By Rich Simon As therapists, many of us practice in two different worlds. In the first, we see polite, well-behaved, articulate clients with solid values. They engage fully in therapy, talk cogently about their problems, listen attentively to our responses, make reasonably good-faith efforts to follow our suggestions, and sooner or later get better. No wonder we genuinely like these people! 
By Rich Simon A thousand years ago, during the palmy days of generous insurance reimbursement, therapists could maintain the illusion that, since therapy was paid for by an unseen hidden hand, clinical practice was somehow untouched by the tacky subject of money. Even the style of therapy reflected this disjunction: 
CE Credits: 2 • Price: $29This Reading Course explores how therapists can deal with long-term care issues in their own families and with their clients. Katy Butler gives an intimate sense of the perfect storm of emotional and practical problems that engulfs the adult children of sick, elderly parents, as well as some hard-learned advice for rising to the occasion with grace and sanity intact. Barry Jacobs describes the complex situations raised for a therapist trying to help a family in which a loved one is dying—a process is not helped by sentimentalized ideas about “the good death.” He also advises therapists on how to encourage older, frail clients and their family caregivers to accept the help they need. In another article, Jacobs warns therapists against proffering advice too quickly without showing genuine understanding and compassion for the moral dimensions of the caregiver’s dilemma. David Seaburn explores the process of helping a couple confront the coming death of the wife. Robert Hill describes how therapists can help their aging clients make the most of the years they have left.
Course Readings
Re-feathering the Nest: From Dutiful Daughter to Self-Aware Caregiver by Katy Butler
Caring for the Caregiver by Katy Butler
Reliable Witness: What it Takes to Be with Your Clients to the End by Barry Jacobs
Winter Passage: Acknowledging Spirituality in Life’s Final Journey by David Seaburn
Positive Aging: A New Paradigm For Growing Old by Robert Hill
Receiving with Grace: Teaching Reluctant Seniors to Accept Help by Barry Jacobs
Honoring the Mission: Don’t Be Too Quick to Ease the Caregiver’s Burden by Barry Jacobs
Learning Objectives
1. Discuss some of the difficulties and rewards of becoming a caregiver for your parents.
2. Explain how therapists can help clients and their families deal with the grief surrounding their own death.
3. Describe the role that spirituality can play in helping clients deal with death and dying.
4. List three effective strategies that can be used when working with caregivers.
© 2013 Psychotherapy Networker