A place for caregivers to rest & refill their cup, together.
Why we exist
More than 63 million Americans are caregivers. Most of them are women. Many of them are caring for someone they love with dementia, chronic illness or severe disability.
They carry it mostly alone. They explain their challenges over and over to people who don’t get it. They lose roles, identities, jobs, friends, and sleep. They wake up at 4am and scroll their phones to distract themselves from the hypervigilance.
The Care Den is where they find they aren’t alone. A community of caregivers, connecting with one another, meeting throughout the week and holding each other through the long haul.
Who built this
Jacquelyn Revere spent 6 years caring for her mother with dementia. 19 of those months, she cared for both her mother and grandmother simultaneously. She’s built an audience of nearly one million supporters across social media platforms under the handle @momofmymom to tell the truth about caregiving. She has written an op-ed for the LA Times, been featured by NPR, has partnered with AARP and is the author of two upcoming books on dementia caregiving and self-care for caregivers.
Lynn McGuire-Raj, MSW, LCSW-A was cared for by her parents when she had cancer in her thirties. Twenty years later, she returned home to care for them as they navigated heart disease and dementia. A former fundraiser and festival producer turned therapist, Lynn brings her graduate work and community building skills to The Care Den. She is co-authoring a book on self-care for caregivers with Jacquelyn and works with clients navigating transitions, grief and loss in North Carolina.
The two of them met, recognized something in each other, and built what they couldn’t find.
What we stand for
Four things, written down so we can hold ourselves to them:
We hold the room. We don’t run a program.
The Care Den is not a curriculum, though we develop workshops. It’s a space members come into and use the way they need. We open the door, we establish guidelines and we trust the people in it.
We get it. So we don’t make people explain.
Members come to us carrying experiences they’ve had to translate everywhere else. Inside the room, they don’t have to. Though they’ll likely feel validated by sharing their story. That relief is what we are.
We move at the pace of the people inside.
Caregivers are exhausted. We don’t push, demand or pressure. The community moves at a human pace, and The Care Den grows alongside its members.
We are rooted in women. The room is open to anyone who needs it.
The community is primarily women, built by women, shaped mostly by women. Men are welcome and we do have a few male members. But we get that our messaging, somewhat like caregiving itself, doesn’t attract them as much as it does women.
What we are not
We are a supportive group, but we are not solely a “support group”. We are not therapy, we do not diagnose or treat mental health conditions. We are not technically a “wellness app” though we support our members’ well-being. We are not an educational course but we do learn from one another.
We are a room. With real people. Held together by those who have been in the same trenches you are in.
What we’re building toward
The community is the center of everything. Around it, we are slowly building tools that make The Care Den a richer experience: courses on building resilience, promoting practices of self-care and essays and reflections from facilitators and members.
All of it to support happier, healthier and stronger caregivers.
Want to come in?
