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Mental Health Issues for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. or WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LIFE?. Depression Anxiety Stress Grief Shame Love. What I Saw. What I Saw - Con’t. Fear Resentment Anger Guilt. Questions Asked by Grandparents.
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Mental Health Issues for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren or WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LIFE?
Depression Anxiety Stress Grief Shame Love What I Saw
What I Saw - Con’t • Fear • Resentment • Anger • Guilt
Questions Asked by Grandparents • Will we have to repeat by raising our great-grandchildren? • How much should we help financially? • Are we enabling our adult children? Our grandchildren? If so, in what ways? • Will our adult children ever get it together and how will we know when?
Questions Con’t • How do we make an appropriate transition of the grandchildren back to their parents? • How do we get through the stress of one day? • What about the stress on my marriage? • What about my relationship with my adult child?
Questions Con’t • What stress relievers are there? • What are my individual stress creators? • Why do our children not have the same faith that we do? • How do we get our adult children into counseling? • What ever happened to absolutes? • How do I sit down with my child or grandchild and get them to talk?
In other words, this was a group of caring, concerned, hurting, people.
What We Talked About • No distinct answer for their questions • Thoughts, feelings, & emotions • A + B=C - how beliefs affect consequences • Stress management • Discussion of undiagnosed addictions or mental health issues-symptoms… • Power, control, & adrenaline • Reframing
What We Talked About Con’t • Change takes courage • Recognizing the differences between beliefs, feelings, thoughts, values and are they really changeable • Acceptance does not equal approval • Discipline techniques • Family building blocks
In Other Words • Everything that might help answer the “why” questions of “What happened to my life?” • Anatomy of forgiveness • Take care of yourselves; you are not to blame for your situation.
Handouts Made Available • Your rights and learning to say “NO” • List of pleasant and unpleasant feelings • Time out • Pleasant imagery • Anger reducers
What I Observed • Grandparents used the information as tools to answer some of their “why” questions • Grandparents were hungry for more information • Grandparents became a support group for each other • Those initially hesitant to share personal experiences became more comfortable in the group • Several participated in individual counseling