Becoming a caregiver can be a great choice for anyone looking for a new career. Caregivers work with individuals with physical or mental limitations, helping them with daily tasks, chores around the house, and more.
1. Become Part of a New Family
Many caregivers find that they become part of their client’s honorary families. Since you’ll be providing services that might otherwise be expected of family members, you’ll likely develop a much closer bond with your clients than you would in most situations.
If your client has adult children, they’ll greatly appreciate your assistance. Your work allows them to live their lives without constantly worrying about their parent. A caregiver can provide peace of mind to the entire family.
2. Meet People with Incredible Stories
If you enjoy hearing people’s stories and learning from older generations, you’ll probably love caregiving. Most of your clients will be elderly people with vast amounts of life experience and some amazing stories to tell. As their companion, you’ll have ample opportunity to hear about the crazy things they did in their youth and learn more about how people lived in past decades.
They’ll probably also enjoy hearing from you about your own adventures and childhood. Don’t be afraid to share your own tales of misspent youth or road trips have gone wrong. A huge part of caregivers’ jobs is to befriend their clients and make their days brighter.
3. Perfect and Share Your Recipes
Do you love to cook? If so, caregiving could be an excellent career option for you. In-home caregivers often provide meals for clients who have trouble standing or using kitchen appliances.
As a caregiver, you’ll spend plenty of time cooking with your clients, often with you doing the physical work at the counters and stoves as you chat with your caregiver. You’ll likely swap recipes and learn each other’s cooking secrets.
4. Work From a Home Environment
As a caregiver, you won’t have to constantly deal with office drama, overbearing managers, or uncomfortable clothing. Instead of being in a traditional work site, you’ll be in the homes of seniors and adults with disabilities. Shedding a stressful work environment can provide you with a unique sense of freedom and allow you to enjoy your work that much more.
Most of the work is the same tasks you probably do at home — cooking, light housework, companionship, and perhaps the occasional reminder to take medication. You’re simply doing what you would do for yourself for people who now find those tasks difficult. As you get to know the people you work for and adapt to their homes, you’ll feel more and more relaxed.
5. Help People Who Genuinely Need It
Your clients aren’t hiring a caregiver just for fun. They genuinely need your help. If you’ve always wanted to make a difference through your work, you’ll probably find caregiving to be a rewarding and fulfilling opportunity.
Most clients will greatly appreciate the work you do. As a caregiver, you’ll play a vital role in improving their quality of life. You’ll have the satisfaction of seeing the tangible and emotional impacts of your work every day.
In Summary: Reasons to Become a Caregiver
- Help people — Caregiving clients genuinely need your help, and most will greatly appreciate your work. You will make a difference in people’s lives.
- Hear people’s stories — Most of your clients will probably be elderly, and they may have amazing stories to share about their lives and the past.
- Perfect your recipes — Caregivers often cook for clients who cannot do the physical work themselves. You can swap recipes and perfect your cooking skills.
- Work from a home environment — Since caregivers work from their client’s homes, you don’t have to worry about uncomfortable uniforms or daily office drama.
- Gain honorary family — Many caregivers develop close bonds with the people they are caring for.
Becoming a Caregiver
Becoming a caregiver is easy. Here at Sunrise, we offer both on-site and online caregiver training programs to help you meet basic training requirements. You may want to start with our 5-hour online Orientation & Safety Training to become familiar with the process and see if online learning is right for you.
From there, you can take our Population Specific Training either on-site or online to meet 30 of the 75 hours of education required for Washington State long-term care workers. Students can complete the final 40 hours with on-site, hands-on training. We also offer online continuing education services so you can keep your certification up to date. You’re going to love our classes!