Continuity's Blair Trippe Quoted in More Magainze's Quibbling Sibling's Article!

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Continuity’s own Blair Trippe was quoted in a recent article published in More Magazine in an article titled Quibbling Siblings: Eldercare Edition.

On New Crisis, Old Roles:

Sibling relations start off as involuntary but in adulthood become optional. We can take them or leave them, and often we do leave, at least for a while, heading off to attend college or pursue a job or simply explore what kind of adult we wish to become. The family’s close knowledge of us usually ends when we exit the home, but their image of us continues, often becoming fossilized. “I have an 86 year-old Aunt, and because she was the youngest, everybody still considers her the baby,” says psychologist Caffaro. That inability to change position can be quite literal: Mediator Blair Trippe of Norwood, Massachusetts, says that when she works with families to resolve eldercare disputes, siblings typically choose the same seats around the conference table that they occupied at their childhood dining table.

On The Rewards of Reconciliation:

Most siblings manage to come through the caregiving experience with their ties intact or strengthened, experts say, but of course there are extreme cases in which relationships shatter beyond repair… but where there is something to salvage in a relationship, it’s worth the try. As Blair Trippe notes, siblings may refuse to speak for 30 years, but nobody’s really happy about it.

On Family Planning:

What if siblings can’t agree on how best to meet a parent’s needs? Hiring lawyers is usually not the best course… what’s more likely to help is family mediation. Also referred to as elder mediation, this is a time-limited, confidential, voluntary process guided by facilitators trained in helping families reach consensus through compromise… Though long-held resentments often come up, these sessions are not a form of therapy. “The goal is to make decisions,” says mediator Jane Ginsberg. “It’s not necessarily to mend a relationship.” That said, mediator Blair Trippe often sees a ripple effect. “In the short term, you’re getting everyone to deal with the situation at hand and catalyzing the group into action,” she explains. “In the long term, the family learns a language and communication strategy that they can apply with another parent or another decision.”

To read the full article, click HERE.