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Cathy Braxton Caregiver Spotlight #102

In this episode of the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast, meet Cathy Braxton. Cathy cares for her son who has autism and has worked in the aging industry for over 20 years. Her specialty is helping individuals and organizations better communicate with persons with dementia. She shares how the rules of improv can help communication in any relationship and walks through several real-life examples.

Listen to the show: Caregiver Spotlight – Cathy Braxton

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Words of Encouragement

Each episode starts off with a few words of inspiration or motivation that is pulled from the Happy Healthy Caregiver Jar. You  can  also  create  you  own  jar by  downloading  the Caregiver  Jar  inserts.Caregiver Jar Inserts PDF

You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go and see what happens.” – Mandy Hale
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Links & Resources Mentioned

Just for you a daily self care journal book cover

  • Learn more about Cathy and the resources she offers such as the Dementia Specialist Certification program through Silver Dawn Consulting.

Favorite moments & quotes from the episode

I’m not going to apologize for the mistakes I made because those mistakes were things that there were gifts to learn from. – Cathy Braxton #unapologeticallyme
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People want to feel normalized about what they are experiencing and when we share our stories in a very vulnerable way they lean in and actually get more from it. – Cathy Braxton #vulernability
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Dementia RAW is a great name to encapsulate the concepts that we thought were the most important to pass along…to teach someone how to communicate…in a Real, Authentic, and Wholehearted way. – Cathy Braxton #dementia
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When you are working with someone with dementia your best laid plans will never go they way you intend. Like improv, work with what you have got in that moment. – Cathy Braxton
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There is no reason to bring more levels of panic into mom’s life when she is already just trying to figure out how to get through her day. #dementia
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There are different ways to find and be in agreement. You can agree with someone verbally, emotionally or by mirroring of their body language. – Cathy Braxton
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No one likes to be somber or upset and have a cheerleader come at them. You want someone to sit next to you and be somber and upset, too. – Cathy Braxton #dementia
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We want to dismiss or redirect uncomfortable feelings [our dementia care recipients] are having. Instead you have to dig into the emotion behind what is said. – Cathy Braxton
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One technique to address repetitive topics is to be “specifically grateful”. Often times the repetitiveness is because the person didn’t feel heard the last time. Try saying ‘thank you’ instead of ‘sorry’.
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Do they need you to be in a space where they are looking for advice or do they need you to be in the space where you are holding the bucket for them – giving them a vessel to just get it all out. – Cathy Braxton #communication
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We need to do more of this communication training with children so they aren’t something we separate from…we actually bring them into the fold. The people we are living with have to be a part of our caregiving team. – Cathy Braxton…
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