You don't know what you don't know.
Come meet Eric Jorgensen, The Special Needs Navigator. Eric has been helping families and individuals with disabilities find answers since his retirement from the Navy in 2012. He was widowed the same year he retired. At the time, his 12 y/o autistic son, William, was completely dependent on his wife for everything. It was his frustration with the difficulty of figuring out what to do and navigating services for his son which led him to start Special Needs Navigator.
Meet Ashley Voth
Ashley Voth is a stroke thriver and cancer survivor.
After a stroke during brain surgery at age 26, she found yoga, mindfulness, and meditation to be a valuable part of the physical and spiritual journey through recovery.
As a registered Yoga Instructor and certified Reiki Practitioner, she helps fellow Stroke Warriors build inner strength and embrace individuality in body, mind, and soul through their own recovery journey.
Meet Adrienne Gruberg - the guiding light behind The Caregiver Space Community
Adrienne Gruberg is a born in Manhattan, hard core New Yorker who put her BFA to good use as assistant display director for I. Miller Shoes, and eventually starting her own company, designing stores and showrooms for the wholesale fashion trade.
In 2005 her husband, Steve, was diagnosed with lung cancer and Adrienne was able to care for him while continuing to do her design work until her mother-in-law was diagnosed with lymphoma and moved in with them in 2007 for three years. She passed in 2010 and Steve died in 2011 after 32 years of their being together.
Adrienne's caregiving experience made her aware of the need for an emotional support system for family caregivers and she founded The Caregiver Space, Inc., a not-for-profit website, in 2012. The page has close to 170,000 members.
Loretta Woodward Veney: The lessons learned from being her mom's mom.
In 2006 after her beloved mother became the first female in the family to suffer from dementia, Loretta began learning everything she could about the disease, becoming a fierce advocate for her Mom in the process.
Loretta is now an inspirational speaker and trainer who has delivered more than 300 speeches and presentations on dementia and caregiving since 2014, offering a wealth of information, encouragement and humor to her audiences.
She is also the author of Being My Mom’s Mom (2nd edition 2019), Refreshment for the Caregiver’s Spirit (2nd edition 2020), and a coloring book entitled Colors Flowing from My Mind (2019).
Loretta and her Mom have been featured in articles in the Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, The Washington Post, The NY Times, AARP Caregiver Stories, as well as a PBS special entitled Alzheimer’s the Caregiver’s Perspective. In 2019, Loretta was selected as Trailblazer of the Year by Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Elissa Lewin , breaking the isolation and exhaustion that comes with caregiving.
Elissa Lewin is a licensed psychologist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and serial caregiver who is also the Founder and Executive Director of Nancy’s House.
Elissa founded Nancy’s House in 2006 to fill a need for service to family caregivers by breaking the isolation and exhaustion that can come with taking care of someone who is ill or disabled. With 1-day and 3-day retreats, conferences, and workshops, Nancy’s House builds a community of support, nurtures guests, and teaches how to care for yourself while caring for others.
Two times the Care; Two Blogs
Elaine Barlin's superpower is recognizing the needs of her family and being there to support them.
Her husband, Mel, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2009 and they had a rigorous course of treatment and surgeries and hopefulness and struggles. Then her daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer and Elaine had two cancer patients to care for.
She found that blogging about her experiences caring for her husband and her daughter was therapeutic for her and kept her community informed.
Full-time job, caregiving and self care
Linda McCaffrey took care of her mother for 9 years while also holding down a full-time corporate job. She has a passion for being active and healthy. She is an avid hiker, and is a former Sierra Club hiking leader.
Join us as we talk with Linda about how she balanced career, her own health and caring for her mother. And you will love her recipe for Nut Butter Cookies!
Reimagine Your Role - Restore Your Soul with Dawn Sully Pile
Following a 35-year career in education, Dawn began developing other passions. She was certified as a Co-Active Coach and one of the areas she focuses on is helping caregivers Reimagined their Role and Restore their Soul! As a caregiver, we all need a little soul care.
She is also gracing us with an amazing looking chocolate cake that we will be tasting at the end of the show. If you want the recipe ahead of time, email CJ Golden at [email protected]
Already Toast - Caregiving & Burnout with Kate Washington
Kate Washington is the author of Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America. It is the story of her struggle to care for her seriously ill husband-a look at the role unpaid family caregivers play in a society that fails to provide them with structural support.
Kate is the dining critic for the Sacramento Bee, so you know her recipe for Peach Kuchen is going to be amazing.
This will be an insightful conversation about the loneliness of caregiving and the impact it is having on the health and well-being of so many, and what interventions are needed to better support the legions of caregivers.
Providing Dignity to Your Care Recipient
Dr. Richard Address is the Director of Jewish Sacred Aging and the host of a weekly podcast called Seekers of Meaning. He teaches at several seminaries and contributes articles to a variety of publications on issues relating to Baby Boomers, aging and spirituality.
Being a care recipient puts the person in a very vulnerable position and allowing them their dignity is so important. We will be talking with Rabbi Address about caregiving with dignity in this episode.
And the recipe??? Coffee Cake - looks delicious!
It takes a family - Janice Ferraro's story
Janice is a personal trainer, a mother to two children, a wife and she was a caregiver for both her father and her mother. She will share with us her story of how the family came together to care for and support her parents as they battled illness and eventually lost their battles. It is a love story.
Janice's mother had some special breakfast recipes, and for this Caregivers Bakery we are going to be treated to her mother's scones
From One Caregiver to Another - Meet Kay Coughlin
Kay Coughlin is caregiver to her mother while also caring for children that still live at home and running her own business. She is host of the weekly podcast, "From One Caregiver to Another" and she is a leadership and life coach for family caregivers.
Kay is going to share her slow-cooker chili recipe with us, as well as her wisdom around caring for yourself while caring for others.
The Caregiver's Bakery is a sweet spot for caregivers, like you, to share their recipes for emotiona
