Caregiver Connections

Good morning, friends. How is everybody doing today in the Cadre sphere? Happy Thursday. Happy caregiver Thursday. I hope that y' all have your. Your hug and a mug with you this morning. I have mine and my great things never came from comfort zones. Good morning, Kelly here. Good morning, Kelly. Good morning, Robert. Good to see you guys on here today. Good morning, Mel Myers. Hey, Jules, It's a crew here this morning. All right, y' all, I hope you have your hug and a mug, your piece of comfort and self care this morning with you.

I just have a cup of water in my coffee mug this morning and my great things never came from comfort zones mug. So we'll get into that convo here in a minute. It's good to see you guys. Hey, Speak Wonder. Is anybody watching the Masters this week? I'm just asking because I live in Georgia, so I. There's a lot of friends here who enjoy watching the Masters. It looks so peaceful out there on the golf course, doesn't it? Makes me want to learn how to play golf and go enjoy some peace and quiet in nature on a golf course.

It looks delightful. Okay, so you guys, for those of you who don't know me, I am Steph Irwin and I live in Savannah, Georgia. I'm a mom of two neurodivergent kiddos. My daughter was diagnosed with autism in 2023. Kelly, it's snowing there. Oh, my goodness. Spring. I mean, the spring weather is coming hopefully sooner than later up there in Michigan where you are. Is it snowing where you're at? Speak Wonder. It's pretty nice down here in Georgia, I'm not gonna lie. You guys, come on in. Come on and visit.

So today I just wanted to talk to you guys about the power of community. And when my daughter was diagnosed with autism, I felt really alone. So to top it off, I'm an introvert. So I felt extra alone in the beginning. And it takes me a minute to reach out to others and seek out community, so I did. I had to step out of my comfort zone multiple times and kind of push myself to find that community. And it's taken a while, but I have. And one of those communities who's been immensely supportive and helpful is the Cadre community.

And as many of you know and probably have experienced the. The beauty of the Cadre community, how so many people are here for one another through the good times, the bad times, and all the in between. And, you know, it's just so crucial for us to find that group of people who. Where we can feel A sense of belonging and feel a sense of support for one another. And so now, you know, after. After a while of seeking out my community, especially in regards to my daughter's autism diagnosis, I have found a group of parents through her.

Her ABA therapy program. And just from dropping off and picking up and we, we have made friends. And I'm going to have a coffee date with one of the mamas this week, and her daughter and my daughter are going to have a play date and they're going to go to a week of summer camp together. So it's a beautiful thing. And sometimes it takes that little push to just get outside of the comfort zone, to seek that power of community. And this wouldn't have happened if I didn't seek out, seek out community with people with shared experiences.

Oh, speak wonder. I just saw your comment. It's snowing there, too. Oh, my gosh, you guys, it's beautiful here. Come down to Savannah and visit many, many families. I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but I work with kids with cancer and their families, both in the hospital as well as in the community. And many families that I work with can feel alone when their child is newly diagnosed with a cancer diagnosis. This past weekend, we had a family camp program that I. That I helped out with, and it was for 30 families across the state.

And they spent a whole weekend in cabins and doing activities together and supporting one another and really just building that community of support. You know, they're all there with this shared life experience, so they had a commonality and they were able to support one another and their sense of connection, it was so palpable and it was so authentic and it was so beautiful to see. And sometimes if you're put in the right environment or if you put yourself in the right environment to be able to connect with others, it can be life changing.

So y' all feel free to share any experiences with community or maybe a group or an organization that has supported you along the way. There's definitely a lot of things out there. You know, there's online communities, there's local communities. Sometimes it just takes searching and finding out what nonprofits are available, finding other parents under. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Yes, Sarah. It's. It's everything. It's everything. And actually, when I connected with this one mom last week, just. Just in tears, just knowing that somebody else sees you, that you're not alone.

And it's. It's incredible. It's an incredible feeling to know you're not alone in this and to have somebody to share all of, all of your feelings about it with. So I will tell you guys that according to a study at Stanford, people with strong social ties have a 50% greater likelihood of survival compared to those without strong connections. 1 prevalence. The family Caregiver alliance states that for caregivers it's actually 40 to 70%. So you guys, especially for my caregivers, in whatever capacity you're caregiving, seek out that community because there is, there is so much power in that community.

And overall, having strong social connections is related to better mental health and well being, decreased stress levels, which I'm sure we can all benefit from. And just reach out, reach out to your community because I bet it's going to have a positive influence on your life. Yeah. Speak Wonder Grief support groups. Yes. Yeah, it's really important to find those groups that can support you and you can support the others that are involved as well. All right, you guys, reach out to your community and I hope you have a good Thursday.

Take care.