Surviving Family Care Giving

Gráinne Smith is an author, writing from her considerable professional experience as a former teacher and primary head teacher working with children and families during tough times and easy, as well as her personal experience as a single family carer when her daughter was in a life-threatening condition with anorexia and her mother developed Alzheimer's.

• Cozens, Foreword. Beginnings. Home Care Givers – Themes in Common. Collaborative Care. Challenging Behaviour. Family Teamwork – How? Communication. Confidentiality. Motivation. Information and Resources. Carer Survival.

"Having a loved one with a chronic illnesses requiring intensive in-home care can tear families apart. To focus on keeping family members connected and working together as a team, this book transcends trendy illness-specific how-to guides regarding caring for a family member, by detailing cross-cutting care issues clearly and succinctly. Based on decades of personal and professional experience, as well as the support of scientific evidence, the concept of collaborative communication comes to life as practical, useful advice that provides both hope and comfort". - Richard E. Kreipe, MD, FAAP, FSAHM, FAED, Elizabeth R. McAnarney Professor of Pediatrics, University of Rochester "The book uses real-life examples from families coping with various conditions and ideas that can be adapted to fit the reader’s own situation. It focuses on what carers can do to help themselves through telephone helplines, charities, self-help groups, relaxation therapies and more. It is, in short, a survival guide." - Andrew Cozens, Chair of Carers Trust"Gráinne Smith uses her first hand experience of caring for a family member recovering from an eating disorder, combined with her professional training, experience and work over many years with children and young people, to open an accessible and informative discourse which will be a useful source of information and advice for families and caring professionals alike. Grainne explores this topic with compassion, warmth and humour, aimed at building constructive and mutually supportive relationships in challenging circumstances which support the best outcomes for those experiencing illness or disability and their families. This is a valuable contribution to the literature on co-production and should be on every health and social care student's reading list."- Janice Reavell, Social Work Team Manager, Adult Mental Health, Aberdeenshire"In my 35 years as an NHS Manager, I have yet to meet another carer who has brought such energy to the matter of carers and their needs in supporting their loved ones through life-affecting and life-threatening illness. Gráinne is a vibrant story-teller as well as an author, teacher, parent and carer. This book tells some good stories, carefully crafted, providing nourishment to parents, carers and most definitely to clinicians and social work professionals." - Bill Cowling, NHS Service Manager (retired) "Giving families the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to help a loved one who needs treatment or long term care is vital. At Beat, we speak daily to families who don't know which way to turn, or what to do for the best- so overwhelming is the challenge of providing care. In this book, Gráinne Smith shares hard won personal experience and good common sense."- Susan Ringwood, FAED, Chief Executive, Beat"We may think that we are drowning in communication with tweets and blogs etc: however, in our day-to-day life, listening to and understanding another person's perspective is not given the high importance that it needs. This book will help with this neglected area, offering much help to family care givers supporting people with all sorts of difficult conditions." - Professor Janet Treasure OBE PhD FRCP FRCPsych, Professor Psychiatry Kings College London"Surviving Family Care Giving' is one of those books that come along rarely - books that should completely change how practitioners work. We know carers often struggle. We know sometimes support offered is inadequate. Yet we work in separate silos. Gráinne Smith has done a great service to users, carers and practitioners in this insightful and challenging book. Read it - it will change what you do!"- Dr Chris Williams, Professor of Psychosocial Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow and lead author of the popular www.llttf.com website"Caring for someone with a chronic health condition can be an extremely isolating and difficult experience. This book reaches out to those carers. It is solidly grounded in the author’s personal lived experience of being a carer and her intimate knowledge of the key difficulties carers face. This understanding has been successfully translated into a practical, collaborative and authoritative guide for carers. I am sure it will be a life saver for many." - Ulrike Schmidt, Professor of Eating Disorders, King's College London