Caregiving is one of those roles you only grasp when you’re in it. The days can be exhausting, unpredictable, and at times lonely. Yet, with the right support, it can also be one of the most meaningful experiences a person takes on.
Families are trying to protect a loved one’s dignity while managing the endless mix of emotions. Agencies, on the other hand, are working to provide steady, compassionate care while remembering there’s more to a client than their diagnosis.
Somewhere in the middle is where the real work happens: building care teams that can carry both the core needs of identity and purpose, and the care needs of daily living.
To unpack what that balance looks like in practice, we spoke with Rayna Neises, author of No Regrets: Hope for Your Caregiving Season, certified coach, podcast host, and dementia care educator. Rayna knows firsthand what families go through and has built her career on helping caregivers find confidence.
Here’s what she shared with us.
Agencies can best support caregivers by recognizing both care needs and core needs. Care needs include daily living activities such as bathing, dressing, or eating, while core needs relate to identity, purpose, and individuality.
Too often, the focus is only on care tasks, but clients must also be supported in ways that honor who they are at their core. Agencies should take time to listen, understand personal preferences, and design care plans that reflect both sets of needs to provide well-rounded, person-centered support.
– Rayna Neises
Yes. Every individual is unique, and care must be tailored accordingly. What works for one client may not be meaningful for another. Caregivers should look at past interests, abilities, and personal preferences, then adapt activities as needed. Even when health conditions bring limitations, elements of individuality can and should be preserved in daily care.
Building an effective care team requires flexibility, open communication, and documentation. Family members often find it difficult to adjust to changing abilities, while professional caregivers may adapt more easily.
Regular updates, accurate reporting, and open dialogue among all team members help identify changes early and ensure appropriate adjustments to the care plan. Communication is the foundation for a care team that remains reliable as needs progress.
The most important step is to accept help and avoid taking on all responsibilities alone. A balanced care team allows caregivers to step away for rest, personal appointments, and self-care while ensuring the client receives consistent support.
Neglecting one’s own health and well-being makes long-term caregiving unsustainable. By sharing responsibilities and building trust within a team, caregivers can maintain balance and preserve their own identity while providing high-quality care.
A common challenge is establishing trust when allowing others to provide care. Overcoming this requires clear communication, consistency in who delivers care, and gradually building confidence in the team. Agencies can help by providing a consistent group of caregivers who are trained and familiar with the client’s routines. Consistency reduces stress, builds trust, and makes the caregiving relationship more effective over time.
AI has the potential to support caregivers in multiple ways. For core needs, it can suggest activities or routines based on a client’s personal interests and history. For care needs, it can provide reminders for medications, transitions, and daily routines, reducing stress for both caregivers and clients.
AI can also assist with documentation by tracking meals, monitoring changes, and prompting updates that improve coordination. While it cannot replace the empathy of human caregivers, AI can serve as a valuable tool to improve organization, communication, and creativity in caregiving.
What comes through in talking with Rayna is her steady insistence that caregiving is never just about tasks. It’s about remembering who the person is at their core, not just what help they need today. It’s about trust trusting the team you build, trusting yourself to step back when needed, and trusting that consistency and communication can make the hard parts more manageable.
Rayna’s perspective leaves us with this: when families and agencies work together with empathy, adaptability, and courage, caregiving becomes less about survival and more about living with purpose, dignity, and hope.
Rayna Neises is a caregiving advocate and educator passionate about helping family caregivers navigate this demanding season with confidence and compassion. She is the author of No Regrets: Hope for Your Caregiving Season, a Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation, and host of the A Season of Caring podcast. As an Independent Certified Positive Approach to Care (PAC) Trainer, Rayna equips caregivers with tools, training, and encouragement, especially for those supporting loved ones with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
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