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Mike Bonikowsky reviews *Formed Together*, a book that tackles the challenges of caregiving with honesty and insight. He explores the everyday struggles and mutual dependence involved in caring for others. The review highlights how the book portrays vulnerability and belonging within caregiving relationships.
Caregiving is one of the hardest things there is to do well. Second to it in difficulty is writing about caregiving well. Dr. Keith Dow’s “Formed Together: Mystery, Narrative, and Virtue In Christian Caregiving” is that rare work that achieves it, combining academic scholarship with deeply personal experience and a uniquely effective manner.
Insights from research and experience
Drawing equally from his extensive research (it is an extrapolation of his PhD thesis) and his personal experience as a caregiver for adults with developmental disabilities, “Formed Together” inspires as it educates. For the newcomer to this unique vocation, it provides a necessary window into one of the open secrets of our shared humanity: Sooner or later, nearly all of us will be a caregiver, and all of us will require one. For the current caregiver who reads it, it is a work both of great comfort and of great challenge, an affirmation of the work being done that becomes a much-needed call to do it in a wiser, better way: to do it together.
It is a book that rewards careful reading, a book that can (and should) be read over and over again. Dr. Dow’s unique perspective, combining academic philosophy with first-hand caregiver experience, is a gift to the reader. He combines his two worlds beautifully, the former informing the latter, and the result is a timely and eminently practical call to vocation.
A caregiver's personal testimony
I, a caregiver both professionally and within my family, was fortunate enough to encounter this book at a time when burnout and the abandonment of my vocation seemed inevitable. This book walked me back from that edge, a wise and gentle voice reminding me why I do what I do, and calling me to do it in a healthier, holier, and more honest way.
About the Author:
Mike Bonikowsky:
Mike Bonikowsky lives and works in Dufferin County, Ontario. He is a direct support professional with the local Association for Community Living and spends the rest of his time raising two young children. He has been living and working with men and women with developmental disabilities since 2007. He is an editor for Ekstasis
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Mike Bonikowsky reviews *Formed Together*, a book that tackles the challenges of caregiving with honesty and insight. He explores the everyday struggles and mutual dependence involved in caring for others. The review highlights how the book portrays vulnerability and belonging within caregiving relationships.
Caregiving is one of the hardest things there is to do well. Second to it in difficulty is writing about caregiving well. Dr. Keith Dow’s “Formed Together: Mystery, Narrative, and Virtue In Christian Caregiving” is that rare work that achieves it, combining academic scholarship with deeply personal experience and a uniquely effective manner.
Insights from research and experience
Drawing equally from his extensive research (it is an extrapolation of his PhD thesis) and his personal experience as a caregiver for adults with developmental disabilities, “Formed Together” inspires as it educates. For the newcomer to this unique vocation, it provides a necessary window into one of the open secrets of our shared humanity: Sooner or later, nearly all of us will be a caregiver, and all of us will require one. For the current caregiver who reads it, it is a work both of great comfort and of great challenge, an affirmation of the work being done that becomes a much-needed call to do it in a wiser, better way: to do it together.
It is a book that rewards careful reading, a book that can (and should) be read over and over again. Dr. Dow’s unique perspective, combining academic philosophy with first-hand caregiver experience, is a gift to the reader. He combines his two worlds beautifully, the former informing the latter, and the result is a timely and eminently practical call to vocation.
A caregiver's personal testimony
I, a caregiver both professionally and within my family, was fortunate enough to encounter this book at a time when burnout and the abandonment of my vocation seemed inevitable. This book walked me back from that edge, a wise and gentle voice reminding me why I do what I do, and calling me to do it in a healthier, holier, and more honest way.
