Your Caregiver Starter Pack
Caregiving comes with so many questions and not enough hours in the day. We’ve pulled together these free essentials to get started.
Get Answers Fast(For the "I need help five minutes ago" questions.)Resources that give you immediate guidance, real-time help, or quick clarity.
Got a caregiving question and need an actual human? Skip the hold-music purgatory and talk to someone who can help.
For the questions you’re currently panic-Googling. Get curated answers and step-by-step guides.
Not sure who handles what in your area? Call 211 anytime to connect with local services, community resources, and disaster assistance.
Wondering what home care, assisted living, or a nursing home actually costs near you? Pop in your zip code and get local estimates.
Find Help Near You(Your shortcut to what’s available where you live)Find local programs, services and support without searching the entire internet.
Enter your zip code to see what free or low-cost programs may be available for food, housing, healthcare, prescriptions, and more.
Looking for help at home but not sure where to start? Find aging-care providers that have met elder-care quality standards.
Need local services for an older adult? Tell them where you live. They’ll point toward local aging services, transportation, meal programs, support, and more.
Tell Everyone Once(Because who wants to send the same update 18 different times?)Keep everyone updated and give the “let me know what I can do” people something to do.
Keep everyone updated in one place…without rewriting the same “here’s what the doctor said” text all day.
Turn all those lovely “let me know if you need anything” offers into actual help. Use it to coordinate the people who want to pitch in.
Care for You, Too(Because you deserve support just as much as the person you’re caring for)Tools and support for checking in on how caregiving is affecting your well-being.
Stress-management tools, clinical programs, and caregiver-specific support you can use when your own brain could use a little backup.
Wondering how much caregiving is actually taking out of you? Find your caregiving “intensity score” to get a clearer picture of your burnout risk
Not sure whether what you’re feeling is “just stress” or something more? Take a confidential mental health screening designed to help you check in with yourself.
Find Your People(For when your group chat can’t help.)Virtual support groups for connection, swapping stories & tips, and realizing your inner monologue is widely relatable.
Virtual groups where caregivers can talk to people who actually get it (including support after caregiving ends.)
Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or another dementia? Join virtual groups led by social workers and trained facilitators.
Support groups and wellness programs for a wide range in a wide range of situations.
Caring for someone with cancer? Find support built specifically for caregivers. (Expletives, presumably, welcome.)
For military and veteran caregivers: mental wellness workshops, book clubs, and a community that understands this particular version of caregiving.
When Your Wallet is Part of the Care Team(And it’s putting in a lot of hours)Programs that can help with medical bills, medications, respite care, and other expenses that pile up.
Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia and desperately need a break? These grants can help cover the cost of professional, in-home or adult day care.
Cancer comes with enough to worry about. Family Reach helps families facing cancer with non-medical financial support.
That hospital bill making your eye twitch? See whether you may qualify to have some – or all – of it forgiven.
Need help covering eligible medication costs, insurance premiums, or other out-of-pocket healthcare expenses? Start here.
Legal Stuff(For when you really shouldn’t DIY it)Resources for legal help and getting essential documents in place.
Need legal help without the giant legal bill? Find free or low-cost legal help in your state.
Get free advance directive forms for your state, plus instructions for filling them out.
Navigating Medicare(Because who isn’t confused by it?)Get help understanding coverage, costs, plans, claims and appeals.
Medicare question? Talk to an actual person for free, unbiased counseling.
Go straight to the source to check what’s covered, compare plans and costs, find Medicare-approved providers, and get answers.
Navigating Dementia(For all the questions that come with it.)Tools, step-by-step guidance, and expert help for caring for someone with dementia.
When dementia brings a thousand questions at once, get free, personalized consultation and coaching to help you figure out what comes next.
Trying to sort “urgent” from “we can deal with that later”? This tool helps you see what needs attention now, what can wait, and what may be coming down the road.
An interactive guide for navigating the twists, turns, and surprise detours of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Practical Advice, With a Side of Humor(Stay informed. Be entertained.)Our favorite podcasts and newsletters. All about caregiving, of course.
A weekly newsletter for people with parents. Because becoming an adult also means figuring out what to do when your adults need help.
A podcast about caring for aging parents, raising kids, and trying not to lose your health, career, finances, or mind in the process.
Journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis talks with friends, experts, and celebrities about the chaos of dealing with aging parents.
A podcast for tackling tough-but-necessary conversations with aging parents and loved ones…without making the whole thing feel quite so daunting.
Caregiver Cheat Sheets
The stuff you wish someone handed you sooner. Simple guides to help you get organized, remember what matters, and feel a little less scattered.
Care Conversation Cards
Caregiving comes with conversations most of us avoid until we can’t. These questions help people talk about what matters: what they want, what you need, and how to keep going together.
