Washington County to put on six-week course teaching self care for caregivers

When Sharon Seymour signed up for Washington County’s “Powerful Tools for Caregivers” class, she thought she’d be learning strategies and techniques to take care of her husband.

Instead, her biggest takeaways were about caring for herself during an extremely isolating time in her life.

“When you’re taking care of somebody else to that extent, the last thing you’re thinking about is what you need,” she said.

Now, Seymour is gearing up to facilitate the class — put on by Washington County Disability, Aging and Veteran Services — for the second time. On Tuesdays from April 16 to May 21, Seymour and fellow course alum Elaine Bueffel will pass on the lessons they learned when they were the ones in the classroom in the six-week course designed for unpaid family and friend caregivers of people aging or with disabilities.

“It made such an impact on me that at that time, I decided that when I was able I would go and give the class because it made that much of a difference for me,” Seymour said.

The class helped her keep an eye on her own mental and physical health while she was hyper-focused on her husband’s. It sounds trivial, she said, but one of the weekly goals she set for herself during the course was simply to take her vitamins on a regular basis, which prompted her to set up a system to remember them that she still uses now.

“Going for a flu shot, going for a mammogram, whatever little things that you just put off because you just don’t want to take anymore time,” she said.

She also learned how to set boundaries and avoid confrontation with friends and family members, as well as how to ask those people for help when she needed it.

Most of all, the class gave her the opportunity to be around other people who were going through the same things she was.

“When you’re going through that, it’s a very lonely, isolating time,” she said. “To go and meet people that are going through the same thing you’re doing is really powerful.”

Seymour said people who go through the course can expect to find camaraderie and permission to take care of themselves. She already has the utmost respect for the “heroes” she’ll meet in the classroom in just a few weeks, and hopes she can help and support them.

“I told my students, ‘You guys are all heroes,’” she said. “And one of them said, ‘No, you’re the hero, because we can see that you can make it through.’”

Those interested in signing up for the class can contact Susan Williams at 503-846-3089 or email familycaregiversupport@washingtoncountyor.gov . There is a $30 fee for the class handbook which will be waived if it is a hardship. The class will be held at Legacy Medical Group-Cornell in Beaverton, located at 1960 N.W. 167th Place, and runs from 1-2:30 p.m. on Tuesdays from April 16 to May 21.