15 Caregiving Systems
The focus often lands on just a few of the systems we navigate. In truth, we navigate, manage and advocate within at least 1 0 of the 15 Caregiving Systems.
As I worked to put together our Caregiving Stats survey, I took some time to count the number of systems we manage, advocate and navigate in.
I counted 15:
Community | Education | Family | Financial | Health Care | Legal | Medical | Nervous
Payer | Provider | Relationship | Social | Spiritual | Technology | Workplace
I believe when you worry about, care for and help a family member or friend, you manage, advocate and navigate in at least 10 of the 15 Caregiving Systems. I offer insights into the Community System via the video, below.
When the conversation turns to care coordination and system navigation, most will assume we navigate the Health Care System, the Payer System and the Provider System. That’s just part of the story.
We also manage conversations with a caree who may resist receiving care (Relationship System).
We become the IT department for a caree and his iPhone (Technology System).
We drive discussions with family members when it’s time to add more help (Family and Health Care Systems).
We may only navigate the Provider System once in awhile because we can’t find or afford help to hire or because we want care to happen at home.
We manage our stress while supporting a caree through the anxiety of so many changes (Nervous Systems).
We may do all of this while we try to keep our job (Workplace System) and keep our faith that all will be okay (Spiritual System).
How often does a solution take into account the impact of these systems on our days? How often do all the individual systems recognize that we are the only one who interacts with all the systems?
I believe we change the conversation about caregiving when we focus on the 15 Caregiving Systems we manage. We pivot from talking about the caregiving tasks to truly focusing on the caregiving impact. We spotlight our role as a leader, a CEO, during our caregiving experience.
I’d love for you to share your stats about your caregiving experience so that we can collect compelling data to drive a different discussion about caregiving. When we discuss our reality, we can spark change so that we receive the help and support we really need.
Resources
I’m adding training on the 15 Caregiving Systems to our Certified Caregiving Consultant (CCC) training. I believe every community and every family caregiver needs a CCC. You can now enroll and pay for the training over 12 months. Learn more.
We’re hosting events throughout November in honor of National Family Caregivers Months. We’d love for you to join us to connect and share.