Has anyone here ever taken a course for family caregivers?

The local Area on Aging (here it's the Northwest Regional Council) offer a class: Powerful Tools for Caregivers that comes with a copy of Caregiver Handbook that's helpful.

LightnLife: No, I didn't have time to take any caregiving course once my late mother's health took an abrupt decline.

Yes, I took a course through the Riverside (CA) County Office on Aging, very informative.

Careblazer’s Dementia on YouTube has been so helpful to me! Her videos are short and address so many specific questions. Look through them to find the ones that are pertinent to you. So much easier to watch a 6 minute video than an hour long one. Natalie Edmonds is a Gero-Psychologist and very compassionate. I love her approach!
https://m.youtube.com/c/DementiaCareblazers

The Alzheimer's Association and many state agencies offer free courses for caregivers; in fact, many professional continuing education courses are available to the public for free. In Oregon, Oregon Care Partners is free and offers both family and CEU courses. Teepa Snow gives a lot wonderful insight through her Positive Approach to Care courses. You can find many of them, as well as other expert advisors, on YouTube.

In my area there is a state agency called Seniors With Disabilities. They are a support system for seniors who have all kinds of disabilities including dementia. They have classes and also counseling support for caregivers. You might check your local senior center to see if something like that is available. I also read a lot and having been through hospice with my husband I was prepared for the bedridden portion when I took care of my dad. The most important thing is to get all the help available to you including respite care which is very helpful.

Check with your local hospital or senior center for a caregiver course. Online training is great, but having a support group with real, live people who are going through the same experience - and having an excuse to get away from the situation for 2 hrs every week - is priceless.

Dementia Success Path gives workshops:
https://dementiasuccesspath.com/may-2022-em-workshop

However, the best advice comes from caregivers who are actually going through the experience.

You should consider joining the Alzheimer's Dementia Caregiver's FB Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dementiacaregiversupportgroup/?ref=share

It's a place where you can find support and information and vent without judgment.

home health care agencies require CNA licensing. Those courses are 6 months long and are not free. They will cover hands-on care, but not issues with finances, health appointments, or planning for the future. That kind of thing is better handled by researching the disease(s) your loved one has and talking with doctor about prognosis.

Yes, by the VA. I am the caretaker for my wife. The VA offers a lot of different caretaker courses,and they are very good ones.

I signed up for a clinical program at Weill Cornell for caregivers in 2020.

It was geared to identifying pain in dementia patients. It was a helpful tool as my Mom’s life was winding down. Mom passed away 5 weeks ago at 99 1/2. I kept her at home till the end. She had live-in help, I cooked and managed her care and meds. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done and the most rewarding. It was a crash course in geriatric medicine,
I had remarkable Doctor’s, determination and leaned about patience as I put my life on hold for two years.
Read as much as you can and think of how you’d like be treated if the tables were turned. A friend told me ‘your children are watching’.

Any caregiver course should include danger signs of caregiver burnout. It should also reinforce the importance of the mental and physical wellbeing of the caregiver (beyond blithely suggesting to "take some time for yourself!).

Watch Teepa Snow videos

I find Teepa Snow and Positive Approach To Caregiving helpful. There are some free educational videos from her on YouTube. They also offer webinars for a fee. My mom lives in a Memory Care facility. This is the program they've used to train staff.
https://teepasnow.com/
https://youtu.be/xIbezaLD7WA
https://youtu.be/pqmqC-702Yg

I truly know how you feel. How long have you stayed with your parent? It gets lonely. Good luck know that you can talk to me don’t feel alone. It’s hard I’m 60 years old not in the best of health and caring for my 80 year old mother

I could probably teach the course.

In my county I found many resources and materials through the County Office on Aging. They offer zoom classes, books, support groups, and referrals to many services. You may have a local Office on Aging as well. The good thing is that most help is available on line so you don't have to leave your home.

polarbear - thank you and yes, I am doing my best each day. It is a daily quest. Thank you so much for your support, I appreciate you.

Alison.com
offers free intro course on caregiving. Maybe good start?

My city offers occasionally a 6 week course for caregivers and it's sponsored by our Senior Services. So you may want to check with them.
I would also recommend that you look into finding a local caregiver support group. Senior Services can help you with that, but I found mine by just googling what was in my area. They saved my life when I was at my wits end while caring for my husband. We meet in person every Wednesday, along with folks on Zoom, and every Friday on Zoom.
You will learn more from those who are in the throes of caregiving or those that have been there done that, than from any course you may take that's for sure. Because who better to learn from than from those who are actually doing it, or have done it right?

I did.  It was sponsored by the local Jewish Welfare  Federation, or Jewish Federation of Detroit (I don't recall which).   The course was provided in conjunction with the AAA, staffed by a psychologist with excellent insights and experience.

Our group was small, only about 8 if I remember correctly.   The texts and study  material were thorough, insightful,  and professionally prepared, and the class was conducted in the same manner.   It could actually be called a study group, as it was just as professional as any college course.

Some cites for this program:

Creating Confident Caregivers : NEMCSA

Creating Confident Caregivers - Detroit Area Agency on Aging serving Detroit, MI | findhelp.org

Region 9 Area Agency on Aging | Northeast Michigan CSA (nemcsa.org) (for similar programs) - perhaps your AAA might have some.

There used to be a more detailed description available on  the AAA site, but searching today, I was unable to find it.  

There were some situation scenarios, i.e., how various situations could be handled.  There also was an opportunity for us to describe specific situations and get input from the instructor as well as other classmates on options of handling/addressing the issues, including ones we individually were experiencing.

It also was emotional, particularly a movie shown to demonstrate the progression of Alzheimers.   A group of women in a care facility were awaiting lunch.  One woman in particular was shown to demonstrate making a peanut butter sandwich, over a period of time.

She had no difficulty in the first section, some difficulty in the second when it was difficult for her to determine which silverware to use, and by the end of the movie, she was unable to discern the difference between the silverware and the food.   That was when most of us were in tears; it was painstakingly dramatic, and real.

But we also had to create our own scenarios, which helped apply what we were learning to actual life.

You could contact your closest AAA to see if they're still hosting it, or are affiliating with another organization, as was the case in the SE Michigan Metro area.

Sadly, unless you're in a program to become a certified caregiver, I doubt there are many -- if any -- courses in it for the average person. It reminds me of when I moved from Southern California to Colorado in the middle of the winter and I asked the Auto Club if they offered any how-to-drive-in-snow. Their response: No, you just kind of figure it out.

You could contact your local senior center to see if they have anything, but your best bet is probably to find a support group of people in similar circumstances. This forum here is an excellent place to start.

LightnLife - I don't have an answer for what you're looking for: how to manage ALL the things and stay POSITIVE with my (Alz.) parent.

For me, that would prove an impossible quest.

Hope others have better responses.