Jacobs and Julia Mayer tell more than 100 stories of dilemmas faced by children, siblings, husbands, and wives thrust into a role of caregiver...Reading these all-too-human tales, caregivers won't feel quite as alone--and they'll see that even when they're angry, frustrated, sad, stressed out, they can find ways to express love, empathy, and humor."--Marc Silver, author of Breast Cancer Husband

"AARP Meditations for Caregivers captures the frustrations and determination, sorrows, and joys typically experienced by family caregivers. Drs. Jacobs and Mayer offer concrete suggestions and inspiration for those who provide countless acts of loving care."--Janis Abrahms Spring, PhD, author of Life with Pop: Lessons on Caring for an Aging Parent

About the Author

Dr. Julia L. Mayer is a clinical psychologist, and has been doing individual and couples therapy for more than a quarter century. She has a busy full-time private practice in Media, Pennsylvania, where she specializes in women's issues, including relationship concerns, sexual abuse, eating disorders, caregiving, and aging. She has done readings and given talks at libraries, art galleries, clinical supervision groups, retirement communities, and graduate programs in clinical psychology. She also previously published an article in the APA journal, Family, Systems and Health.

Dr. Barry J. Jacobs is a clinical psychologist, family therapist, and long-time journalist and writer. He works as the Director of Behavioral Sciences for the Crozer-Keystone Family Medicine Residency Program in Springfield, Pennsylvania, and has had adjunct faculty positions with the Temple University School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and the Department of Psychology of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and his Doctor of Psychology degree from the Hahnemann/Widener Universities.