GLBT Caregiver Group Provides Much Needed Support

Caring for someone is challenging in the best of situations, let alone in difficult situations. Support from people who know what you are going through and want to help might be what you need. Jewish Family Service (JFS) and The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado (The Center) formed a new caregiver education and support group for members of the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) community.

The ongoing group is held on the first and third Thursday of every month from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Sixth Avenue United Church, 3250 East Sixth Avenue in Denver. The group is open to members of the GLBT community who are in a caregiver role. The support group is free of charge and donations are welcome. The caregiver group is facilitated by Jennie Creasey, LCSW and Dee Trasen, LCSW from JFS, and Shari Wilkins, a caregiver and member of the GLBT community.

"Thus far, the people who have attended the group are getting great support from one another because caregiving is a very stressful, all-consuming, 24/7 role," says Dee Trasen, LCSW, one of the group's facilitators. "Each participant is in a different type of caregiving situation and each brings his/her unique perspective and experience to the group."

For more information about this group, please contact Jennie Creasey at (303) 597-5199, ext. 328.

Read an article about this group in the Denver Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce newsletter.

--Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department