The Genius of Caring

Dear GlobalGiving Community,

Happy Spring! We hope this time of year finds you well and enjoying the springtime weather and blossoms.

My mother Pam was a gifted and compassionate therapist. Much of her professional life, especially he time working with teens, was dedicated to reducing the stigma around depression and mental illness. In the first few years my mom was struggling with changes related to her Alzheimer's diagnosis, we were overwhelmed and confused. We want to share this clip from The Genius of Marian, where we struggled as a family, both She is having trouble accepting her Alzheimer's diagnosis and her son Luke -- a fourth year resident in Psychiatry -- struggles to get her to take the medication the doctor has prescribed. People living with Alzheimers and other types of dementia can experience a variety of emotions including depression, anxiety, agitation. In order to help people cope better, oftentimes medication will be prescribed to help out those individuals. However, due to stigma in our society around both dementia and mental health, it can make treating people challenging.   

Those with the disease report being misunderstood because of the myths and misconceptions others have about the disease. Take a step towards reducing mental health stigma, by visiting NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. The Alzheimer's Association also has some great resources on overcoming stigma. Here is a good article from The Mental Health Foundation about dementia and mental health. The Alzheimer's Association also has some helpful information about agitation, anxiety, aggression and other mental health-related conditions possible with dementia. 

It's important that we help to remove the stigma around dementia and mental health so that our loved ones can be treated properly and with respect. 

Thank you for all your generous support. 

In gratitude,

Banker & The Genius of Caring Family

Links:

• Pam is having trouble accepting her Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Dear GlobalGiving Community,

We wanted to reach out and share our warmest wishes for this Holiday Season. Here is a little video 'holiday card' I pulled from the archives. It ends with a clip our daughter Dylan (who is now 10) making my Mom and Dad laugh during a visit for her first Christmas - Put a big smile on our face when we found it and we wanted to share!  https://vimeo.com/148422633

We also wanted to share some information about what we can do as caregivers, to take care of ourselves and our loved ones during the holidays. Below are a few resources and articles we have found helpful: 

AARP has some great Resources for Caregivers and Their Families, including tips for family caregiving conversations, providing care at home and how to assess when caregiving is needed. 

Area Agency on Aging 1b has a wonderful article on Handling the Holidays as a Caregiver. The article has some tips on managing expectations and being prepared. 

Caregiver Action Network has a Family Caregiver Toolbox that contains many resources including long-distance caregiving and juggling a job and caregiving as well as many others.

With much love and gratitude,

The Genius of Caring Family

Links:

• The Genius of Marian Greeting Cards

Dear GlobalGiving Community,

We hope this summer finds you well and enjoying the warm days! This is Chris Riley, Genius of Caring outreach coordinator and impact producer writing in with some exciting news. I recently joined the team at Compassion & Choices heading up the Pacific Northwest region and it is a wonderful compliment to the work I have been doing with The Genius of Caring. Compassion & Choices improves care, expands options, and empowers everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. The organization also is working to transform how people die with dementia to ensure people are aware, empowered and supported in getting the care they want – or do not want – should dementia take hold.

Their website has toolkits, resources, and articles. In the dementia toolkit, there is a Dementia Values and Priorities Tool that can help identify your personal values and provide clear care instructions to your loved ones as you deal with a dementia diagnosis.

One resource,  "Dementia Decoder", is a tool to create a list of questions to help you get the information you need at your doctor’s appointment specific to who you are (person living with dementia, caregiver, etc.)

They have many other helpful resources, be sure to check them out.

We are gearing up for some exciting news in the coming months that we can't too share. 

Thank you for your generosity and support.

With gratitude,

Chris and The Genius of Caring Family

Happy Spring to our wonderful GlobalGiving Community,

April will always be a special month for our family and begins what we called 'birthday season.' My mother's birthday opened the season on April 12th; my sister Devon followed later in April, then all the boys in May. This has remained true with many of the next generations of birthdays, but to all of us, my Mom's b-day still opens the season ;) 

This June will mark six years since I lost my mom. Many friends had suggested I read Joan Didion’s, The Year of Magical Thinking much earlier in my grieving process, but I had not been ready. But this past year was different, and I dove in - I found it excruciating, necessary, beautiful, and liberating. Below is a letter she recounts receiving from a friend after her mother died. 

The death of a parent, he wrote, "despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions that surprise us and that may cut free memories and feelings that we had thought gone to ground long ago.” - Joan Didion.

In these past two years, so many close friends and family of mine have lost loved ones. I found myself writing notes, emails, and letters like this - sending love and offering advice. Something about this dislodged new feelings and memories that had not yet surfaced in grieving my Mom. I feel especially full of love, preparing to celebrate my mother's life in sync with the opening of Spring - the flowers, the warmth, the new life - always reminding all of us of my beautiful mother.

Here is a link to a video I have shared before in celebration of spring and my mother’s life and birthday: https://vimeo.com/212967011. These images were filmed by her parents, Chauncey Steele and Marian Williams Steele, my father, Ed White, and scenes I filmed from The Genius of Marian. 

I love you, Mom. Happy Birthday, Happy Spring!

Sending gratitude and love to all of you, who have supported our project, who have supported me and my family, and who are mourning and loving and remembering all the people in our lives who have made us who we are.

Banker

Dear GlobalGiving Community,

This has been a challenging year and we know the holiday season can add even more complexity to the juggling act of caregiving for our loved ones. It is times like these that we rely on community and each other. It's important to take the time to be thankful for the helping angels in our life, friends and family, and those fleeting moments of peace. 

Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve made our film The Genius of Marian, educational materials, and all Genius of Caring short films available free to the public. Together with festivals and broadcast partners, we have planned virtual events with arts organizations, museums & non-profit partners in the aging space. This has inspired us to not just think of this access as a temporary window, that responded to the stay-at-home orders and quarantines, but a shift in how we think about what we do as documentary filmmakers and artists.

As a result, we are working on building our own platform to allow free public access to our films starting with The Genius of Marian. We are in the production stage of building a site that facilitates deeper interaction, connection, and potential collaboration with our audiences. We are about $8,000 away from our 2021 fundraising goal and hope you will consider a tax-deductible donation for this new initiative.

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Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season. With love and gratitude, 

Banker, Anna, Chris, and the entire Genius of Caring Family

If you are interested in learning more about underwriting opportunities for businesses, organizations and individuals please email us directly at info@geniusofcaring.com