We recognize that your loved one's illness has thrust you into what truly is the next great journey of your life: a journey which you did not choose, initiate, or prepare for; a journey that will take you into territory far off the maps and trails you have counted on in the past. 

The Guides at CareInAction.com have worked with many families, like yours, who find themselves feeling more than a little lost and confused at the prospect of navigating such foreign landscapes. When mental illness first enters your life and the life of your family, it is common to devote precious energies wishing the trauma away, focusing on day to day surviving, or avoiding pain. 

A Different Perspective

At CareinAction, we believe that your well being and your capacity to support your ill relative require you to explore a different perspective.  As Melissa West writes in her book, Silver Linings, you can "raise your vision, so to speak, and see that there is a greater process unfolding." 

Indeed, the guides at Care In Action believe that the process of finding your way can become a special kind of journey, one your family might come to think of as a Sacred Expedition.

What makes this more than just a change?  What makes your experience of caring for a mentally ill relative a sacred expedition?

•  It is a sacred expedition because this experience will take you deep into the terrain of human bravery and compassion.

•  It is a sacred expedition because you, the journeyer, give of yourself in service to someone else; you are willing to engage in actions that require special efforts on your par; and you look for meaning in the midst of a trauma.

•  This journey is sacred because you will discover new corners in your heart, beautiful ones and less desirable ones; you will meet darker companions such as fear and anger that teach you to live and to love in entirely new ways; and you will be called to seek meaning.

•  It is sacred because it invites you to acknowledge that you are where you are. Today.  Now.  And this moment - every moment - is the point from which you can choose how to move forward.              

No Easy Answers

We wish we could offer you a lot of reassurance, a problem-free future, the guarantee of a clear path to a journey's end where you and your loved one will someday arrive. But we are professional guides and therefore not in the business of selling you false promises or "quick fixes." The terrain is undeniably treacherous. The voyage is long.

As a caregiver, you ultimately have no control over how the ill person in your life decides to deal with his or her illness. This is a tough lesson and a difficult reality. 

Your Power of Choice

Experience teaches us, however, that you can powerfully influence the nature of your journey by identifying the choices that are truly yours to make and then nurturing your ability to make and express those choices moment by moment, day by day. You can choose:

• How you 'manage' the chaos generated by the symptoms of the illness,
• How you organize yourselves as a family in order to provide the necessary support to your ill relative
• How you communicate your needs and listen for the needs of others
• How you prepare yourself to respond in a crisis
• How you reach out for help and sustenance along the way...

These, and many others, are choices that are yours to make, and CareinAction exists to support you in acknowledging - and putting into action - that power of choice.  

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