Humans are social creatures. We need companionship to remain happy, engaged, and mentally healthy. People tend to get their social needs met through friends and family, but also through the rich environments of coworkers, neighbors, and service persons throughout the day. For seniors who get out less often, companionship is an important service provided by care professionals. But where do you draw the line?
Setting boundaries is always key for in-home care providers and is especially important for companion care. We're taking a closer look at what companionship care is and where your requirements as a care provider will end.
What Companionship Services Are Meant to Provide
- Nearness and company
- Friendly conversation
- Shared games and activities
- Shared meals
- Holding hands
- Respectful listening
- Assistance getting around the house
- Support during errands and appointments
- Supportive encouragement
Seniors often require companionship services to help them remain emotionally and socially engaged in later life. Companionship services entail acting as a friend and personal assistant for the senior in their home and sometimes during errands, events, and doctor visits.
Senior companions offer someone to spend the day with, friendly conversation, and light help around the house. Companionship often includes chatting, playing games, sharing activities, and sharing meals. Senior companions may accompany their clients on errands and appointments, providing both physical and emotional support in waiting rooms and shops. A senior companion may do some light housework, or assist the senior in doing it for themselves.
Companionship can also include emotional support including respectful listening, holding the senior's hand, and the occasional hug.
What Senior Companions Care Is Not
- Family dispute mediators
- Mental health professionals
- Medical health professionals
- 24/7 on-call best friends
- The cleaning service
- Romantic partners
- Live-in staff
One of the risks of companion services is that clients can develop an unhealthy or off-license idea about the relationship. Companionship providers absolutely must set boundaries - and know where to set those boundaries -to maintain a healthy and supportive relationship with clients in which your friendship can be genuine and without misunderstandings.
When a Licensed Professional Is Needed
Being so close to your senior clients as their daily friends, it's all too easy to get wrapped up in things that are not within your scope of work. Family disputes and drama are not your purviews, and a licensed counselor must address these issues. You are not entirely responsible for a client's mental or physical health or expected to give a professional opinion beyond your training.
When Clients Expect a Maid
Senior care is often confused with cleaning services. Senior care can indeed include helping seniors complete weekly chores, but companion care does not specifically include these tasks. It's important to remember the true purpose of companion care services, if there are tasks needed in the home that are outside the scope of the caregiver's requirements, it may be time to consult a professional cleaning service.
When Caregivers Encounter Inappropriate Behavior
Caregivers may encounter clients that are more likely to assume an inappropriate and overly intimate relationship with their companion care providers. You are not obligated to (and should not) act as a client's romantic partner, child, or specific friend just because the client or their family expects this behavior.
When On-Call Is Not Appropriate
Unless you are being paid and scheduled for on-call shifts, you are not on-call. Being a senior's companion does not oblige them, or their family, to 24/7 calls and texts. Communication around scheduling should always be in a professional manner and with the assistance of your office staff when needed. If on-call services are needed your client should speak directly with your office staff to figure out the best solution.
Friendly and Supportive: Where Companionship Services Begin and End
Providing companionship for a senior client is about being friendly, supportive, and present. Seniors need social contact, and no two clients are the same. As a companionship provider, your job is to be pleasant, conversational, and helpful during your scheduled shifts. You may choose to help with a little cleaning or offer some friendly advice, but that is where your duties begin and end. Setting comfortable boundaries with your clients and their families can be essential to enjoying your time providing senior companionship care.
Looking for a new senior caregiving organization with principles you believe in? Reach out to Senior Helpers of Baltimore today.