Caring for the Ones Who Cared for You
Caring for the Ones Who Cared for You
A Support Group for Parents Also Caring for Aging Parents
A Support Group for Parents Also Caring for Aging Parents
You’re managing homework, school pickup, and your kid’s after school schedule. You’re also managing your mom’s medications, or trying to convince your dad it isn’t safe to drive anymore. Nobody warned you that both of these would be happening at the same time.
We hear a version of this story often in our work with families. A parent shows up exhausted, stretched between raising their own children and caring for an aging mother, father, or other loved one, and they’ve never said a word about it to us, or to almost anyone. Not because it isn’t affecting them. Because there’s rarely space made for this particular kind of hard.
Caring for the Ones Who Cared for You is a new group built for exactly that experience.
This group is mostly for adults who have children still living at home while also caring for an aging parent, whether or not that parent lives with them. Once you're in this position, you've taken on responsibility for your parents' care in addition to caring for your kids.
A lot of the day to day care can look similar for both generations. Are they eating enough? Do they need to get to a doctor's appointment? Who's keeping track of it all? But when you're caring for a parent specifically, there's an added layer: you're adjusting to a new relationship and a new role with them. Sometimes there are things in that relationship that were never resolved, and now you have to set those aside in order to provide care.
People in this position, often called the sandwich generation because they're caring for kids and aging parents at the same time, tend to deal with real exhaustion. There's guilt about not being able to fully show up for both relationships. There's often anticipatory grief, as a parent who used to be a steady, dependable presence becomes someone who now needs to be cared for. And there can be shame in having to choose one relationship over the other in a given moment, because sometimes you do have to choose, and that's genuinely hard.
There's also a lot of unknown here. Most people come to parenting without much preparation either, but at least there are books, and other people around you going through the same thing, and often you had your own parent to help you understand it. Caring for an aging parent isn't talked about nearly as much. The person you'd normally turn to for guidance is often the same person you're now trying to care for. And there aren't many resources out there, largely because we don't take the needs of aging adults, or the people caring for them, as seriously as we should.
If you're interested in this group, the contact information is on this page. Feel free to reach out. You can also find us at teentherapycenter.com, and if you call the number listed there, they'll point you in the right direction.
Does This Sound Familiar?
- You're raising children at home while also caring for a parent, in-law, or loved one who is aging, chronically ill, or experiencing cognitive decline, whether or not they live with you.
- You've quietly become the parent to your own parent, and some days that role reversal still catches you off guard.
- You feel guilty for wanting space, frustrated with family members who aren't stepping up the way you are, or simply exhausted in a way that's hard to explain to people who haven't lived it.
- You've had to choose one relationship over the other in a given moment, and felt a quiet shame about it, even though there wasn't really a better option.
- You've noticed a kind of grief that doesn't have a name yet, because the person you're grieving is still here.
Why This Group?
At the very core of it, it will probably feel nice to not feel alone in the struggle. There's a lot of comfort in being around people who are going through the same thing, and who may be feeling things you're ashamed to admit, or ashamed to say out loud, because this is genuinely a hard situation to be in.
You may also find that you're able to support someone else in the group, which can help you feel better too, especially since there are so many parts of this that you simply can't fix or control. And in general, it's important to have space for yourself. One of the first things that tends to happen is that parents put their own needs and their own time aside in order to prioritize the two people who need them most. Even if it's just an hour, or an hour and a half, a week, this group is time that's for you. It may give you a chance to reconnect with yourself, which can make a real difference in the rest of your life too.
If you're interested in this group, the contact information is on this page. Feel free to reach out. You can also find us at teentherapycenter.com, and if you call the number listed there, they'll point you in the right direction.
Caring for an aging parent while still raising your own kids is one of the loneliest experiences in adulthood, mostly because so few people are navigating both at once. Friends who are deep in the parenting years may not be dealing with an aging parent yet. Siblings, if you have them, may not be carrying the same share of the caregiving. Even the people who love you most may not fully understand what it’s like to be pulled in two directions by two generations who both need you.
This group gives you a room full of people who do understand, because they’re living it too. One of the most consistent findings in group therapy research is that connection, not advice, is what actually helps. There’s also real relief in being able to show up for someone else in the room, especially with a situation you can’t fully fix or control on your own. And just as important, this becomes space that’s actually yours, even if it’s only an hour and a half a week, at a point in life when your own needs are usually the first thing to get set aside.
What To Expect
- Group: Caring for the Ones Who Cared for You
- Facilitator: Hannah Bacos, AMFT
- Length: 8 weeks
- Group Size: Small, limited to 6 to 8 members
- Format: In person at our Woodland Hills office
- Starts: October 2026, day and time to be announced
Each week moves through a different part of the caregiving experience, including the emotions caregivers often hide, boundaries and guilt, family and sibling dynamics, the loss of identity that comes with this role, and the uncertainty of what’s ahead. Sessions are conversation, not lecture. You’ll be heard, and you’ll hear from others carrying something similar.
About Hannah Bacos, AMFT
Hannah works with families across the full arc of caregiving, from parents raising young children to adults caring for aging parents of their own. She started this group after noticing the same pattern show up again and again in her work with kids and teens: a parent quietly worn down by an aging parent’s decline, a stressor that rarely came up in conversation until it was already affecting the whole family. This group grew out of that gap.
No. Many group members are providing significant support to a parent or loved one without necessarily living with them or managing every aspect of their care. If you’re carrying real weight for an aging parent while also raising your own children, this group is for you.
This group isn’t limited to any one diagnosis. It’s for the experience of caring for an aging or chronically ill loved one, whatever that looks like in your family.
Not at all. Most of our group members haven’t either. We’ll talk through what to expect during a brief phone consultation before the group begins.
Reach out to us and we’ll set up a short phone consultation. We’ll go over group details, including cost, and make sure this is a good fit before the group begins.
Ready to Stop Carrying This Alone?
Caring for the Ones Who Cared for You begins October 2026, with space limited to a small group of 6 to 8 members. If any of this feels familiar, reach out to us to schedule a brief phone consultation.