Lyn Roche

Author, eldercare specialist, public speaker, syndicated newspaper columnist, family caregiver, accredited and experienced dementia support group facilitator . . .

This website, my books, workshops, and weekly columns are all about YOU. The video and pictures are of me to personally welcome you. I hope you’ll feel at home here and come often.

Like you, I’ve cared for elderly family members. In my case, it was actually three loved ones. Both my father and my mother-in-law were victims of Alzheimer’s disease. I was also the primary caregiver for my grandmother who, though not ill, was very frail for many years and could not care for herself. She lived to be 95.

Our family cared for them before the words “sandwich” and “generation” came together to become a familiar term. We learned a lot during our caregiving days. The main thing we learned is that it’s all about love. Our motto became, “What’s really important here?” Love is what’s important and it needs to constantly be poured into the care recipients – but also into the caregivers.

All caregivers need support and I had it on my heart to help other caregivers in a way that could relieve their stress and uplift them every day. Whenever I met another caregiver, I felt a strong connection. I wanted to hug them, listen to them, and share with them – if they asked me to share. Basically, I just wanted to pour love back into them. I still do.

My heart filled with the idea of a book that could be a caring friend who understands. Not someone who tells all about their own personal caregiving journey, but a companion who walks with YOU, uplifts YOU daily, maintains and validates the dignity of the person YOU’RE caring for – and at the same time offers practical caregiving tips without being text-like or time-consuming to read.

The first edition of Coping With Caring was birthed. The new revised edition (2006) like the first, although over 400 pages, is small enough to fit in your hand. Because, a book that fits in your hand can become part of your everyday life!

Each page stands alone containing a daily reflection and a tip. There’s a topic-driven index and blank pages for your own notes or journaling. If you’d like to read sample pages and endorsements of both Coping With Caring and Sharing The Care (which I co-authored with my husband, Bill, in 2004) click on www.journeybookstore.com

People started calling me “the caregiver’s caregiver” and now Bill introduces me that way whenever we present our “Breath of Fresh Air” caregiver workshops.

For the past three years, Bill and I have written a weekly column together for Highlands Today. It’s called Boomers & Beyond and you can also read samples of it at www.boomersandbeyondthecolumn.com It deals with life and meaningful aging. As we said in its debut, “Come along with us as we embrace the mundane, the exciting, the bumpy, the smooth, the heartbreaking, the joyful – all the unique qualities of being part of the generations known as Boomers and Beyond.”

Many readers who now find themselves caring for aging loved ones, have asked me to personally address their caregiving concerns in a “Dear Abby” format. I’m delighted to do so! Bill said there was only one name for the new column – The Caregiver’s Caregiver™. You can email your questions to me lyn@thecaregiverscaregiver.com or write: Lyn Roche, Journey Publications, POB 433, Sebring, FL 33871.

I’m happy to say The Caregiver’s Caregiver™ began in The Tampa Tribune’s “4YOU” Saturday health and wellness insert July 21, 2007. Click here to read the introduction. 4YOU

Look for The Caregiver’s Caregiver™ in your hometown newspaper. If you don’t see it, email or write me and include the name and location of your paper.

I invite you to keep coming back to this website. It will be updated often. Copies of all previously published articles from The Caregiver’s Caregiver™ and some from Boomers & Beyond are archived and linked to this website. Countless subjects are indexed by their caregiving topics.

Click here for archived articles by subject matter!

It’s my desire this site be an instant caregiving resource you can come to anytime day or night. There can be a healthy balance between caregiving and YOUR LIFE. Your personal well-being is of utmost importance.

I’ll be providing free online videos from my home to your home and my heart to your heart. I’ll discuss topics I believe are important to YOU. From time to time I’ll interview people I feel have something worthwhile to share with YOU. Please come back often. And, don’t forget to email or snail mail your caregiving questions to me for The Caregiver’s Caregiver™ weekly column.

Check this site also for locations of our workshops and links to valuable resources as we continue to uncover them for YOU!

Please Note: Lyn reads every email and every letter personally. However, due to the volume, she is unable to answer questions individually by return email or snail mail.

If you’ve sent a caregiving question, look for her response in your local newspaper. Again, due to volume, Lyn cannot answer every letter she receives.

By submitting a question through a written letter or by email, you are agreeing to have your question published. You may wish to use a fictitious name, that’s fine.

In an attempt to provide you with immediate caregiving help, we are currently in the process of archiving past articles Lyn and her husband have written. We will also add all Caregiver’s Caregiver™ articles as they are published. They will be linked to this website and listed by subject matter (driving, wandering, etc.) Click here to read Driving and Dementia Don't Mix

And, don’t forget, Coping With Caring; When Someone You Love Has Alzheimer’s or a Related Condition is the largest collection of caregiving tips in one volume. If you don’t already have a copy of your own, click here to order one http://www.journeybookstore.com

Email me at:

lyn@thecaregiverscaregiver.com