The Caregiver's Compass: How to Navigate with Balance & Effectiveness Using Mindful Caregiving [Paperback]

Holly Whittelsey Whiteside (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2009

The Caregiver's Compass gives you back the reins of your well-being and emotional balance. Step by step the author coaches you down a sure and gentle path to greater peace. Through 36 short sections and seven chapters, you learn to apply three basic well-being principles to the emotional arenas of caregiving. Journaling prompts at the end of each section let you make the learning your own. PRAISE FOR THE CAREGIVER'S COMPASS: "What a marvelous book, a true gift for caregivers. The holistic approach and practical tools empower the caregiver to reflect, grow and experience the beautiful rewards of the sacred work of caregiving. Ms. Whiteside has shown that caregiving is an opportunity to enrich one's life that can be a mutually beneficial experience for both the person receiving care and the person providing care. This book truly "cares for the caregiver." It feels like a warm hug of support reaching out from the pages to the caregiver. It provides insight, understanding and invaluable tools that empower the caregiver, allowing them to take control over a situation that may have them feeling as if they are spinning out of control. "The Caregiver's Compass" guides a person on the journey of caregiving so that the journey itself becomes a gift to be treasured and a true growth experience for the caregiver. Ms. Whiteside and her book will touch many lives for the better."-Susan M. Berta RN, LNHA, Eden Educator, Culture Change Guide "A reflective, compassionate guide through the heart-rending challenges of providing care to a loved one. Ms. Whiteside's extremely thorough, well-structured approach to caregiving is both practical and thoughtful. I wish I had it available to me twenty-five years ago. If you're struggling to provide care to a aging parent or disabled loved one, you need this book."-John O'Leary, Senior Consultant/Coach, Tom Peters Company

Editorial Reviews

Review

by Bob Lind, Book Review, Echo Magazine "Ms. Whiteside is a writer as well as a life coach and experienced caregiver, and brings a simplistic but effective, holistic approach to the subject of caregiving. She makes the distinction, early on, that caregivers can be near or far; indeed, a relative thousands of miles away, arranging care and making important decisions on a patient's behalf, is no less of a caregiver than the individual who is on site dealing with the patient's daily needs. The book sets out basic concepts of caregiving, perhaps the most important of which include dealing with the myriad of emotions that come into play. Readers are encouraged to relate each short, no-nonsense chapter to their own situation, by writing down their feelings about the subject in a "caregiver's journal" which the author considers a vital tool. Concepts such as self-care, pre-grieving, asking for help when needed, and knowing when to let go are handled in a straightforward, honest manner, covering bases that might otherwise get overlooked in a caregiver's overburdened life. The author also relates her own experiences as a caregiver and as the one receiving care after a cancer diagnosis years before. An excellent, recommended resource that can be a comfort to those needing guidance or reinforcement that they are doing their best for their loved one. Four caring stars out of five." --Echo Magazine, April 2010

About the Author

Holly Whittelsey Whiteside is a life coach, a caregiver's coach, and a writer. During her challenging decade of caregiving, she applied life coaching principles to herself in order to stay balanced. The resulting tools and techniques are now taught through workshops and private coaching. She is a certified Eden Alternative Associate.

Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace (December 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449599362
• ISBN-13: 978-1449599362
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #667,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars To help create balance in caregiver's life, March 6, 2010

By 

Pat McNees (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Caregiver's Compass: How to Navigate with Balance & Effectiveness Using Mindful Caregiving (Paperback)

Nicely done book on how to apply life coaching principles to stay balanced during the difficult moments of caregiving, based on the author's own experience with her mother and as a life coach. I especially like her matrix for weighing what various activities cost in terms of time, money, energy, and what they return for you and the person you're caring for.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An All-purpose Compass, March 8, 2010

By 

John G. O'leary (Chestnut Hill, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Caregiver's Compass: How to Navigate with Balance & Effectiveness Using Mindful Caregiving (Paperback)

Holly Whiteside's book is ostensibly about caregiving, and it certainly works as such. (In fact I wish I had it 25 years ago when I was struggling to deal with my mother's decline.) But "The Caregiver's Compass" is actually a manual on self-awareness, on mental attention, on mindfulness -- AND its application to caregiving. For this reason it's as useful to me now when I can relate it to a broad range of human experience - from embracing fear or risk, to dealing with anger or grief, to caretaking of myself. For this reason I think this book under-promises and over-delivers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource and comfort to difficult necessary role of caregiver, February 26, 2010

By 

Bob Lind "camelwest" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Caregiver's Compass: How to Navigate with Balance & Effectiveness Using Mindful Caregiving (Paperback)

Ms. Whiteside is a writer as well as a life coach and experienced caregiver, and brings a simplistic but effective, holistic approach to the subject of caregiving. She makes the distinction, early on, that caregivers can be near or far; indeed, a relative thousands of miles away, arranging care and making important decisions on a patient's behalf, is no less of a caregiver than the individual who is on site dealing with the patient's daily needs.

The book sets out basic concepts of caregiving, perhaps the most important of which include dealing with the myriad of emotions that come into play. Readers are encouraged to relate each short, no-nonsense chapter to their own situation, by writing down their feelings about the subject in a "caregiver's journal" which the author considers a vital tool. Concepts such as self-care, pre-grieving, asking for help when needed, and knowing when to let go are handled in a straightforward, honest manner, covering bases that might otherwise get overlooked in a caregiver's overburdened life. The author also relates her own experiences as a caregiver and as the one receiving care after a cancer diagnosis years before.

An excellent, recommended resource that can be a comfort to those needing guidance or reinforcement that they are doing their best for their loved one. Four caring stars out of five.

- Bob Lind, Echo Magazine