Caregiving & Support
Programs & Partnerships
Why Isn't There a Certification Class for Caregiving?
A few years ago, my daughter took a babysitting certification course. In one Saturday afternoon, she learned CPR, how to handle an emergency, and how to keep a child safe and engaged. She walked out with a certificate – and something even more valuable: real confidence. She wasn't guessing anymore. She knew what to do.
Around that same time, I found myself fielding questions from families navigating a very different kind of care: caring for aging parents, spouses, and neighbors. In Indiana alone, family caregivers contributed an estimated $16.1 billion in unpaid labor in 2026, according to AARP's Valuing the Invaluable 2026 report – work that is essential, and almost entirely unsupported. And I kept asking myself the same question: where is the older-adult caregiving version of this class? Where do people go to learn how to help someone get safely out of a chair, understand a power of attorney, or recognize the early signs of dementia — before they're in a crisis and figuring it out on the fly?
That question is what led us to build CareReady Academy.
CareReady is an eight-session learning academy that walks through the full continuum of caregiving – from understanding your options to legal and medical planning, hands-on caregiving skills, emergency preparedness, home safety, falls prevention, dementia and mental health awareness, and honest conversations about end of life. Every session earns a certificate, and finishing all eight earns a CareReady Diploma: recognition for skills that too often go unnamed and unrecognized.
Just as important, CareReady isn't only for caregivers. Older adults are welcome and encouraged to take these classes themselves, as active partners in planning for their own safety and independence, not just as the recipient of someone else's caregiving.
Our pilot launches this fall:
- Wednesdays from 1–3 pm
- September 9 through December 16
- Located in the at the UIndy Health Pavilion
- $10 per session (scholarships available).
We're grateful to our title sponsor, Hancock Health, and our adult day services partner, Joy's House, for helping make this possible.
If a single class could give my daughter the confidence to babysit, we hope CareReady gives our community that same confidence to care.
Emily Tisdale, M.Ed., is Executive Director of the Center for Aging & Community at the University of Indianapolis.
