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Being a caregiver is a sacred task.

I am a psychology professor who has retired to be a full-time caregiver to my aging mother. My doctorate in industrial/organizational psychologist was a study of the impact of social experience via shared narratives. As a professor for over 10 years, I have among other courses taught stages of development and the psychology aging, death, and dying.

Caring for Parents

Caregivers are special persons of service. Those who have taken care of their clients and parents have often found real fulfillment. With parents, the family roles change from child/parent to caregiver/client. The parent becomes one’s boss and may even become one’s employer. In such situations, it can be comforting and helpful to everyone to understand the stages of life.

A Developmental Approach to Aging

I am offering informal talks with emphasis on social psychology. Understanding Erik Erikson’s developmental approach to caregiving the elderly can be an essential part of care for the caregiver.

Please contact me for more information on my in-person presentations.

Best wishes to all who provide this service!

Dr. Renita Wellman

If you have ever helped someone you are a caregiver.

Qualities of a caregiver begin with compassion. This is a natural quality of any human being that springs eternal.

According to the work of Martin Seligman, positive psychologist, the key to well-being is to express key universal strengths or virtues. These are identifiable across all cultures. There is a universality to positive expressions of these virtues.

Individuals also go through life stages that are both deeply personal and social. According to Erik Erikson, psychosocial psychologist, each stage of life requires the person to make sense of their life. This is particularly on point for our considerations as caregivers. Knowledge of these life stages gives comfort and certainty to these unbidden changes of life.

Another perspective is that of knowledge from the East. What virtues are strengthening to the person to gives service to others? The East has ancient texts that reveal thousands years old knowledge of these basic human traits, which must be developed. These can be seen as knowledge of self-care.