Huron-Perth Boomers Winter 2023-24

COMMUNITY
by Jill Robertson
Some key components to health and well-being for
these families include connecting with others in the
community, exercising and eating well, and taking
time to rest. Speaking with a counsellor or mental
health professional to navigate their experience is
also essential for many grandparent caregivers to
maintain their well-being.
also grief or trauma support. This comes at a time
when they are most likely experiencing their own
grief or trauma. This can be a rewarding role but
also a heavy burden.
In order to meet the challenges of becoming a
primary caregiver to grandchildren, support for
these families is essential.
“My advice to grandparents raising their
grandchildren is to ask for help!” Adrienne said.
“Doctors, dentists, teachers, and professionals who
deal with children can all assist and offer help,
and you can be guided through the transition. It is
overwhelming to try to do it on your own. These kids
have separation anxiety, anger, confusion, and a lot
of issues they are dealing with, and they are going to
need lots of support. So will you!”
For grandparent caregivers, self-care is very
important. Each family circumstance is different,
but for many grandparent caregivers, their role
is complicated by their own difficult emotions. It
is essential that grandparent caregivers prioritize
their own health and well-being to be the healthy,
regulated, safe adults that their grandchildren
need them to be. The old saying about ‘putting on
your own oxygen mask first,’ before you can assist
someone else is very much true in these situations,
but this is often easier said than done.
Finding a group of other families experiencing similar
circumstances is a significant source of support
for many grandparent-led families. Adrienne is a
member of Rural Response for Healthy Children’s
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Peer Support
Group, which serves Huron and Perth counties.
Through her peer support group, Adrienne was
connected to additional resources in the community.
“We became part of the group to get information
about what services, agencies and counseling are
available for both us and for my grandchild. It
turns out there are a lot of resources within our
community, and we have been able to use many of
these. The support of talking to other grandparents
and listening to their stories is so important, and it
makes you realize you are not alone and, although
this is a fairly unique situation, there are many of us
in it together.”
Connecting with a group of families in similar
circumstances is also beneficial for the grandchildren.
It provides an opportunity to be together and socialize
with other children who are also raised by their
grandparents. Their unique family circumstances
may make them feel different from a lot of their
friends at school, but in a shared group the children
are able to meet other families like theirs.
Another benefit Adrienne has experienced through
her peer support group is the opportunity to learn
new ways to be a caregiver for her grandchild.
“We are in a unique position of raising children for
a second time, and times have changed. We needed
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