Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Stephanie Lamb accepted the Benevilla position of the Community Assistance Resources Education Sand Support as support group facilitator and life coach.
Previously, Lamb was a Benevilla Home Services coordinator based at the Peoria Library, 8463 W. Monroe St. Lamb and the Benevilla CARES program offers seven different relaxed and professionally run support groups.
Benevilla officials recognize caregiving can be difficult. In fact, studies show more than 30 percent of caregivers will die before the person they are caring for.
“The stress of caregiving can take a significant toll on one’s health,” said Joanne Thomson, Benevilla president and chief executive officer. “The reason Benevilla offers these free support groups is to provide people on this journey a reassuring circle of new friends who can relate to the daily ups and downs of caregiving.”
Lamb is a wife of 19 years to her husband, Rob, and mother to two children, Savannah and Rylan, and one pet, her Maltipoo, Tucker. She achieved an associate degree in advanced behavioral health, a bachelor’s degree in applied human behavior and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling through Northern Arizona University. Lamb brings a wealth of varied experience serving people in every age, stage and walk of life.
She began her career at Benevilla in 2008 and has passionately assisted and advocated for seniors and vulnerable persons in every position she has held. Lamb envisions continuing the legacy of those before her in providing much-needed support and guidance for caregivers in the community.
Through the Benevilla support groups and individual life coaching, she will encourage members to explore themselves creatively and openly, embrace their unique individuality, discover their strengths, courageously define goals, and challenge themselves to identify and implement changes they wish to make. Her overall goal is to help members process through their pain and struggles enabling them to achieve the wellness they envision.
The seven Benevilla support groups include Memory Care Caregivers Support, Ambiguous Loss and Grief Support, Parkinson’s, Adult Children Caregivers, two General Caregivers Support and Bereavement Support. These groups are open and ongoing meeting weekly or bi-weekly hybrid in-person (except Parkinson’s) with the option to join via Zoom.
Support Groups help members feel less lonely and isolated in their circumstances. It also gives members a sense of empowerment and helps them feel more control over their situation. A support group often is a source of information about new treatment or therapeutic options. Support groups help reduce anxiety and the chances of clinical depression. The goal is for members to learn, feel more connected and be more satisfied with their lives.
Started by the community and for the community in 1981, Benevilla is a not-for-profit human services agency dedicated to enriching lives of West Valley residents by serving older adults, adults with disabilities, children and the families who care for them.
Call 623-584-4999 or visit benevilla.org.
Editor’s Note: Jay Lickus is Benevilla public relations coordinator.