Have you heard about the $10,000 Caregiver of the Year Award?

I was looking at Caregiver related headlines and spied this brow lifting bit...

Caregiver Of The Year Award Seeks Entries For $10,000 Award

It seems that the Homewatch CareGivers and the National Family Caregiver Association (NFCA) have cosponsored the National Family Caregiver of the Year Award to help honor the sacrifices that caregivers make in caring for their loved ones.

Find out more about the Family Caregiver Award in this article. People have until July 29, 2011 to nominate caregivers and the caregiver needs to have provided care for the individual within the 12 Months preceding July 29, 2011.

Online Therapy Journal

Journaling is one of the most therapeutic things that a person can do when they are facing a stressful time in their life. I have worked through every stressed moment I have ever had by writing in one way or another. The process allows you to channel your feelings into thought form and once you can think on what it is you are feeling you can better understand and deal with those feelings.

Now there is a website that can help you with your therapy journaling. MyTherapyJournal.com allows its members to keep an online journal that is kept in a secure location from which the journal writer can chose to share pages via a direct link in e-mails, or they can print specified journal entries.

The intention for use of MyTherapyJournal.com is for those experiencing anxiety or depression, or similar problems that can be worked through with the aid of a therapy journal. The online journal is designed to allow for the private and secure entry and storage of your most personal thoughts and feelings during a stressful period, whilc still allowing you to share them with those you desire and to print a copy for your personal journal.

I had cause once to be in the parent housing for the hospital here in Alaska. I still remember the small journal that was set on the nightstand of the room, a place for worried parents to write about the experience of having a child in the hospital. It was not so much to leave a word of comfort for parents that would come after as it was to offer comfort to the parent that wrote the entry. A soothing salve for the soul that was found through writing their thoughts and feeling, their fears and the hopes that their child would be helped by the doctors.

That is what therapeutic journaling is. It is a cooling cloth brushed against the feverish thoughts of fear and anxiety. When the words are gently caught by the soul and touched to the page with a hand that may not be steady it opens the way for healing and peace. For understanding and, if the writer so chooses, the reaching out to touch the fringes of another who may be in a similar moment of difficulty and seeking the reassurance that they are not alone.

If you would like to learn more about Therapy Journaling you can find out by visiting the MyTherapyJournal.com website. To visit MyTherapyJournal.com, please click here > You can try the site free for 14 days, no credit card required, and then subscribe by the month, for three months or purchase an annual subscription.

This post was sponsored by MyTherapyJournal.com

Caregivers Resources

I found this while I was pinging around, but have not had a chance to look it over very well so it goes here for further investigation at a later date.

The Caregivers Resources at National Caregivers Library. They bill themselves as "one of the most extensive online libraries for caregivers that exist today."

It definitely looks like a site that deserves a closer look later on, so I want to be able to find it again to see if it is something I want to create a link from FamilyCaregiver.info to.

H.R. 1161 Social Security Caregiver Credit Act of 2007

As family caregivers, one of the biggest sacrifices made is our own future. Without the ability to work it is difficult to provided for our own needs in the future.

This bill, that is currently before the House Committee on Ways and Means, was sponsored by Rep. Nita M. Lowey, of New York's 18th district and would "amend title II of the Social Security Act to credit prospectively individuals serving as caregivers of dependent relatives with deemed wages for up to five years of such service."

While H.R. 1161 only covers 5 years of provided care, and most caregivers must provide care for a significantly longer period of time, I still think that it is a good sign.

H.R. 175, The family Caregiver Security Act of 2005, slipped off the books in the House of Ways and Means, please, don't let H.R. 1161 fall between the cracks as well. Write to your congressman and ask them to please cosponsor H.R. 1161.

Thank you!

Edit: you can find out up to date information on this bill at GovTrack.US