Family Dynamics in Caregiving: Four Essential Tips / Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias
The Caregiver's Journey
Sue Ryan and Nancy Treaster
5.0 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 2 December 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are you struggling to pull your family together to create a working support system for someone living with dementia? Do you find family members disagreeing on what needs to be done or how to help? You're not alone, and there's a path forward.
We are Sue Ryan and Nancy Treaster. As caregivers for our loved ones with Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, we've learned that transforming family dynamics into effective teamwork is one of the most challenging—yet most rewarding—aspects of the caregiving journey.
In this episode, we spoke with Dr. Barry Jacobs, a clinical psychologist and family therapist who brings both professional expertise and personal caregiving experience to this conversation. Barry cared for his mother with vascular dementia and his stepfather with Alzheimer's disease for seven years, and he co-authored the AARP Caregiver Answer Book with his wife, psychologist Julia Mayer.
This content aligns with Step 8 of our Navigating Dementia Caregiving Roadmap: Start Planning for the Next Stage of Care, particularly when building your personal support network of family and friends.
Connect with us and share your tips:
- Website: https://thecaregiversjourney.org/
- Donate: https://give.cornerstone.cc/thecaregiversjourney
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecaregiversjourney/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecaregiversjourneys/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suearmstrongryan/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancytreaster/
- Email: sue@thecaregiversjourney.org, nancy@thecaregiversjourney.org
Full Show Notes
https://thecaregiversjourney.org/50-family-dynamics-in-caregiving-four-essential-tips-alzheimers-and-other-dementias/
Additional Resources Mentioned
- Barry’s website www.caregiveranswerbook.com
- Buy the Caregiver Answer Book on Amazon https://amzn.to/4i9V9ZL
- Navigating Dementia Caregiving Roadmap guide https://thecaregiversjourney.org/guides/#guides
- Support the nonprofit The Caregiver's Journey: https://give.cornerstone.cc/thecaregiversjourney
Takeaways
Transforming your family into an effective caregiving team isn’t easy. It’s worth the effort — not just for your loved one with dementia — but for every member of your family.
These four tips provide a framework:
- Create consensus (everyone on the same page).
- Define an ongoing format for decision making (regular meetings with clear rhythm).
- Build a family caregiving plan (who does what and when).
- Plan to deal with conflict (don’t let disagreements become disrespectful).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Whole Care Network, helping you tell your story one podcast at a time. |
| 0:16.0 | Content presented in the following podcast is for information purposes only. |
| 0:22.7 | Views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and guests |
| 0:28.1 | and may not represent the views and opinions of the Whole Care Network. |
| 0:33.2 | Always consult with your physician for any medical advice. |
| 0:36.8 | And always consult with your attorney for any legal advice. And always consult with your attorney for any legal advice. |
| 0:40.5 | And thank you for listening to the Whole Care Network. |
| 0:52.6 | Are you struggling with pulling your family together to create a working support system for someone |
| 0:58.7 | living with dementia? In this episode, Sue and are talking to Dr. Barry Jacobs, who is both a clinical |
| 1:05.5 | psychologist and a family therapist about how to transform your family into an effective caregiving team. |
| 1:14.3 | We're sharing four tips. |
| 1:17.5 | Welcome. We're Sue Ryan and Nancy Treister. |
| 1:21.2 | This podcast brings our years of experience in a variety of family caregiving roles to prepare you to navigate your caregiving journey. |
| 1:28.7 | We're sharing our personal experiences, not medical advice, and because it's our passion to |
| 1:34.4 | support you on your journey, we believe no topic is off limits. Let's get started. |
| 1:43.1 | For those of you who are following our navigating dementia caregiving roadmap, this podcast will be helpful, particularly with Step 8. |
| 1:53.1 | Step 8's title is Start Planning for the next stage of care. |
| 1:57.0 | And it's especially important when building your personal support network of family and friends. |
| 2:02.6 | Barry, thank you so much for joining us today to talk about how to transform your family into an effective caregiving team. |
| 2:11.6 | Today we're focused on the dynamics between those surrounding our loved one who is living with dementia. |
| 2:20.1 | Barry, when we read the book, the AARP caregiver answer book that was co-authored by you and your |
| 2:26.4 | wife, also a psychologist, Julia Mayer, we realized you or someone we want to make sure we're |
... |
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