“Who do you care for – and who cares for you?”
Keywords: Data Collection, Observations, Self-surveillance, Tracking, Mapping, Care
The guidebook is designed to help people who want to create an Atlas CareMap. “The Atlas CareMap shows relationships of care: any sort of relationship you have with another person where you give or receive help, support, or advice. These relationships can be with family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and even pets. Creating your own Atlas CareMap will help you take notice of these relationships”.
The tools are designed to help someone better understand their current care situation, plan for potential difficulties, manage the people involved, identify missing people and services, and communicate with everyone. It can help people see what’s working well and what isn’t. “Our program helps people see and understand their interrelatedness, the impacts of day-to-day life on wellbeing, and discover the power of their collective capacity to help each other and impact change.”
Author: Atlas of Caregiving, 2011
The guidebook identifies very practical challenges like: what happens when someone is unavailable for care? What kinds of skills are being provided, and are some missed? Do you need to involve professional services? How do you negotiate issues with everyone? How are responsibilities divided? How has your CareMap changed over time? How will it look in the future?