Barbara Catlin, MAc., is the Founder and Executive Director of Bigger Conversation, Inc.  She created Bigger Conversations Caregiver Wellness Program to educate and support family caregivers, as a result of her experience as a hospice volunteer for more than 20 years.  Ms. Catlin has conducted 15 Caregiver Wellness Circles in Howard County since 2012.  She currently serves on the Howard County Commission on Aging and has served on the Howard County Board of Health.  She was on the faculty of the TAI Sophia Institute in Howard County for 15 years.  Ms. Catlin maintains an acupuncture and healing arts practice in Columbia, MD.  

Bigger Conversations Caregiver Wellness Program

Family caregivers are the backbone of our nations long-term health care system.  In Howard County, there are an estimated 56,000 family caregivers. Caregivers can quickly become overwhelmed, exhausted, and isolated.  These stressors can affect the health and well-being of the caregiver, the patient, and their families. 

Bigger Conversations developed the Caregiver Wellness Circles to educate and support family caregivers.  The goal of the Caregiver Wellness Circles is for caregivers to learn techniques for self-care, and to develop an individualize self-care plan, with the aid our Caregiver Wellness Workbook.© 

After completing the Caregiver Wellness Circles, most of caregivers report making changes in at least one health habit, including diet, sleep, and exercise; most report a lessened sense of isolation and increased compassion for their loved one.

Ten months later, a caregiver who is tending her husband since he had a stroke, reported: “I am still doing the practices you taught us in class.” 

Bigger Conversation relies on the generous financial support from foundations and other organizations, to provide the Caregiver Wellness Circles to family caregivers.

For more information, visit the website

http://biggerconversations.org/  or email: bconversations.org.

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