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Stillpoint: A Self-Care Playbook For Caregivers

Being a caregiver is a hazardous occupation, whether it’s a chosen helping profession or a family responsibility that’s chosen you.

A resource by Sheila K Collins PhD

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Stillpoint

A Self Care Playbook for Caregivers to Find Ease and Time to Breathe, and Reclaim Joy

by Sheila K Collins PhD and Christine Gautreaux, MSW

Stillpoint is a comprehensive guide offering caregivers permission to become attuned to their own needs while caring for others. The artistic approach of these two dancing social workers offers the reader numerous ways to pay attention to the somatic self – the body as perceived from the inside. Stillpoint offers stories, whimsical songs, poems, quizzes, meditations and affirmations to aid professional and family caregivers alike in unlearning self-defeating habits and changing mindsets. The aim is for those caring and serving others to include themselves in their wholehearted caring. Tools for self-healing are also offered along with resources and sample rituals to transform both careers and caregivers.

My Inspiration

Thirty years ago, as a Social Work professor, I prepared social work students to go into health care settings. I noticed quite soon that we were not preparing them for a critical part of their job which was to take care of themselves. I wrote the first edition to address that issue, and to learn more about self-care for myself. In 2018, I was urged to revise the book since by then, 1/3 of the adult population in the US were taking care of a loved one in their homes, adding to the large number of people in professional caregiving roles. I was fortunate to have my dear friend and fellow dancing social worker Christine Gautreaux to assist me with this second edition. We've added the latest research along with the body-wise tools of InterPlay that we have found especially helpful to self-care in our own lives.

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