With Your Family in Mind

Hospice care is compassionate end-of-life care that includes medical and supportive services intended to provide comfort to individuals who are terminally ill.  Care is provided by a team of appropriate professionals.  Care received under hospice is often referred to as “palliative care,” because hospice care aims to manage the patient’s illness and pain, but does not treat the underlying terminal illness.  Most hospice care is provided at home.

As the holiday season is upon us, it is important to take time to celebrate with family and friends, reflect on the past, and talk about the future.  However, this can also be a difficult time for the elderly.  During the holidays, an older adult may feel more secluded as they deal with the passing of time, absence of family and friends, and perhaps the distance of loved ones.

As the holidays approach, the stress of last minute gift shopping isn’t the real issue for many separated and/or divorced parents―this is the season of who gets what time with the kids.  But there are ways to avoid the last minute stress of these situations.
1. Try to settle as far in advance of holiday time as possible.  It can be hard to decide months in advance as to what holiday is important to you―but having a first and second choice in mind can make negotiations much easier.

Many debtors filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy in recent years own more than one piece of real property.  When home prices were skyrocketing in the early 2000’s, many people bought real estate as an investment to use as a rental while the property appreciated in value.
As most people know, that strategy stopped working in late 2006 when home prices began to decline due to changes in the economy.

We at Penny Lane Centers offer many services that help youth in need with supportive services that may include mental health, behavior modification, temporary foster care and independent living skills.  One of our newest and most crucial programs is Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care better known as MTFC.  The MTFC program is an evidence-based program designed to provide a temporary home to adolescent youth ages 12 to 17 that are in need of assistance with reunifying with their families of origin.  It is our goal at Penny Lane to provide these youth with equipped foster parents who are able to best meet their needs.

This has been quite a year.  Everyone knows someone who’s lost their job, or their house--or their job and their house.  It’s been tough.  And, it seems like when things are tough in the economy, it puts extra stress on relationships.  Marriages start to struggle.  Things start to seem like they’re unraveling all over.
In our church, lots of folks are hurting.  That’s why this year we’re really focusing in on people—what they need. 

Every child deserves to have a safe, loving and permanent home.  Children’s Bureau needs foster parents who will care specifically for infants and toddlers during the reunification process with their parents.  There are also 114,000 children currently in foster care who are unable to return to their families of origin.  Children’s Bureau is seeking caring families to consider adopting these older children and large sibling sets. 

The loss of a loved one is difficult to cope with, but if the loved one left debts behind, it     can be even tougher.  It is important to know who is responsible - and who is not responsible - for the debts of a deceased person.  This is even more true now than in the past, because creditors and debt collectors have become very aggressive lately about contacting a deceased person’s family members and trying to get them to pay debts.

When was the last time you washed the car?  Did you wait until you couldn’t see through the windshield?  What about vacuumed the living room?  Did you wait until the carpet was ankle deep in lint balls.  Do you wait to wash the dishes until the kids are pouring milk right into the cereal box?  And how about the gardening?  Do you wait until the weeds are over the windowsills (like I do) before you trim things back a little?

Recovering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder requires time.  Whether you are a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan or a child exposed to a tsunami or hurricane, you will need time.  If someone you love has lost a home or dwelling in a fire or flood, they may have recurring images that can...

Anyone who has been unfortunate enough to have to deal with a family member or loved one who’s an addict can tell you how unbelievably hopeless and frustrating it can be.  Even when you think they’ve quit they can relapse and slip back deeply into their addiction making it seem as though everything you did (or thought you did) was useless. 

Your divorce is over and everything has been finalized.  It’s all over, right?  Maybe or maybe not.  It all depends upon whether or not you have minor children.  Under California law, child support orders are modifiable “at any time as the court deems necessary.”  The practicality of the situation is that the judgment can never be considered a “final” adjudication of the extent of the parents’ obligation to support their minor children.  Changes in custody can occur after judgment, too. 

A reader of The Magazine of Santa Clarita recently asked what skills are necessary for audiobook narration.  In the past few months I’ve explained four of ten different skills needed.  Here’s her question again, and the fifth, sixth and seventh skills explained.
Q:  I’m a professional commercial voice actor, but I’d love to get into narrating audiobooks, and don’t know what specialized skills it takes to do it professionally.  Are there any guidelines I should know about before attempting to jump into this arena?  Thanks in advance for your info.  –Selina H., Westlake Village, CA

Observing family holiday traditions—like gathering around the Thanksgiving table, the Christmas tree to sing favorite carols or lighting a Menorah—can go a long way to adding joy and comfort to a senior’s family holiday celebration . Holiday gatherings also give adult children an opportunity to talk with their parents to sense and observe whether they are doing well or if they may need help to maintain their independence.

Develop realistic expectations for the holidays and you will be much more likely to enjoy them.
The holiday season is a time when family love, harmony and togetherness are fostered by songs, advertisements and the media.  While this may be true for some families, the holidays can also be a period of increased family stress, and a time of false hopes and expectations.  It’s a trap many of us fall into - holiday expectations, the shoulds and the should nots of the holiday season - what I expect, what I want and, worse yet, trying to live up to the expectations others have of us as well. 

There may be times in your business where someone becomes angry.  This may cause more harm than benefit in the performances of people.
When anger is expressed it may cause the focus of the people to be reacting to the anger, rather than being involved in meaningful work.  Anger takes the focus off of finding the solution and directs the focus to being impacted by anger and responding to the anger, not the problem generating the anger.  This puts the focus on the inability to manage the situation.

As the holidays approach the images and memories of our own childhood traditions, how it used to be, how it should have been, and what the holidays will be like this year may all be on your mind.  Why?  Because many of those traditions have changed for both you and your children.  If you are a divorced parent beware that the holidays are likely to intensify feelings about the divorce, and generate stress and anxiety.  So how do we celebrate life even though the family is no longer together?

Golden Oak Adult School is extremely excited about implementing our latest study option for students.  Independent Study allows adult students working on their high school diploma both greater class-time flexibility and the potential to complete coursework at an accelerated rate, with many students completing a five credit class in as little as eight weeks.  Students have the ability to spend as much or as little time in class as fits their personal schedules while still enjoying the benefit of on-site tutors and credentialed teachers.