Who this is for
Any adult providing unpaid care to a family member or close other. Parent of a child with chronic illness, spouse caring through cancer, adult child caring for aging parent - all in scope. Paid professional caregivers are not in scope for THIS pathway (separate professional-wellbeing program).
What brings people here
Self-identified caregiver; elevated stress, sleep, or mood flags on FMA; loved-one diagnosis disclosure (cancer, dementia, post-stroke, MS, ALS, etc.); FMLA filing; HR referral following PTO crisis.
Clinical framework
AgeTech Collaborative from AARP.
How the 8 weeks run
Baseline assessments, your first SMART goal, and the 1:1 that sets up everything after it.
Specialist coaches rotate in, and sessions come thickest here. One change at a time, in the domains your baseline flagged.
Re-score, refresh the care plan, and check in 1:1 on what is and is not working.
The remaining domains, at a lighter cadence, and the work of making the early weeks hold under pressure.
Final re-score, relapse prevention, and the plan for what happens next.
When your sessions fall
The program is built in four-week modules. Sessions come thickest at the start, when what you decide matters most, and step down as things settle. That is 5 sessions of 45 minutes across 8 weeks, counting the visit before week 1.
| Module | Weeks | Sessions | Cadence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Module 1 | Weeks 1 to 4 | 2 | every other week |
| Module 2 | Weeks 5 to 8 | 2 | every other week |
Week by week
- Before you beginBefore you begin
Every measure in this program is about you. Not the person you care for. That will feel wrong for the first few weeks, and it is the single most important thing in this document.
- Week 1What actually works
There is a large literature on helping caregivers. Most of it is unglamorous, some of it is disappointing, and the parts that work are consistent enough to build a program on. This week is what the evidence supports and what it does not.
- Week 2Stress, burnout and boundaries
This week you meet Lucy Paulise for a 45-minute stress management coaching session. Before that, a distinction worth having: stress is a response to load, and burnout is what happens when the load does not stop. They need different answers.
- Week 3Respite, honestly
Respite is the thing everyone recommends to caregivers. It is also the thing with the weakest evidence base in this entire reading set. Both of those are true, and you should hear it from us rather than discovering it later.
- Week 4Mid-program: your depression score
This is the second of your three visits with Cindy Cathcart. Of everything measured in this program, one number matters most, and it is your PHQ-9.
- Week 5Sleep, and the drive home
The clinician playbook for this pathway names sleep as the number one caregiver risk factor, and requires a conversation about drowsy driving at every intake. This week is why.
- Week 6The practical plan
This week you meet Cindy Taleghani for a 45-minute eldercare navigation session. This is the practical week: what care exists, what it costs, what the person you care for actually needs, and what happens when they need more.
- Week 7Grief while they are still here
Grieving someone who is still alive is one of the most disorienting parts of this role, and one of the least acknowledged. It is a recognized phenomenon with a name and a literature.
- Week 8Making it hold
This is your third and last 45-minute visit with Cindy Cathcart. Unlike most programs, this one does not end because the problem is solved. Caregiving runs on its own timetable, and this visit is about what carries.
Who you will work with
Your Whole Health Coach takes your first visit and closes every module, so it is the same person from the first session to the last. The specialists below lead the weeks where their work is the focus.
Professionally, Cindy has been a clinical nurse for nearly a decade. She served in both clinical and administrative capacities throughout her career and holds a Master's degree in Nursing Leadership. As a staff nurse, nurse leader, and quality improvement specialist, she led multidisciplinary teams in academic medical settings throughout Boston, New York, and Ohio to deliver high-quality care to patients across complex diagnoses.
Meet Lucy Paulise, who is a career and stress management coach, book writer, and Forbes contributor. Her passion lies in helping people discover and reach their full potential. She specializes in coaching individuals on how to manage stress, anxiety, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, or any other challenges they may face in their work or personal lives that can lead to feeling overwhelmed.
Cindy Taleghani is a licensed Occupational Therapist and Certified Life Care Planner with 18 years of clinical experience across geriatrics, chronic illness, and orthopedic injury. She evaluates the physical, cognitive, and environmental factors that affect how people move and function at home, then builds practical, individualized plans to restore mobility, safety, and independence.
