Grieving After Dementia Caregiving: Find Strength in Community
Dementia caregiving can feel isolating and overwhelming, especially when you’re navigating loss, change, and uncertainty.
In this episode, we hear powerful stories from caregivers who share their experiences of finding strength, comfort, and practical support through a faith-based caregiving community. This episode is a reminder that you don’t have to carry the burden alone—there is help and hope in connection and faith.
Why Community Support Matters
One of the key takeaways from this episode is the importance of joining a support community early.
Caregivers who engage with a supportive group before they reach a breaking point feel more prepared, less isolated, and more empowered when difficult moments arise.
A caregiver shared her story of returning to the community after her mother’s passing. She described the deep sense of belonging and strength she found during one of the hardest seasons of her life.
Her words reflect the powerful truth that caregiving support isn’t just practical—it’s emotional and spiritual as well.
Forms of Caregiver Support
This episode highlights various ways caregivers can access support:
- Virtual Support Calls: Regular check-ins provide a space to ask questions, receive coaching, and share experiences with others who understand.
- Messaging and Connection: Whether through voice notes, emails, or WhatsApp, staying connected during difficult moments brings comfort and clarity.
- Faith-Based Community Spaces: Spaces outside of traditional social media, such as private groups or workshops, foster deeper, distraction-free connections.
Stories of Resilience and Faith
Angela wasn’t the only caregiver who benefited from the community. In Bermuda, Debra found peace through personalized support despite time zone challenges. Another caregiver shared how she navigated her husband’s unexpected passing after years of care.
Each story underscores the importance of long-term, faith-driven support that meets caregivers where they are.
Lessons from the Episode:
- Prepare Early: Engaging in community support before crises hit helps you feel more confident and capable.
- Consistency Is Key: Longitudinal support, not just one-time help, strengthens caregivers over time.
- Faith Sustains the Journey: Rooting your caregiving approach in faith provides peace and hope, even when the journey feels heavy.
A Call to Lean on Support and Faith
Dementia caregiving isn’t a solo journey—you need people who understand the highs and lows and who can remind you of God’s faithfulness when you feel weary.
Read more:
Essential Tips: How to Manage Delusions in Dementia
Know When Isolation In A Person With Dementia Is Detrimental
Final Reflection
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Upstate Nonprofits Receive Funding Boost to Expand Dementia Services.
Introduction to Caregiver Support
[0:00] What does dementia caregiver support really mean? And what does dementia caregiver support mean for you? For members of my community, they have the following ways of reaching out and connecting. We have weekly support calls or virtual coaching calls. We use WhatsApp, we text, we voice message, we email, and then we also have a community, almost like a Facebook group, but not quite because it’s off of Facebook. So the members of the community that I am growing have multiple different ways for them to receive support from me as well as from one another. In today’s episode of Dementia Caregiver Support for Christians, you’re going to be listening to Angela as she has come back into our community after her mom recently passed away. And you will hear what Angela has to say about the benefits and about what it felt like to have this particular community supporting her through this journey.
[1:07] Hey, Christian Care Champion, welcome to Dementia Caregiver Support for Christians, the podcast where I teach Bible-believing Christians how to make dementia care easier today while helping you focus on tomorrow. If you are a Christian spouse, the adult child, or a family member of a person living with dementia and want to find an easier way, you are in the right place.
[1:32] Here, we look at kingdom-focused caregiving. We honor the Lord Jesus Christ in our caregiving journey, and we show you practical ways to make your caregiving easier. Have you signed up for one of my free monthly workshops? I promised myself in 2025 that every month is going to have a different topic. And the topic is dementia caregiver support to quickly regain peace and calm in caregiving. So I hope that you take this opportunity to go to the link in the show notes and register for this free monthly workshop, 12 p.m. Eastern. And yet again, every month in 2025, I hope to bring you a different
Journey of Loss
[2:20] topic on each one of these free monthly workshops. So without further ado, let us listen to Dementia Caregiver Support in action.
[2:31] Well, thank you all. And thank you all for your love and your prayers. It meant a lot to me. So thank you. Well, no, that’s good. That’s good. So, but we are excited you’re here. I’m sure everybody wanted to, to see you and they want you to be here as much as you want to be here and share as much as you’d like or not like. Thank you. How are you doing? I’m okay.
[2:54] Mommy really liked Christmas. So, you know, apart from everything else, it was kind of not, it’s fine. We’re putting up the trees. It’s fine. it’s okay we’re adjusting we’re working through it but um I was telling Lizette in some ways it felt like a double loss because I’m so used to seeing you all and I’m concerned about you all and praying for you I want to know how you guys are doing and I could felt like it was just done so I appreciate you letting me come Lizette thank you oh this is this is going to be open for anybody afterwards as long as they want yeah thank you it it’s that is why i’m doing what i’m doing like i want to be able to support people deeply and so you know and and you were the first one that went through this in the group so it’s like okay what is next how how do we can you know so it’s just like learning and growing and it’ll get better over time well we lost two
Community Connections and Support
[3:49] other families lost people within the last couple of weeks. One was Debra. She lives in Bermuda. So with the time zone, she wasn’t able to make the calls, but I did a lot of support with her through WhatsApp.
[4:02] So I would message her on WhatsApp. She’d send me a question. I’d message her on WhatsApp. So she benefited from the information and the support, but not in the community. Her mom had been living in a nursing home in Bermuda. And so with the time difference, this, because she still works, was exactly the time that she could go visit her mom. And the other time was when she was still at work. So it was a little hard for her to actually come to the community. But so she lost her mom. And then who was on the cruise with me and Vicki, her husband passed away. I haven’t spoken to her. I’ve texted her a couple of times. I spoke to her earlier in November, like about a week she had a birthday like a week before her birthday i didn’t know it was her birthday but i reached out and i spoke to her and then shortly after that it seems like he real suddenly changed and ended up passing away he hadn’t even been on hospice so i’m pretty sure it was a little bit sudden for her like she was i don’t know that they were expecting it sorry someone’s printing something but did you say vicky’s husband or no no no um lady okay no she came a couple of times One of the ones was when one of the calls that she was on, she was talking about him trying to get out of the car way, way, way, way back when she had just taken him out of a memory care and took him home. I remember. Exactly.
[5:23] People who are really benefiting from the community are the people who joined earlier on, before they need it, and that have been active and are participating in the community because then they already know what questions to ask and they have
Engaging with the Community
[5:38] a place to come and they’re not constantly wondering, what do I need to do? How do I need to do it? So people listening are interested in tapping into or learning about the community. I’d invite you to just go to the website, thinkdifferentdementia.com. There’s a link for you to schedule a 20-minute call there’s no pressure i’ll serve you regardless of whether you join the community or not but it is a way for you to take this relationship a little deeper a little bit more hands-on support because really the research also shows it’s longitudinal support over time absolutely yeah for sure i would highly recommend lizette she’s awesome i see i appreciate that endorsement you are well thank you everybody for listening today. And as I try to remember my, I try to remember, I don’t always remember.
Closing Thoughts and Future Episodes
[6:26] May the Lord bless you and keep you and come back and listen some more. I’m hoping to do more of these coaching style episodes. Come back in and check us out. And thank you for being here today.
