Any caregiver will tell you that maybe one of the harshest realities of taking care of another person is just how much time you spend dealing with the "system"--meaning meeting with doctors, making calls to insurance providers, emailing pharmacies, working with government programs, and handling all of the logistical pieces necessary to support someone who needs it.
As parents, it seems like every year there's a new trend that becomes the absolute priority for parents. One year, it's cleanliness. The next, is early literacy. The next, it's formula, or not formula, or whatever the current conversations says? Who can keep up? In this episode of The Council of Moms, Jeanette Bennett, Brooke Hoopes, and Amy Hackworth join Lisa to discuss the things that they wish they'd prioritized with their kids--be it empathy, mental health, education, or what have you.
Many caregivers feel the approach of inevitable change to their role, and an "end" to the way life looks and feels right now. Lisa is joined by Emilie Campbell, Richard Lui, Barbara Karnes, Elizabeth Miller, and John Sovec to explore the nuances of transitioning to the "after" stage of caregiving, whether that looks like empty nesting, transitioning to residential care, or becoming a "Godspeed Caregiver" following the death of a loved one receiving hospice care.
A lot of parenting advice out in the world makes one key assumption: that you're an active and involved parent who has a drive to get better. But for many, if not all parents, there comes a time when burnout hits a climax and it can be easy to forget why you're trying so hard in the first place. So what do you do? Host Lisa Valentine Clark chats with fellow parents Suzanne Clark, Colleen Harker, and Carrie Ann Rhodes about their experiences and advice.
When you're spending all of your time taking care of another person, it feels like everything else in your life comes second to the needs of that person. Family, friends, jobs, everything can take a backseat when you're in the trenches of being a caregiver. But when caregiving stretches from weeks to months to years, life without those other relationships can become much more difficult and unfulfilling. So how can we, as committed and overwhelmed caregivers, maintain the other relationships in our lives? How do we keep up with old friends, stay up to date with extended family, or even maintain a healthy marriage? In this installment of The Lisa Show's series on Caregiving, Lisa talks with caregivers Carlos Olivas, Kara Ryska, Richard Lui, Jeremy Jorgason, and Rach Wilson about they're experiences and advice that they have for other caregivers.
When kids grow up and leave the house, it can be so hard to know just how involved we should be in their lives. We don't want to be "helicopter parents" to grown adults, but we also don't want to completely give up on trying to protect them from harm and help them make good choices. So how can we as parents support our kids' mental, emotional, and physical health, while also letting them spread their wings and leave the nest? Lisa chats with fellow moms, Carrie Ann Rhodes, Jeanette Bennett, and Amy Hackworth about their experiences.
You wake up at 4 a.m. freezing cold, trembling, and with a feeling of despair. What's happening here? Caregiver burnout can look different for everyone, ranging from quiet chronic fatigue, to drastic health declines, as the physical, mental and emotional toll of caregiving reaches critical mass. In this episode, three caregivers (Mishka Sibert, Susanne White, and Rach Wilson) share their unique experiences of burnout while caring for a sibling, parents, or children, as well as how they coped and recovered their wellbeing. Lisa explores their journeys with glass child syndrome, nominal aphasia, nervous system dysregulation, and the intense exhaustion that so often accompanies a the caregiving role. Teepa Snow shares the signs that a caregiver is experiencing burnout, and how to identify these red flags even when burnout can look so different from one person to another.
With a teenager at home, it can always feel like you're doing something wrong as a parent. You're asking too many questions, you're enforcing too many rules, you aren't involved enough or offering the support that they need. It can be a particularly complicated stage of parenting. So how can we know when we should "helicopter" parent our kids and establish more boundaries, and when should we back off and let them make their own choices, mistakes and all? Lisa talks with Jennifer Johnson, Emily Spencer, and Colleen Harker in the episode of The Council of Moms to find out.
It's a phrase that is all too familiar to every caregiver. Some well-meaning person, in an attempt to show their support, will say, "Let me know what I can for you!" While on the surface it may seem like a helpful thing to say, for the caregiver, this phrase is often just a superficial act that only serves to increase the amount of stress on their already-full plate. So what SHOULD someone do when they want to support the overwhelmed caregiver in their life? In this episode of The Lisa Show's episode on caregiving, Lisa talks with caregivers in several walks of life, as well as experts David Schenk and Suzanne Degges-White, to figure out the best ways to offer relief.
When you're taking care of kids, it can feel impossible to do everything that you want to do in a day. There's taking the kids to school, exercise, making meals, working, cleaning, shopping, picking up the kids, taking them to practice, helping them with homework, keeping up with friends, running a side-hustle, and THEN you're also supposed to somehow have your own hobbies and take time for self-care. There's just no way! In this episode of The Council of Moms, Lisa talks with Liz Palmer, Jennifer Johnson, and Suzanne Clark about how they keep all the right plates spinning at once.