Free Family Caregiver Support Group — Owensboro, KY | GRADD
The Family Caregiver Support Group in Owensboro is a free monthly group hosted by the Green River Area Development District (GRADD), the Area Agency on Aging serving Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, McLean, Ohio, Union, and Webster counties in Western Kentucky. It runs under the National Family Caregiver Support Program, established by the Older Americans Act to help families sustain the work of caring for an older adult at home.
What to Expect The group meets at the GRADD office, 300 GRADD Way, Owensboro, Kentucky 42301, on the first Thursday of each month from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The two-hour format allows for both structured content and open conversation. GRADD’s caregiver program is built around education, training, and support groups, so meetings tend to move between practical instruction — problem-solving, decision-making, communication with care recipients and providers, and self-care — and unstructured time for caregivers to talk with each other about what the month has actually been like. Program staff can also connect attendees to individual counseling, respite coordination, and supplemental services outside the group.
Who This Group Is For This group is for family members and friends providing unpaid care to an older adult at home. The underlying program serves caregivers of any age caring for someone 60 or older, or someone as young as 55 with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. There are no income restrictions and no income or asset testing for eligibility. Caregivers across the seven-county Green River region are welcome — including those who feel they are managing but would like company from people doing the same work.
Why Peer Support Works Family caregiving is one of the more isolating roles a person can take on, in part because it is often invisible and rarely acknowledged as work. Caregiver support groups consistently show benefit not because they remove the burden but because they change how it is carried: caregivers learn practical strategies from people already using them, hear that their exhaustion and occasional resentment are ordinary rather than shameful, and become more willing to accept respite and other services they had been declining. Sustaining the caregiver is also what sustains the person receiving care, which is the explicit goal of the federal program funding this group.
How to Join The group is free. First-time attendees should register before coming by calling the Area Agency on Aging at 1-800-928-9094. Meetings are held at 300 GRADD Way, Owensboro, KY 42301, on the first Thursday of each month from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. GRADD’s main line is 270-926-4433, TDD 800-648-6056. More information about the Family Caregiver Support Program, including counseling, training, and respite coordination, is available at gradd.com.