Old people

Older people, who feel insecure by questions about their nearing end of life, loss of energy and physical abilities, loss of contact with friends and dear ones, etc. will need the personal support of their daily caregivers. This is even more important for old people who suffer from dementia or depressions.

When they still live at home, their close relatives or neighbors will be these caregivers. In nursing homes it are the professional care givers who will have to fill in this role.

Caregivers usually have a heavy workload, which makes it difficult to give each person the time and attention they need. This leads to strong feelings of insecurity, loneliness and disconnectedness and often results demanding behaviors or aggression.

This can be the start of a vicious circle: people need more attention, so the workload becomes even bigger, care givers start to be irritated, the person feels more rejected, etc…

Care givers want to be warm to the people they are helping, but it’s difficult under these circumstances.

Gentle teaching will be helpful for both the caregivers and the people they serve.  The focus on the personal contact and relationship will make the moments of contact with the person more intense. The person will feel seen and supported, and the care giver will feel more human and genuine.

Gentle teaching is even more important for people with dementia. They are in an ongoing process of withdrawal in themselves and loosing contact with reality and the outer world. When the time comes that ‘normal’ communication has no more meaning for the person, interpersonal communication on the emotional level is the only communication which rests. We can prepare the persons to this moment by teaching them to feel unconditionally safe with us and loved by us, before the process of dementia has come this far.