Caring for Yourself While Caring for Another
Practical care for your rest, health, feelings, and the life you are living alongside caregiving.
You may be managing appointments, remembering details, listening through the night, and fitting care around work or family. This course makes room for you: rest and meals within reach, specific requests for help, clear boundaries, and support for mixed feelings. The examples acknowledge that help can be limited and that your own health and circumstances matter.
Or get all five family caregiver courses for $99.
- Self-paced
- 6 modules
- 18 lessons
- 5 printable resources
- Lifetime access
This course may help if you’re thinking…
- “I can’t explain why I’m so tired.”
- “My own meals, sleep, and health are slipping.”
- “People offer help, but I’m still doing everything.”
- “I feel guilty, angry, or unable to say no.”
- “I miss the person I used to be.”
You can begin with the question that brought you here. Each lesson offers an explanation, an everyday example, and possibilities to consider within your own circumstances. Read what helps today and return when another need arises.
Practical help you’ll find here
- Recognize the visible tasks and the less visible work of planning, remembering, and staying alert.
- Prepare specific requests and handovers, including how to name a care need that remains uncovered.
- Make room for rest, your own healthcare, mixed feelings, and boundaries that reflect your actual capacity.
A boundary that names what you can offer
“I can stay until six, then we need another plan.”
A clear limit helps the people arranging care understand what is possible. The course explores how to express that limit with care, address gaps in support, and look after yourself when the feelings around it remain difficult.
Six modules, at your own pace
The lessons explain the topic in plain language, then explore how it can look in everyday life. Each includes an imagined example, drawn from situations caregivers commonly describe, with room to consider what fits your own life. Open a module to see its lessons.
1Recognizing What Care Asks of YouNotice the visible and invisible work of caregiving, with kindness toward yourself.
- The weight you may be carrying
- Your needs belong in the care plan, too
- Caring within the circumstances you have
2Rest, Energy, and Everyday NeedsProtect sleep, nourishment, movement, and small moments that replenish you.
- Sleep when life keeps interrupting
- Eating, moving, and tending to your body
- Small pauses that genuinely restore you
3Sharing Care and Asking for HelpMake responsibilities visible and discover practical ways to share them.
- Seeing all the work so it can be shared
- Asking for help in ways people can answer
- Using professional and community support
4Feelings, Boundaries, and Difficult DaysMeet complicated emotions with compassion while building clear, caring boundaries.
- Making room for feelings that come together
- Boundaries that help care remain kind
- Guilt, comparison, and the pressure to do it all
5Staying Connected to Yourself and OthersKeep your identity, relationships, and sources of meaning within reach.
- Remembering the person you are beyond caregiving
- Staying connected to the people who support you
- Meaning, rituals, and small moments of steadiness
6Sustaining Care Through ChangeAdapt support as circumstances shift and carry compassion into what comes next.
- When the needs and responsibilities shift
- Preparing for demanding days with gentle flexibility
- Caring for yourself as one chapter becomes another
Tools you can keep close
A main companion brings practical ideas together, with four supporting resources for notes, preferences, contacts, or shared plans. Use the parts that help, then print or save what you want to keep nearby. Share relevant information with the people involved in care, with your loved one’s permission.
My Everyday Care & Comfort Companion
Everyday ways to care for yourself on days when you are carrying so much.
My Care & Rest Plan
A gentle place to protect your own basic needs while caring for someone you love.
People Who Can Help
Turn offers of support into manageable, specific responsibilities.
My Boundaries & Backup Plan
Make clear what you can offer, and how care continues when you need a break.
Small Things That Sustain Me
Keep meaningful supports, relationships, and gentle next steps close.
Here whenever you need it
- After purchase, follow the instructions to create your IEOLCA account and open your course.
- Read on your phone, tablet, or computer, a few minutes at a time.
- Use the writing spaces to gather your thoughts, prepare questions, or record something worth remembering.
- Go in the order that helps you, with lifetime access to return as things change.
A gentle note: this course offers educational support for families. Please follow your loved one’s care plan and contact their care team with questions about symptoms, medication, or changes in their condition. In an emergency, follow the agreed emergency plan or call local emergency services.
Make a little room for you, too
Your rest, health, and feelings belong in the care plan. Find realistic ways to ask for specific help, protect your energy, and tend to your own needs alongside caregiving, including when time, money, or available support is limited.
Self-paced · 6 modules · Printable resources · Lifetime access
All five courses, together
You may want help with different questions as things change. The collection brings together all five topics, so you can return to comfort, conversations, the final days, or your own needs whenever they come into focus.
- Caring for Someone Who Is Dying
- When Death Is Near
- Creating Comfort at the End of Life
- Conversations That Matter
- Caring for Yourself While Caring for Another
Other courses that may help
Creating Comfort at the End of Life
Small, practical ways to help someone feel settled and known.
Conversations That Matter
Ways to begin a conversation, listen with care, and respect what stays private.
Questions about this course
Who is this course for?
These courses are for you if you are caring for someone who is dying: a partner, relative, friend, or someone important in your life. You may be at home, visiting a hospital or care setting, or helping from a distance. You can begin with the experience and questions you have today.
Is this medical advice?
The course offers everyday guidance and questions to bring to your loved one’s care team. Their clinicians provide individualized advice about symptoms, medication, and changes in condition. The examples help you prepare for those conversations and follow the guidance you receive.
How does the course work?
After purchase, follow the instructions to create your IEOLCA student account and open the course in your web browser. Read on your phone, tablet, or computer, in the order that fits your needs. The writing spaces help you gather your thoughts, and the resources can be printed or saved as a PDF.
Can I print the worksheets?
Yes. Each course includes five fillable resources you can print or save as a PDF, so you can keep them close or share them with family and the care team.
How should I use the reflections?
Use the questions in the way that helps today: think about one, write a few words, or take an idea into your day. You can return to the course as your questions change.
How long do I have access?
You have lifetime access, so you can return to the course whenever you need it.
Can I get all five family caregiver courses together?
Yes. All five courses are available together for $99 USD, instead of $145 when bought one at a time.
Is this training to become a death doula?
This is a course for your own caregiving situation. It draws on the attentive, person-centered approach we teach end-of-life doulas, and offers everyday ways to support the person you care for. It does not provide professional doula certification.
Something else on your mind? Email office@ieolca.org.
Support for the days you’re living through
If this course speaks to what you’re facing, you can begin with the lesson or resource that feels most useful. There is room to read slowly, leave a question open, and return.