Much of what goes into caregiving goes unseen. On top of providing care, they may be navigating regular doctor visits, changes in medication and diet, legal responsibilities and all the intricacies that go into full-time care. Anyone balancing all these tasks may be understandably overwhelmed. With a laundry list of things to do, finding helpful resources may fall to the bottom.
For caregivers seeking resources, podcasts can be at once helpful, cathartic and, importantly, time-saving. Listen to a podcast episode while you prepare a meal or in a hospital waiting room. Plus, many are hosted by caregivers themselves who have helpful tips, important insight and heartwarming stories.
Tune in to a few below to find some much-needed comfort in your caregiving journey:
1. Daughterhood, The Podcast
Daughterhood is a resourceful podcast for primary caregivers and features expert guests, such as doctors, legislators and researchers. The host, Roseanne Corcoran, is an in-home caregiver herself, who understands what it means to provide full-time care and the guilt, isolation and helplessness that can arise. Daughterhood is a great choice for those looking for empathetic discussion with helpful insights.
2. Fading Memories
Dementia can be a devastating disease that most commonly affects older adults. It can also add an extra level of stress and pain for caregivers. Fading Memories creates episodes about understanding dementia, its prevention techniques and the practical advice caregivers need. Try episodes on “What Millennial Caregivers Need to Know” or “Getting Medicaid to Pay Without Going Broke First” for real-world, useful advice on navigating care with dementia.
3. All Things Seniors
Each episode of All Things Seniors features an industry expert who dives into all aspects of caregiving and the challenges that may emerge. Episodes cover how to create long-term plans, such as downsizing and retirement, along with how to handle common health issues and essential care for the caregivers themselves. Try listening to “Top 5 Tips for Caregivers” to try out some key takeaways, and then check out other more focused episodes such as those on advocacy.
4. Terrible, Thanks for Asking
Terrible, Thanks for Asking is a podcast dedicated to talking honestly about inner feelings that often get swept under the rug in favor of politeness. It tackles the anxieties many people have in the pit of their stomach even as they go about their day telling people they’re “fine.” Episodes often feature author interviews, listener call-ins and emotional stories. If you have a day where you just want to be in your feelings, this is the podcast for you.
5. Better Health While Aging
Better Health While Aging provides practical health tips from a geriatrician and discusses common health issues seniors face, along with prevention and treatment. Episodes also cover topics such as depression in aging or up-to-date information on the COVID-19 vaccine efficacy for older adults.
6. Meditation Minis
Take a break from a stressful day and allow for a short release. This podcast is designed for those with no time to spare to be able to take a moment for a mindful relaxation. Each episode is between 7 and 11 minutes, making it perfect for those on a tight schedule. Everyone knows caregiving can be stressful. This podcast walks listeners through beginner meditation practices so that they can find some relief.
7. The Caring Generation
The Caring Generation is a podcast by Pamela D. Wilson, a self-described caregiving expert, speaker and consultant. It focuses on comfort for caregivers and helping them feel less alone as they ask questions, consider aging and make hard decisions about care.
8. Self Care IRL
Busy caregivers may find it difficult to make time for themselves, but perhaps taking that time in audio form will make it a little easier. Self Care IRL creates a space for listeners to explore relationships, transitions and challenges while giving strategies for how to conquer them.
9. People with Parents
While many podcasts on this list take a resourceful-expert-advice approach to discussing caregiving, People with Parents is more about the raw feelings caregivers experience. The personal storytelling podcast explores how it feels to suddenly be thrust into the role of caregiver and the role reversal that often comes with caring for aging or sick parents.
10. Geripal
Geripal discusses caregiving from the perspective of health care professionals. Discussing hospice, geriatrics and palliative care, they share the latest in research and contemporary care for seniors. This podcast is great for those in the health care field or who would like to hear more from medical professionals about the state of caregiving.
11. Healing Ties
Going “beyond caregiving,” Healing Ties explores all other aspects of a caregivers life, especially how caregivers care for themselves and how to keep themselves physically, socially and financially healthy through the process. Episodes cover practical guides and stories of caregiving with dementia to talking with resourceful workers from the LGBTQ Caregiving Center.
12. Out of Patients
While it doesn’t cover caregiving specifically, Out of Patients conquers health care questions in a jargon-free, palatable way that may be refreshing for caregivers. Hosted by Matthew Zachary, a 25-year cancer survivor, the podcast discusses disease and illness with a candidness and honesty often missing from conversations about health care.
13. Griefcast
Many caregivers are helping their loved ones navigate not just health but the reality of end of life. Griefcast was created so people don’t have to feel alone in their grief. Each week features a different persona who talks about their own experiences with death, loss and grief. The biggest goal of the podcast, according to host Cariad Lloyd, is that when it’s over, “you don’t feel worse.”
14. Caregiver SOS
Caregiver SOS is a weekly radio show from San Antonio, Texas. Unlike most of the podcasts on this list, the live radio format allows for comments, questions and callers from the public—perfect for those hoping to hear more questions and answers from fellow caregivers currently in their situation.
15. Sleep with Me
Remember laying down when you were a child and having someone read you a story? Sleep with Me is a storytelling podcast that uses long, soft-spoken stories to lull to sleep those who have trouble turning off their brain. One of the best things caregivers can do for themselves is make sure to get enough sleep. If you’re having trouble, try the stylings of Drew Ackerman’s Sleep with Me podcast.
