Caregiver Saathi brings to you Conversations with Gentle Warriors! A series of our Facebook LIVE sessions where caregivers share their caregiving journeys, now in a podcast format.

Welcome to the 9th episode of Conversations with Gentle Warriors.

In this episode, we hear from Umang Sheth, and we learn about his journey as a caregiver, her experience with a Caregiver Saathi. Umang Sheth runs an NGO known as The Hugging Club of India. He works towards removing stigma in society regarding mental health. He is the caregiver of his parents. His mother suffers from schizophrenia and his father suffers from bipolar disorder.

Umang speaks about how his caregiving journey inspired him to start his NGO. Belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, he personally went through a difficult journey. Learning from these challenges, he now strives to help people who are going through similar situations.

“I became a parent to my parents at a very early age, and it came naturally.”

Umang explains how he wasn’t aware that he himself was a caregiver. He takes us through the daily tasks that he had to do in order to care for his parents. It also lead to many difficult situations because he found it difficult to care for his loved ones when they showed extreme behaviours due to their mental illnesses. It was also hard to take them to regular doctor visits and ensure that they took the right medications.

Umang himself went through a lot of emotional and mental pressure. But the turning point was when he realised that it is okay to feel things and it is possible to pick yourself up from any situation.

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If this story had an impact on you, please share it with others around you who care for someone and help them share too. It’s difficult for people to share their experiences and listening to this might help people open up and talk more about their experiences as a caregiver.
It is important for caregivers to be heard and understood and sharing one story helps the person to come out of their feeling of loneliness. It helps people lighten their load and relieves them from guilt, anger or anxiety.

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