Caring for a Loved One with Dementia: A Mindfulness-Based Guide for Reducing Stress and Making the Best of Your Journey Together

(Paperback)

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Caring for a Loved One with Dementia is a unique and compassionate guide that offers an effective mindfulness-based dementia care (MBDC) program to help you meet your own needs and lower stress levels while caring for your loved one. Caring for a loved one with dementia can be extremely stressful. This essential guide provides skills for dealing with the accompanying emotional and physical stress, and offers tools to help you manage your own needs, in addition to the needs of your loved one. Dementia is a cruel disease that can leave both the sufferer--and those who care about them--reeling. But in the midst of the pain, the mindfulness practices in this book will help you find strength and meaning in each moment you spend with your loved one. The unique program in this book addresses two of the most important needs caregivers face: stress reduction and greater ease in providing care. In addition, you will learn to approach your care with a calm, centered presence, respond to your loved one instead of reacting, and learn to connect with your loved one beyond their words. Perhaps most importantly, you will learn to effectively manage the grief, anger, depression, and other emotions that are often associated with dementia care. Both practical and compassionate, this book will be a comfort during your loved one's illness.

Reviews

"Caring for a Loved One with Dementia offers new hope that today's dementia caregiver can find a sense of peace in the difficult journey of dementia caregiving. Manteau-Rao does a masterful job introducing mindfulness, a practice that will be new to most caregivers. Her book provides real-world examples of where mindfulness can make an impact, as well as concrete suggestions for practicing mindfulness regularly. Caregivers who incorporate her lessons into their life will enjoy long-lasting benefits not just for themselves, but also for their care recipient."
--Angela Taylor, director of programs at Lewy Body Dementia Association

"I highly recommend this exquisitely crafted, inspiring guide brimming with practical wisdom that flows from the depths of the author's authentic mindfulness practice and insightful dementia care-partnering experiences. The skillful dementia care principles seamlessly interwoven with mindfulness practices offer readers an opening in the heart and mind for extraordinary possibilities through the power of caring presence. This is a must-read for all who envision and feel called to actualize a 'radical new way for being more fully present for ourselves, as well as for the person with dementia.'"
--Maribeth Gallagher, DNP, FAAN, director of the dementia program at Hospice of the Valley in Scottsdale, AZ, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) practitioner and teacher, and mindfulness-based dementia care teacher

"In this beautiful book, Marguerite applies her experience and compassion to gently guide a care partner as they learn to transform grief and loss into wisdom with loving-kindness. This book is the necessary platform for building a new perspective on changes we frequently face in the final phases of life. Each chapter provides another link in the lifeline that prevents drowning in our own thoughts and emotions."
--Catherine Madison, MD, medical director at Ray Dolby Brain Health Center in San Francisco, CA
"Marguerite has beautifully matched her own experience as a caregiver for a loved one with dementia with her mindfulness knowledge. The result is a book that meets the practical and emotional needs of family caregivers challenged by dementia. We dementia caregivers know all about stress, fatigue, grief, and sadness. This book opens us up to the possibility of moving beyond that by clearing our minds, opening our hearts, and partnering with our loved ones."
--Robin Riddle, CEO of Brain Support Network, Parkinson's caregiver program facilitator at Stanford University, and primary caregiver for her late father with progressive supranuclear palsy

"Marguerite has designed a bridge for us to cross into a new era of understanding in dementia care where conscious caregiving and practices for cultivating awareness, compassion, and mindfulness are the new normal and standard of care. She beautifully illustrates the power of mindfulness practice to transmute caregiver confusion and dis-ease, which can be as challenging and debilitating as, if not more so than, dementia itself."
--Laura E. Rice-Oeschger, LMSW, coordinator of the Dementia Wellness Initiative at Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Center, University of Michigan Department of Neurology

"Marguerite Manteau-Rao has written an essential guide for caregivers supporting someone living with a dementia-related illness. A generous and skillful teacher, Marguerite shares practices that are beneficial and healing. Caring for a Loved One with Dementia is certain to help ease a seemingly impossible journey."
--Roy Remer, director of the Guest House and volunteer programs at Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, CA, and teacher of mindfulness practices for professional and informal caregivers

"Marguerite Manteau-Rao's mindfulness guide for caregivers helps outline the 'sweet spot' between the practice of mindfulness and caring for a loved one with dementia."
--Elizabeth Edgerly, PhD, chief program officer of the Alzheimer's Association, Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter
"This book is an outstanding contribution to dementia care. Marguerite's experience, understanding, and compassion shine through every page. She has done a stunning job of presenting the complexities of dementia and how to be a care partner with the support of a mindfulness approach. Organized and inspiring, anyone dealing with dementia will be immensely grateful for this book, surely destined to become a classic in the field."
--Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle, author of Ten Thousand Joys and Ten Thousand Sorrows

"With this clear and compelling guide to mindfulness practices, Marguerite Manteau-Rao fills an important void in the education of those who support people living with dementia. It is only by learning to be fully present that supportive partners can transcend communication barriers, understand distress, and create a pathway for their own well-being as well."
--G. Allen Power, MD, FACP, author of Dementia Beyond Drugs and Dementia Beyond Disease

Author Bio

Marguerite Manteau-Rao, MSW, LCSW, ATR, is a licensed clinical social worker and registered art therapist specializing in bringing new, innovative solutions to the field of dementia care. She is CEO of the Presence Care Project and Founder of the Mindfulness-Based Dementia Care Program at the University of California, San Francisco's OSHER Center for Integrative Medicine.