Care as Therapy: The Benefits of Being a Caregiver

Did you know that caring for other people can actually have health benefits for you? Our blog looks at the therapeutic benefits of being a caregiver.

We often talk about the benefits of being cared for but the therapeutic benefits of being a caregiver are rarely discussed. When we think of family carers, the focus is usually on how hard they work and the stresses of looking after a loved one. While it’s true that caring for someone sometimes has its challenges, a huge number of carers find it one the most wonderful and rewarding experiences they’ve ever had. If you think about it, nurturing the ones you love is a natural instinct - it feels good to make those closest to us comfortable and happy.

In fact, many of our Sevenoaks team have joined us after experiencing what it’s like to care for a member of their own family. Understanding how much their work means to the person needing care is one major motivating factor for many of our staff deciding to work in homecare, but they also appreciate how great it feels to make a difference to someone else’s life. Now some new research into the carer’s role has confirmed what our care workers already know! Looking after someone else can have significant therapeutic benefits.
 

How does caring benefit the caregiver?

As a social species, humans are hard-wired to care for one another and get pleasure from doing so. We’ve all experienced that virtuous little glow after doing something nice for someone else! But the benefits go beyond that. They include:

• Lower levels of stress and anxiety
• Feeling more socially connected to others
• Higher self-esteem

By focussing on someone else’s needs rather than our own, we naturally become less self-absorbed and more empathetic towards others, which is never a bad thing! Caring for another person can also put our own problems and worries into perspective, giving us a more balanced and pragmatic outlook on life in general.

In their own words, here are just a few more reasons why our own, amazing Care Assistants wanted to work in homecare:

“I enjoy my work as I’m a sociable person and like to meet new people...It feels great to go home to knowing you have made a positive difference to someone’s life.” - Jane

“I started to care when I was 14. I was my grandad’s full-time carer. As he had dementia it was one of the hardest things I had ever done. There was only one day in 14 months that he remembered who I was and then he sadly passed away then in 2015. Then my mum fell suddenly ill and became bed bound and I was her full-time carer for 10 months until she passed. And that’s when I knew becoming a care assistant was all I wanted to do, to be able to help someone with their daily routine and put a smile on someone’s face at least once a day. I wouldn’t change my job for the world as it is so rewarding.” – Stacey

The benefits of a career in homecare

As well as feeling good about the care they give to our customers, our homecare workers also benefit from being a valued member of our close-knit and supportive team here at Bluebird Care Sevenoaks. And looking after both our customers and carer workers here in the office makes us feel pretty good too!

If you’d like to make a difference to others and find out more about our homecare job roles, our generous pay and benefits package or our current vacancies, just click on the links or give our team a call on 01732-469-432.