"CAREGIVING IS THE HARDEST JOB IN THE WORLD," says Judi Bumstead, MFT, director at Fitzgerald Senior Day Support Center in Thousand Oaks. "You're losing someone bit by bit, and you have very little support."

The Center is working to change that reality as part of Senior Concerns, which helps Ventura County seniors with special needs stay at home as long as possible and gives family members much-needed respite. With a recent expansion, more than 75 seniors now make this their daily destination. They include frail and memory-impaired elders, many of whom have Alzheimer's or Parkinson's or are recovering from strokes.

One of those family members, John Madison, knows the strains of caregiving first-hand. He's been the sole caregiver for his 93-year-old mother, Bea, for nearly eight years. "I could not have continued if we had not had the help of the Fitzgerald Center during this difficult time," he says.

Among the multi-faceted services, the Center provides seniors and caregivers a chance to talk. With affordable counseling and gerontology-experienced therapists limited in the community, Senior Concerns has established a new gerontology counselors training program, funded in part by a $10,000 grant from the Weingart Foundation.

Counselors, both graduate students in psychology and recent graduates with a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT), provide free in-home counseling. They also lead sessions at the Center, such as a men's-only group and a group for seniors newly diagnosed with Alzheimer's, giving their caregivers the luxury of free time.

One obstacle - that "people in this generation don't seek counseling," says Bumstead - has inspired some creative approaches.

Surveys with caregivers about their needs can result in a mini-counseling session. Counseling also can be woven into art projects, music, guided autobiographies or reading a book. Formal or informal, counseling may help a senior cope with a new living situation, the loss of a loved one, or the stresses of disease. It also can give seniors a boost in self-esteem, as they teach something about history to another generation.

Cynthia Shemtov, 26, an MFT graduate from Pepperdine University, has been working with Tony Hug, 63, a participant at the Center since 1993. "Anybody who wants to remember anything about me, just ask her," says Tony, smiling. "She knows more than I do. And she doesn't forget."