Starting to notice your elderly parent’s mental health becoming worse is something no one wants to see. Luckily, there are great ways to help improve their mental health by being their caregiver. If you can be that in-home caregiver for your elderly parents, do so, but if you need some help, you can always seek help from one of your local senior communities.
Understand What Is Happening
Firstly, you should always try and understand what is happening with the elderly members of your family. Have those hard conversations with them and figure out what they’re feeling. You should always check in with them regularly to ensure they are okay. As we get older, we tend to keep more things to ourselves. Especially with elders, once they begin losing friends and spouses, they may feel more alone and keep things to themselves. It’s important that you try and talk to them about everything they may be feeling. It’s okay if they don’t open up right away, but it’s important to let them know that you are there for them whenever they are ready.
Help Them With Their Social Well-Being
As I’ve mentioned before, your elderly parents may become more lonely as they grow older once they begin losing loved ones. It’s important that you show them how much fun it is to be social again. Socializing is a huge part of improving the mental health in all ages, especially in the elderly. You can help your parent improve their mental health with social interactions every week. This can boost their happiness and improve their mental health. There are many social events for seniors, including volunteering events and even fun events at senior centers that you can sign your parent up for. Research fun events for elders in your local area and see your parent’s mental health improve.
Help Them Foster Emotional-Resilence
Losing loved ones, especially a spouse or a close friend, can make the parent you care for not have the best ability to cope mentally or emotionally. These heavy losses can make them emotionally resilient, making it hard for them to be happy or positive about life. There are many ways you can help your parent become more in tune with their emotions and mental well-being; you can enroll them in a yoga class with other seniors and meditation classes. These can both allow your parent to practice mindfulness. You can even do these activities with them at home so that they can feel more comfortable.
Another great way to improve your elderly parent’s mental health is by having them journal. Having them write all of their feelings down can help them write down everything they feel. Journaling can allow them to get out all of their emotions and thoughts in a healthy way. This can ensure they know how they are feeling, and it can keep them from keeping everything inside, which isn’t healthy.
Improving Your Elderly Parent’s Mental Health is Important
Keeping your parent or other elderly family members healthy and safe is an important part of life. You can ensure they are being taken care of properly and find things that help them. There are a lot of different resources that you can turn to if you are struggling with caring for your elderly parents and need some guidance as to what to do next, especially when it comes to improving their mental health.
American Senior Communities (ASC) has been proudly serving its customers in Indiana since 2000. They have the mindset of being a good neighbor and caring for their teachers, coaches, neighbors, and family. They have a full range of lifestyle and care options for their customers and are always evolving to better serve their residents, loved ones, and healthcare partners.
