Grandparents Raising Grandkids with Catherine Becker - Ep 67
11/14/22 • 52 min
In this week’s Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Catherine Becker, founder of the support group called Joys and Challenges of Relative Caregivers. She’s a grandma who is raising her three young grandkids while her daughter struggles with addiction. When she tried to find a tribe of other relatives in her same situation, she didn’t find a group that went deep enough or that was small enough to create personal connections. So she made her own group. Her organization is raising money to provide financial assistance to grandparents and other relatives who are caring for or who have adopted their family members’ children.
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💌 Sign up for our Safe Home Families email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX
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RESOURCES:
Catherine’s information:
- Joys and Challenges of Relative Caregivers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/861031841262074
- Catherine’s email: [email protected]
- Catherine’s phone number: 706-944-3454
Other resources mentioned in this episode:
- Safe Home’s episode about fentanyl: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/EMdGewW4Sub
Other Resources:
- Other Parents Like Me - https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me
- Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/
- Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling
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Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson
Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao
Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson
Email questions or comments to Safe Home at [email protected]
Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
Support Safe Home on Patreon: Patreon.com/SafeHome
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TIME STAMPS
1:26 Catherine’s daughter Katie’s journey with addiction and incarceration
6:07 How Catherine plans to keep her young children away from drugs
8:50 How Catherine gained custody of her children
13:03 The boundaries Catherine has drawn with her daughter while incarcerated
16:45 How Catherine manages her emotions and gets support
19:11 How Catherine avoids feeling resentful toward her daughter
22:13 What kind of support do relative caregivers need?
24:26 Struggles Catherine has with her other adult children
26:40 Katie’s relationship with her kids
29:25 Family preservation, open adoption, and relinquishment trauma
33:23 How common is relative caregiving?
36:44 How can allies help relative caregivers?
41:08 Catherine’s advice for parents with teens
43:33 Katie’s mental health challenges
46:03 Catherine’s advice for relative caregivers
In this week’s Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Catherine Becker, founder of the support group called Joys and Challenges of Relative Caregivers. She’s a grandma who is raising her three young grandkids while her daughter struggles with addiction. When she tried to find a tribe of other relatives in her same situation, she didn’t find a group that went deep enough or that was small enough to create personal connections. So she made her own group. Her organization is raising money to provide financial assistance to grandparents and other relatives who are caring for or who have adopted their family members’ children.
===============
💌 Sign up for our Safe Home Families email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX
===============
RESOURCES:
Catherine’s information:
- Joys and Challenges of Relative Caregivers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/861031841262074
- Catherine’s email: [email protected]
- Catherine’s phone number: 706-944-3454
Other resources mentioned in this episode:
- Safe Home’s episode about fentanyl: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/EMdGewW4Sub
Other Resources:
- Other Parents Like Me - https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me
- Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/
- Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling
===============
Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson
Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao
Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson
Email questions or comments to Safe Home at [email protected]
Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
Support Safe Home on Patreon: Patreon.com/SafeHome
===============
TIME STAMPS
1:26 Catherine’s daughter Katie’s journey with addiction and incarceration
6:07 How Catherine plans to keep her young children away from drugs
8:50 How Catherine gained custody of her children
13:03 The boundaries Catherine has drawn with her daughter while incarcerated
16:45 How Catherine manages her emotions and gets support
19:11 How Catherine avoids feeling resentful toward her daughter
22:13 What kind of support do relative caregivers need?
24:26 Struggles Catherine has with her other adult children
26:40 Katie’s relationship with her kids
29:25 Family preservation, open adoption, and relinquishment trauma
33:23 How common is relative caregiving?
36:44 How can allies help relative caregivers?
41:08 Catherine’s advice for parents with teens
43:33 Katie’s mental health challenges
46:03 Catherine’s advice for relative caregivers
Previous Episode
Chronic Suicidality with Frank King - Ep 66
**TRIGGER WARNING** This episode will be talking directly about suicide, so this might not be for everyone to listen to right now. But we at Safe Home believe this is a very important topic so we hope you’ll listen when it’s safe for you to do so.
In this week’s Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with Frank King, a comedian who wrote for The Tonight Show for over 20 years and who performs standup worldwide. Along the way, he focused his creative attention on the topic of mental health, and specifically suicidality. Now known as the Mental Health Comedian, he talks openly about his own suicidality and, using humor as a tool to open up the conversation, he informs people about suicide prevention, destigmatizes mental illness, and helps people feel seen and heard. He has a few wonderful TED Talks: including A Matter of Laugh or Death, Mental with Benefits, and Born To Be Funny.
