Moving to a new home is always stressful and emotional. But this is even worse when you are moving out of the home — where you’ve spent most of your adult life, where you’ve made happy memories and had your best years — into a care home or an assisted living facility. If you’ve got a loved one, perhaps a parent who is about to make this move, they may feel unsettled, upset, anxious, and as though they are giving into age and giving up their independence. It can be challenging. Here are some of the things that you can do to help them settle in.
Stress the Positives
Your loved one may be looking at the move as admitting a weakness, or the end of the more active part of their lives. This doesn’t have to be the case. Make sure you talk to them about all the positives, such as the chance to make new friends and learn new hobbies. Make sure they know that people who move into assisted living often live longer, happier lives, than those who stay at home.
Find the Right Home
Being able to look forward to these positives is a lot easier when you’ve found the right home. If they have specific needs, like memory care then you’ll need to make finding the right care for these a priority, and you should take a look at assisted living in Crestwood MO. But you should also think about things like location and surrounding area, food, groups and classes, fitness classes, and try to learn more about the community.
Visit the Home and the Surrounding Area
Before moving in day, make sure you visit the home for a look around, but also that you spend some time in the surrounding area. The area around the home will be a big part of your loved one’s life, so it’s important that they are comfortable, know their way around, and have plenty of places that they want to visit and spend time in.
Spend Time with Them
Some homes recommend that you don’t visit straight away, so make sure you know about any recommendations. But when you can visit, make sure you and other members of your family visit regularly, so your loved one knows that they are still a big part of your life.
Give Home Comforts Pride of Place
Our home comforts are the personal touches that make us feel at home. Most of these will be easy to move into your loved one’s room and will help them to feel settled and comfortable.
Take them Shopping
Home comforts are great, but you shouldn’t try to recreate their house completely. This is a chance for a new, exciting time in their life. Take them shopping for some new things for their room, to make a new phase.
One of the best things that you can do is be there for them and be patient. There will be setbacks, it will take time, and you’ll need to offer plenty of reassurance. But it will get easier, and you’ll soon be visiting a happy loved one, with plenty to tell you about.
