When your world is turned upside down and you suddenly need to care for your loved one, how do you cope? Drawing on her faith and her language of strengths, Dawn F. Landry shares her powerful and personal story through the difficult circumstances of her husband’s stroke.
Dawn F. Landry, a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, first learned how to apply her strengths when caring for her husband through cancer. On their journey, she developed the concept of being a Care Coach. providing the best care for your loved one, and taking care of yourself.
What is a Care Coach?
Being a Care Coach still encompasses the conventionally ascribed aspects of care. However, it is more personalized, individualized, and includes deep love, devotion, compassion, and respect. Care Coaching also entails much more such as being an advocate, providing hope, reminding the patient of who they are and what they are fighting for, as well as being a strong supporter through the most challenging of times. Most of all, Care Coaching is about lovingly motivating the patient through their battles with unwavering faith.
Care Coaching, Battle Strategies and CliftonStrengths®
Wanting to help others in similar situations, Dawn shares her own story in her book ARMORED. In it, she describes her Ten Battle Strategies in times of crisis. These are designed to help position you as the care coach to provide vital family support for your loved one during this critical time. Crucially, they also create a holistic approach that includes looking after you, the care coach, too.
Being a Gallup Strengths Coach helps a client identify and leverage their strengths productively in the most challenging of situations. Two worksheets in Gallup Cascade are designed for use either by coaches personally, or with clients in their care-giver/coach roles. Caring for your Loved One examines how each Strength can help provide the best care. While Taking Care of Yourself focuses on maintaining the wellbeing of the care-giver/coach. Burning out is not an option, so the worksheet explores ways for the carer to stay motivated and strong.
The Care Coaching worksheets are in the Strengths Advantage section of Gallup Cascade. Each page contains the care-giver/coach’s CliftonStrengths® across the top and some questions down the side. Use the space in the grid to explore how each Strength helps with answering the questions.
Called to Coach Success Story
See Dawn F. Landry on Called to Coach sharing her story with Jim Collison.
Book Information
For more information about ARMORED visit dawnflandry.com or Amazon.