What we work on
| Domain | What this pathway does |
|---|---|
| Nutrition & Metabolism | Caregivers eat what's fast, often their loved one's food. Quick-prep nutrition; gut-brain emphasis; coffee/alcohol awareness. |
| Movement & Mobility | Movement is what gets cut first. 10-minute sessions count. Walk during the loved one's nap. Strength 2x/week minimum. |
| Sleep & Recovery | Sleep is the #1 caregiver risk factor. Drowsy-driving conversation EVERY intake. Nap strategy, partner rotation, sleep-aids conversation with PCP. |
| Stress & Resilience | Boundaries, respite, and asking for help. PSS-10 + ProQOL tracked. |
| Mind & Mood | Caregiver depression is 2-3x baseline. PHQ-9 every visit Mo 1-3, then q4 weeks. SI screen rigorous. |
| Relationships & Purpose | Marriage, sibling dynamics around care, friendship loss - all in scope. |
How progress is measured
These are the validated tools this pathway uses: at your first visit, at the mid-program review, and at the end.
| Tool | Cadence | Owned by |
|---|---|---|
| PSS-10 | Onboard, q4 weeks | Stress Coach |
| Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) | Onboard, q4 weeks | WHC |
| ProQOL (Compassion Fatigue/Burnout) | Onboard, q8 weeks | Stress Coach |
| PHQ-9 + GAD-7 | Every visit Mo 1-3; q4 weeks after | WHC; LCSW reads |
| ISI + PSQI | Onboard, q4 weeks | Sleep Coach |
| PG-13 (Prolonged Grief) | Onboard if loss <24 mo; PRN otherwise | Grief Coach |
| ADL/IADL inventory of loved one | Onboard, quarterly | Elder Care Coach |
The research behind this pathway
Your clinician playbook was built from the guidelines and studies below. They are listed so you can read them yourself: every one is a real, published paper and the number at the end of each line is its PubMed ID.
Guidelines this pathway follows
- AARP caregiving framework · AgeTech Collaborative from AARP
The organizing idea of this pathway: the caregiver is the patient.
- Zarit Burden Interview · Zarit and colleagues
The validated burden measure repeated through the year. PMID 7203086
- REACH II multi-component model · National Institute on Aging
The structure behind pairing education, skills and respite rather than offering one of them. PMID 17116917
Key studies
- Zarit SH et al. (1980). GerontologistRelatives of the impaired elderly: correlates of feelings of burden
The paper that introduced the Zarit Burden Interview, the measure this pathway uses to score what caring is actually costing you. PMID 7203086
- Schulz R et al. (1999). JAMACaregiving as a risk factor for mortality: the Caregiver Health Effects Study
Followed 392 caregiving spouses for four years. Those who reported strain had a 63 percent higher risk of dying than non-caregiving controls. This pathway treats the caregiver as the patient because of findings like this one. PMID 10605972
- Belle SH et al. (2006). Ann Intern MedEnhancing the quality of life of dementia caregivers from different ethnic or racial groups: a randomized, controlled trial
REACH II randomized 642 dementia caregivers across three ethnic groups to a structured multi-component program. Quality of life improved and depression fell. PMID 17116917
- Sörensen S et al. (2002). GerontologistHow effective are interventions with caregivers? An updated meta-analysis
Pooled 78 caregiver intervention studies. Support helps, with real but modest effects on burden, depression and wellbeing, and psychoeducational approaches that ask the caregiver to take part had the most consistent effects. PMID 12040138
- Pinquart M et al. (2006). Int PsychogeriatrHelping caregivers of persons with dementia: which interventions work and how large are their effects?
Pooled 127 studies of dementia-caregiver interventions. Effects were small but real, only multi-component programs lowered the risk of the person being moved into care, and most effects were specific rather than general. PMID 16686964
- Pignatiello GA et al. (2022). West J Nurs ResSleep Interventions for Informal Caregivers of Persons with Dementia: A Systematic Review
Reviewed sleep interventions for family caregivers. Sleep is measurably worse in this group and it is treatable, which is why it gets its own week rather than being folded into stress. PMID 34085889