Christy gets to talk with the extraordinarily-generous-with-her-time caregiver, author and activist Donna Thomson about a wide range of topics that affect care partners, including:

• Caregiving literacy & advocacy
• Anosognosia
• Hyper intolerance & “slices of a pie”
• The masks we wear       
• The hidden opportunities in care partnering
• When your family isn’t who you think they should be
• Intentional caregiving (vs “head on fire” caregiving)
• The importance of what we focus on as care partners
• And so much more!  

Donna is an exceptionally experienced care partner, having first become one as a teenager. As you’d expect, she’s developed an enormous amount of wisdom along the way. 

You’ll also no doubt note the empathy and compassion that comes through loud and clear in the soothing sound of Donna’s voice.

The mother of two grown children, one of whom has severe disabilities, Donna also cared for her mother who had a diagnosis of dementia and passed away in the summer of 2018 at the age of 96.

Donna is the co-author (with Dr. Zachary White) of The Unexpected Journey of Caring: The Transformation from Loved One to Caregiver (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) and author of The Four Walls of My Freedom: Lessons I’ve Learned From a Life of Caregiving (The House of Anansi Press, 2014). She blogs regularly at The Caregivers’ Living Room and teaches caregivers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

(48 minutes)

Show Notes