Enhance your knowledge and confidence in your caregiver role
Caregiving Essentials is a free, self-paced online program designed to support family and informal caregivers. It offers practical knowledge and skills to help you care for loved ones at home while enhancing your own health and well-being.
Developed in collaboration with the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA), THRIVE Group, and McMaster Continuing Education, with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Seniors Affairs, The Regional Geriatric Programs of Ontario and ongoing funding provided by McMaster University Alumni.
The course typically takes about 8 weeks to complete. Participants who achieve a score of 80% or higher will earn a microcredential recognizing their learning. Please note: this is a not-for-credit course and the microcredential does not qualify you for employment as a professional caregiver.
Watch Caregiving Essentials facilitator, Donna Thomson, speak about the program in our YouTube video (above).
This course does not qualify for caregiver employment or Canada’s Home Care Immigration Program. Any claims suggesting otherwise are false and misleading.
Our course participants were in different stages of their caregiving journeys. We heard from people who had just started to become more involved in care, to people who had been providing care for decades or more.
This course has really helped me understand a lot more about the caregiver rules and having to take time for yourself as well.
This course has really helped me understand a lot more about the caregiver rules and having to take time for yourself as well. So I thank you and this school for offering this course for free. I found it very helpful and it also gave me some time to myself to do something I have been wanting to do and that’s to learn more about the health side of things.
“The material was very well organized... It lent itself well to doing things independently and online which is what I was looking for.”
“It built my confidence because when your loved one becomes ill, it's very overwhelming. This kind of calmed me down and said, 'Yeah, I can do this. I can handle this.’”
Upon successfully completing this program, you will receive a microcredential recognizing your learning achievement. Complete with details of the skills and specialized knowledge you have acquired, the microcredential is digitally shareable, making it easy to add to your resume, LinkedIn profile and to share with current or prospective employers.
Explore the requirements below!
Registration runs annually from October through June.
A microcredential is a designation of achievement of assessed learning associated with specific and relevant skills or competencies. In this case, it recognizes the skills and knowledge acquired in the Caregiving Essentials course. The credential earned is issued to you in a digital format.
You can use a digital microcredential in a number of ways. You can share it on Facebook and LinkedIn, or you can add it to your resume. If you do not want to share your microcredential online, you can print a copy of it and give it to someone including an employer or prospective employer. Or you might want to print and frame it for yourself.
Your microcredential will be issued from within the course once you have completed the final quiz and achieved 80% on all 4 quizzes.
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The Caregiving Essentials webinar series will run from October to June. Stay tuned for more webinars links!
You can access previous webinars from this playlist:
Health
Instructor Spotlight
Ontario Caregiver Organization The OCO offers a 24/7 Helpline for Caregiver information and referral. The Helpline can be reached across the province anytime, at 1-833-416-CARE (2273) or via live chat Monday to Friday from 7am to 9pm. Learn more.
Doctor Visit Form
Article: A burden and a joy: Author Donna Thomson unpacks the duality of caregiving for sick family by Zosia Bielski
Book: The Unexpected Journey of Caring: The Transformation From Loved One to Caregiver “You don’t step into the caregiver role, it steps into you.” – Dr. Zachary White and Donna Thomson (Course Instructor)
New Caregiving Podcast Series for Caregivers The Waiting Room Revolution is a new podcast series for patients and caregivers of individuals with serious illnesses. It is designed to help caregivers plan and anticipate events in their loved ones’ illness journey rather than react in a constant state of chaos and crisis.
Video: Growing Together: Transformation to Caregiving
Once you are registered as a Caregiving Essentials student, don’t forget to check the discussion boards in the course regularly. They are a great way to share your experience and knowledge while supporting other caregivers and receiving support. There are new resources added every day in the section called “Where to Find Help” so check in often.
Below are just a few of these resources:
Free, flexible programs for busy caregivers by the Ontario Caregiver Organization (OCO) The OCO also offers a 24/7 Helpline for Caregiver information and referral. The Helpline can be reached across the province anytime, at 1-833-416-CARE (2273) or via live chat Monday to Friday from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm EST. Find out more: www.ontariocaregiver.ca.
Subscribe to the OCO newsletter to receive updates about program registration: https://ontariocaregiver.ca/contact/subscribe/
As you may or may not know, every year, the Ontario Caregiver Organization publishes its Spotlight Report which takes a look at the caregiving experience in Ontario. This year, the OCO looked at how the experience has changed in year two of the pandemic, compared to year one. Read the full report here.
McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) The link to the main website for the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging is https://mira.mcmaster.ca/.
Another link you may want to explore goes to McMaster’s Optimal Aging Portal. This portal is a rich repository of information that may help you in your caregiving role and in understanding health and illness as we age: https://www.mcmasteroptimalaging.org/
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