Key Takeaways
- Couples can live together in assisted living communities, even with different needs. Assisted living offers a way for couples to remain together while receiving personalized support.
- The decision to move to assisted living should be a thoughtful, shared conversation. It’s important to have an open discussion about the benefits, drawbacks, and individual needs.
- Finding the right community involves a careful process. Couples should define and discuss their priorities and tour potential communities together.
Can Couples Live Together with Different Needs in Assisted Living?
Couples often take care of each other as they get older together—but it’s also common for spouses to seek help from others. Sometimes, joining an assisted living community is the right choice for not just one spouse, but both.
Spouses can live together in assisted living communities even when their needs differ. When you’re looking for the right community for yourself and your spouse or for your parents, follow these tips to navigate the process:
- Consider and confirm both spouses’ current and potential future needs
- Find communities that emphasize individuality and independence
- Find communities with floor plans and layouts that match your needs for bedrooms
- Tour communities in person to confirm which is right for you or your loved ones
What Are the Benefits of Assisted Living for Couples?
As couples age gracefully together, it can become more challenging to care for each other, especially when unexpected health concerns arise. That’s when the benefits of assisted living can be more obvious.
Even when you are able to care for your spouse or your parents are able to care for each other with few complications, there are still many benefits to joining an assisted living community.
Some of the most common benefits include the following:
- Couples can spend more meaningful time together without the need for caregiving
- Both spouses can become more independent with the help of daily support
- Budgeting and finances can become simpler and more convenient
- Both spouses can receive a level of support that feels comfortable for their individual needs and preferences
- Couples can make new connections and socialize with other couples and individuals in their community
- Both spouses can enjoy access to a wide variety of events and experiences, as well as specialty services designed to support their wellness
How Should You Talk About Senior Living for Couples?
Whether you’re talking to your own spouse or your parents, the conversation about moving to an assisted living community can sometimes be difficult. It’s important to always respect the wishes of the person or people you’re talking to and try to see things from their perspective.
Remember that while this kind of move can seem like a big change, the benefits of assisted living can make a significant positive difference in many areas of daily life.
Highlighting how this change can help your loved one thrive can make it easier for them to accept this decision.
Tips for Talking About a Move to Assisted Living
Here’s how you can help contribute to a positive conversation:
- Have the conversation early if possible, in a calm, comfortable environment
- Start by sharing your feelings, concerns, and hopes for how assisted living can help
- Ask lots of questions about what the other person or people may be feeling and thinking
- Make sure you understand their point of view
- Discuss the benefits and potential drawbacks together
After your conversation—or any additional conversations when needed—everyone should have the same understanding of what the change could mean for each person.
How Do You Find the Right Senior Living Community for Both Spouses?
Finding the right community for a couple to live together can be similar to finding a home. If you or your parents have experience looking for a living space together, you’ll want to consider what worked and what didn’t during that process as you start the process of finding a community.
Generally, the following tips tend to help couples find the right space:
- Openly define and discuss each person’s needs, preferences, and priorities
- Create a list of must-haves based on the information you defined in the point above
- Consider location and future potential care needs
- Ask potential communities about how they accommodate couples
- Tour communities together, more than once, and at different times when possible
When Is It the Right Time for Couples to Join Senior Living?
There is no perfect time to get started with senior living, but when the benefits of joining a community outweigh the possible challenges of remaining at home, that can be a good sign.
Some couples get started early in retirement when they want to enjoy the experience of community living together. Others wait until they want assistance with daily life and caring for one another.
Here are a few significant situations that can be good times to start assisted living as a couple:
- Your parents or you and your spouse both want more support with daily tasks like cooking, cleaning, and managing medication
- Your parents or your spouse are experiencing health changes that are making living at home more challenging
- You or one of your parents is experiencing burnout, significant stress, and other challenges from caregiving
- Your parents or you and your spouse want to consolidate bills and make daily life easier by eliminating housekeeping tasks
- Your parents or you and your spouse want to spend more quality time together, or meet new people
How to Get Started with Assisted Living for Spouses
The best way to get started with assisted living for a spouse or loved one is to spend time learning more about communities in your area.
The Grand at Laumeier Park is a thriving, boutique community in Sappington, where spouses can find supportive, individualized assisted living and memory care lifestyles.
Contact us to schedule a tour and learn more about how we can help couples live comfortably together.