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💌 Sign up for our Safe Home Families email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX
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RESOURCES:
Frank’s information:
- Frank’s website: https://www.thementalhealthcomedian.com/
- Frank’s Tedx Talk “A Matter of Laugh or Death”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBUXND5BD4M&t=967s
Other resources mentioned in this episode:
- Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 988 - or text HELP to 741741 -https://988lifeline.org/
- The Message of You: Turn Your Life Story into a Money-Making Speaking Career by Judy Carter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250007100
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - free resources: https://www.nami.org/
===============
Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson
Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao
Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson
Email questions or comments to Safe Home at [email protected]
Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
Support Safe Home on Patreon: Patreon.com/SafeHome
===============
TIME STAMPS:
1:30 Frank explains creating a career from comedy about suicide
7:48 Vulnerability is Frank’s superpower
9:58 Dentists, veterinarians, and construction workers have the highest incidence of suicide deaths
11:17 Frank’s mental illnesses - Major Depressive Disorder and Chronic Suicidality
15:35 Mental with Benefits - what if mental illness is a desirable disadvantage?
17:30 Frank’s self-care plan - 5 daily requirements to maintain his mental health
20:40 Suicide prevention tips
22:20 Does talking about suicide make it more likely someone would attempt suicide?
23:48 We’re not saying “commit suicide” anymore - what do we call it now?
25:08 The new 988 suicide prevention lifeline
28:02 **TRIGGER WARNING** Frank’s intergenerational depression and suicide stories
32:09 Sugar addiction as a long-term death sentence
33:15 Ambivalence about suicide means most people can be saved from suicide; what are the warning signs?
36:33 Lock up your medications, parents!!
Next Episode
Coping with OCD's Intrusive Thoughts with Katherine Osborne - Ep 68
In this week’s Safe Home Podcast, Beth talks with a family friend of hers from church - Katherine Osborne. Katherine shared with the church that she was recently diagnosed with OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I thought it might be good for our audience to learn from an eloquent teen how OCD feels. Nowadays people joke that they have OCD when they’re bothered when something doesn’t quite line up, or if one tile is a different color. You see memes about OCD all the time. But that’s a very simplistic view of OCD that doesn’t honor the lived experience of people who struggle with this disorder every day of their lives.
In this episode, Katherine explains her own lived experience of OCD, and she mentions things she’s learned so far. But of course neither of us are OCD experts or healthcare professionals. We recommend getting professional help if you or someone you know might be struggling with OCD or any mental health issues.
===============
💌 Sign up for our Safe Home Families email list: http://eepurl.com/hVIAVX
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Resources about OCD that Katherine recommends:
- OCD & Anxiety YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/ocdandanxiety
- What is Pure OCD? (School of Life Channel) https://youtu.be/Q9yKaI0vLJs
Other Resources:
- Other Parents Like Me - https://www.facebook.com/other.parents.like.me
- Heather Ross - Life Coaching for Parents of Addicted Teens: https://heatherrosscoaching.com/
- Find a Tele-Therapist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/online-counseling
===============
Safe Home is created by Joseph Nakao and Beth Syverson
Music written and performed by Joseph Nakao
Cover art by Joseph Nakao, photo by Beth Syverson
Email questions or comments to Safe Home at [email protected]
Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube
Support Safe Home on Patreon: Patreon.com/SafeHome
===============
TIME STAMPS
1:12 Katherine’s hobbies & college activities
2:25 When did Katherine’s OCD symptoms start? (Thank you, COVID. ☹️)
3:46 How Katherine experiences OCD in cycles - obsessions and compulsions
6:30 What are intrusive thoughts?
8:54 How does Katherine manage her OCD?
10:22 How Katherine was diagnosed with OCD. Did her diagnosis make things better or worse?
14:00 How OCD has affected Katherine’s social life
15:45 How do Katherine’s family and friends support her when she’s having a bad OCD day?
18:11 Is OCD more common for adults and teens? Is it growing?
19:40 Katherine’s advice to parents of teens?
24:13 Can someone pull an OCD sufferer out of an OCD cycle?
27:20 First steps if you’re curious if you might have OCD
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