Woman with glasses

Caregiver Depression – Real, Raw, and “Normal”

Depression is frequently a topic we tip-toe around, especially as caregivers. With all the issues we deal with on a daily basis, our problems are insignificant, right? WRONG! Parent and special needs advocate Maria Pepperworth speaks openly about depression as a caregiver today. Life as a special-needs parent can be exhausting and lonely.  Special-needs parents have…

Barbe’s Story – Part II

It was the holiday season of 1993 and Barbe was the single mother of 3 children, two daughters and a son, Christopher, who had Touretts, epilepsy, OCD, ADHD and Neurofibromatosis. Because of her son’s serious health care issues he received Social Security benefits and Medicaid. That was until 3 months after Barbe worked two hours…

Barbe’s Story – Part I

So here I am pretending I know what I’m doing in writing a “blog”, and to be completely honest, I have no idea what I’m suppose to say. Nor have I ever written “outside-the-box” (well, there was a couple poems for the magazine “Seventeen” many moons ago). People often ask me, how I got in…

Graduation Day!

Graduation Day. It’s here. After more than 15 years of school. A day filled with pride, excitement, anticipation…and relief. A day we were never sure we would have the opportunity to celebrate. There were no guarantees he would graduate. And, as with most things concerning Connor, he kept us guessing until the very last assignment…

My Guilt and its Impact on Caregiving

Susan Tanori is a mother of a daughter with autism and a Stone Soup Group Parent Navigator in Fairbanks, Alaska. Below she describes how a recent training she provided “became a confessional.” Read on to see how she opened up about some of the most difficult aspects of being a caregiver. Recently, I presented a workshop on “Caring for…