By Anne Rosenthal, PhD, MFT, CMC
Certified Professional Care Manager
- Is it time to call for a family meeting?
- Do you have siblings who you feel are not doing their share?
- Do you have a parent who is resistive to help?
- Do you feel burdened by your caregiving role and want to include others in the plan?
- Would you like to have support in this process?
A family meeting is one of the chief ways families can interact to solve or begin to tackle issues involving dependency, loss and filial responsibility.
Bringing the family together as a whole with a certified Care Manager allows each individual involved to share concerns and be heard. Family members can be partners, siblings, friends, spouses or ex-spouses. Studies have shown that adult siblings constructing care decisions as a group make decisions that best respect their parent’s autonomy rather than a single sibling making decisions alone.
The Care Manager will have suggestions to solve challenges such as the division of labor, strategies to “get to yes” and approaches to relieve the stress of care giving.
When a Certified Care Manager is included, the group setting offers checks and balances, professional objectivity, and ensures that all views are given value.