While caregivers are dedicated to their loved ones who experience health challenges as they grow older, many caregivers themselves face challenges with their own physical and mental health. For those struggling or looking for a listening ear, organizations like the Ontario Caregiver Organization (OCO) are there to help.
Founded in 2018 the Ontario Caregiver Organization’s mandate is to improve the lives of Ontario’s caregivers. When it first launched, the estimated number of caregivers in the province was 3.3 million and the number has climbed to four million. The organization receives funding from the provincial Health Ministry as well as other benefactors that fund different projects and initiatives they do.
Amy Coupal is the CEO of the OCO. She says that because of where they’re at in life many caregivers are pulling double or triple duty, taking care of older adults in their life along with working their jobs and taking care of their own children.
“More than half of caregivers work, so they’re balancing work and care. We also see the most significant population of caregivers being in the sandwich generation, where they’ve got still children at home and caring, often for an older adult, a parent, an in-law, aunt or uncle, something like that,” Coupal said. “So they’re balancing these responsibilities around family, around work, and also balancing making sure that their own health and wellness is taken care of, so caregivers can face challenges around their time, around balancing their commitment and making sure that they’re able to fulfill their caregiving responsibilities in a way that doesn’t compromise their own health and wellness.”
There are a lot of different aspects to caregiving that they might need assistance with.
“What we know from caregivers is that they can be facing a variety of demands and challenges as a part of their caregiving responsibility,” Coupal added “They may be taking care of someone with physical and/or mental health needs. So that might be things like booking and coordinating appointments, coordinating and managing medications, doing paramedical tasks, helping them with active daily living. Really, so many different things and caregivers might be doing a few hours a week, or there may be caregivers doing 10 or many more hours a week. So caregivers are often having to balance their caregiving responsibilities with other responsibilities and commitments in their lives.”
In an effort to make life easier for people who are taking care of their loved ones the organization offers resources to help caregivers with their day to day on its website ontariocaregiver.ca
“We’ve got lots of self-directed resources on the website that include checklists and tool kits, but caregivers also really appreciate the recordings of our webinars where they can learn about a topic that’s important to them,” Coupal said. “And more and more, we see that caregivers are accessing these supports that are for their own wellness. So they might want to be matched with a peer mentor who’s had their own caregiving journey, and can help give that friendly ear, but also talk about tips and tricks, or they may need things like a caregiver coach who can help them create a plan specific to their life, or counseling to work through some of the emotions that can come up for caregiving. And we now see increasing demand for those kinds of programs and services.”
Supports available on the website include counselling and peer support, mental health support and e-learning opportunities.
Some of the topics included in the e-learning section of the website include ‘Caregiver 101,’ ‘Caregivers Partnering with Health Professionals,’ and ‘Roadmap to Caregiving: The Realities of Mental Illness and Addictions,’ among others.
The OCO’s 2023-24 impact report includes anonymous feedback from caregivers who have used the organization’s services:
“’The 1:1 Peer Support program was an amazing experience for me. It was wonderful to have insights from someone who has so much lived experience with his. The initial intake was easy and efficient, my mentor was very well suited to me and met my needs, and I feel much stronger coming out of this. I would recommend this program to anyone in the position of caregiving. Thank you!”
OCO has a 24/7 helpline which can be reached by phone at 1-833-416-2273 as well as an online chat helpline which is available Monday to Friday 7 a.m.-9 p.m. at ontariocaregiver.ca. The helpline can help caregivers get in touch with home and community care options, local support groups specialized programs for the people you care for and more.The helpline is available in English and French with interpretation service available for 150 languages on request.
