Caregiver's Compass

In this episode Stephanie talks about the (several year long) process and journey to her mom’s diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia. Stephanie speaks in detail about the clinicians she saw, the barriers and obstacles she faced on the way, complications she faced along the way given her mom’s behavioural expression and how she finally felt once a neurologist provided a diagnosis.

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In this episode, registered kinesiologist Sarah Pludwinski discusses how a caregiver or a loved one can incorporate exercise and movement into daily life as a way to benefit one's overall body and mind. Sarah uncovers some of the fears surrounding exercise particularly when it comes to exercising with a chronic illness, comorbidities, cognitive decline or aging.

About Sarah:

Sarah Pludwinski is a Registered Kinesiologist and certified exercise physiologist, with more than 10 years of experience working in both private and public health care settings. Currently she is working at a community health centre in East Toronto, Ontario. Her work primarily focuses on chronic disease prevention and self management. She specializes in behaviour change, providing exercise prescription and support to help individuals achieve their health and wellness goals.Sarah strongly believes in providing services that help break down the barriers people face while engaging in healthy living.

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You may be thinking to yourself: how could therapy possibly help me as a caregiver? Therapy cannot get rid of the tasks at hand or the responsibilities I have or my loved one’s decline- so how could a therapist help me with my overwhelm, stress, sadness and burnout?

And in this episode, Stephanie discusses how the deep concerns that caregivers come to her with are often not even about the caregiving at all.In episode 63 Stephanie explores what often arises when caregivers come to her for support and how she helps caregivers through these difficult times.

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Stephanie details how difficult it can be to care for a parent that was abusive and/or who was the instigator of traumatic experiences with the caregiver. She also provides her top techniques to managing this specific situation.

Please note: when it comes to trauma it is extremely important to speak to a licensed mental health professional as all situations are unique and may require specific processing and management.

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There are over 4 million caregivers in Ontario, yet the Ontario Caregiver Organization (OCO), a government funded organization aimed to support this wide variety of caregivers, is still relatively new. In today’s episode, OCO CEO, Amy Coupal joins Stephanie on the podcast to talk about who she is behind her vocation, her caregiving experiences and how she and her team work to shape an organization that caregivers truly need.

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About Amy :

Amy Coupal is the CEO of the Ontario Caregiver Organization (OCO), a charitable organization that exists to support Ontario’s 4 million caregivers who provide physical and/or emotional support to family members, partners, friends and neighbours. A visionary leader with over 20 years experience in the not-for-profit sector, Amy is passionate about mobilizing change through knowledge exchange and building collaborative initiatives that positively impact the lives of individuals and communities. The impact of this work is demonstrated through the breadth of direct to caregiver programs and services available through OCO, as well as the early successes of embedding caregiving in the culture of healthcare and the amplification of the voices of caregivers to influence decision making at a system level.

Amy has a Master of Education from the University of Calgary and is an Adler-trained coach. Her insights have been shared through speaking and media engagements, both internationally and here in Canada. Amy has a deep understanding of the benefits and challenges associated with caregiving. As acaregiver for most of her life, Amy helped to support her brother who had Cerebral Palsy. She was also a caregiver to her mother throughout her cancer journey and now supports her father through older adulthood.

Find Amy and the OCO at: http://www.ontariocaregiver.ca

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