🏡Respite care provides temporary relief for a primary caregiver, enabling you to take a much-needed break from the demands of caregiving for a sick, aging, or disabled family member.

🏡Respite care can take place in your own home, whether it’s for just a few hours a week or an extended vacation. Seeking respite care can help ease the burden of family caregiving and help to relieve stress, restore your energy, and promote balance in your life. It can also prevent you from becoming exhausted, isolated, or even burned out.

🏡Respite care can benefit the person you’re caring for too, providing them with variety, stimulation, and a welcome change of routine.

Seeking support and maintaining your own health are key to managing your role as a caregiver, so it’s not selfish to need time to yourself. If you’re overwhelmed by the daily grind of caregiving, your patience and compassion will wear thin, you’ll find it harder to connect with the person you’re caring for, and you’ll probably both feel unfulfilled. After a break to recharge your batteries, though, you’ll feel more energetic, focused, and reinvigorated about your caregiving role. You may even be able to pick up tips on new ways to tackle common problems you face as a caregiver, helping to make the caregiving journey a more enjoyable and rewarding experience for both you and the loved one in your care.

Types of respite services

Respite care can take many forms, but boils down to two basic ideas: sharing the responsibility for caregiving and getting support for yourself. Respite could take the form of enlisting friends and family to watch your loved one so you can take a break to visit others, go to the gym, or handle chores, for example. Or respite care can mean finding paid carers to provide in-home services for your loved one, either occasionally or on a regular basis.