ABOVE: Photos via the LGBTQ Caregiver Center’s website.
TAMPA BAY | An area startup focusing on holistic healthcare has launched a resource dedicated to serving LGBTQ caregivers across the country.
The LGBTQ Caregiver Center is an initiative of the Caregiver Wellness Collective Inc., currently seeking nonprofit status. It launched as a grassroots effort to support caregivers at the onset of COVID-19, following up with its LGBTQ-focused website last month.
In support of the center’s mission, the informational hub seeks “to raise awareness of the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ caregivers and those who care for LGBTQ individuals.” It also works to “empower LGBTQ caregivers to live with pride and dignity and serve as a conduit for education, wellness, training and research.”
The effort is led by industry professionals and LGBTQ advocates who are dedicated to improving the health and wellness of caregivers in and outside of the community. Among them are longtime ally Jennifer Henius, Caregiver Wellness Collective’s founder and CEO, and Zander Keig, who is transgender. Both are licensed clinical social workers.
“We support all caregivers,” Henius explains. “Family caregivers, chosen-family caregivers and medical professional caregivers. These caregivers share a lot in common in terms of the anxiety and the stress and compassion, fatigue and burnout, and I really wanted to create a place where they could come and learn about self-care tools.”
Those tools include yoga, meditation and more, programming holistically designed to support those in need. “Caregivers are really in a state of crisis right now,” Henius says.
“There are more than 53 million caregivers across the country, and this is previous to COVID,” she explains. “Caregiving is a huge public health concern and COVID has only exacerbated all of the challenges and stressors that caregivers face.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, informal or unpaid caregivers like family members or friends “are the backbone of long-term care provided in people’s homes.” The agency has found that these individuals are at an increased risk for negative health consequences.
“They have elevated levels of self-reported mental health concerns, increases in substance abuse, increased depression and suicidal ideation,” Henius says. “That is really alarming.”
Those concerns can be particularly true for LGBTQ caregivers, who become caregivers at a slightly higher rate than their non-LGBTQ peers. According to SAGE, the nation’s largest nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ elders, one in five members of the community will become a caregiver for another adult.
It’s something Keig has experienced firsthand as the caregiver for his aging father. He notes that he and other members of the LGBTQ community face unique challenges in the role.
“I started my gender transition at age 39, and I’m assuming my father is going to reach a point where he’s going to forget I’m his son,” Keig explains. “He’s going to wonder where his daughter is, and so how is that going to work for him but also in the facility where he is? How is the staff going to handle it?”
To help answer questions like these, the new program will also focus on members of the LGBTQ community receiving care.
“It isn’t always going to be an LGBTQ caregiver who’s providing services to an LGBTQ-identified person,” Keig says. “With partner-to-partner caregiving, which is very common in our community, you may have two elderly people who are trying to take care of each other, which isn’t a long-standing option for these couples. We want to find supplementary services for them.”
To do so, the LGBTQ Caregiver Center provides LGBTQ cultural competency training for medical and human service providers. They hope to equip them with the tools they need to best serve LGBTQ patients.
“People are more receptive and opening the doors now,” Henius says. “They recognize that there are LGBTQ caregivers out there, but they don’t have the cultural competencies or know how to make it clear that they’re going to be a welcoming, affirming space. We want them to be well educated.”
“As a virtual setting, we’re going to be able to link all of these things together,” Keig adds. “It will give people a clearinghouse for everything LGBTQ that has to do with caregiving and aging. We’ll connect people who are already doing great work.”
To help amplify that work, the LGBTQ Caregiver Center is currently seeking testimonials from caregivers to share with others. Current and former LGBTQ caregivers as well as ally caregivers who provide services for LGBTQ individuals are invited to detail their experiences by visiting the center’s website or emailing LGBTQCaregivers@Gmail.com.
“Caregiving is not simply an aging or elder issue,” Henius says. “The typical LGBTQ caregiver is just 42 years old and the numbers of millennial caregivers in increasing. LGBTQ caregivers need our support now more than ever.”
For more information about the LGBTQ Caregiver Center, including partner and sponsorship opportunities, visit LGBTQCaregivers.org.
