Caring for the Caregiver: Support for Those with Caregiver Brain with Michele Houck, Family Caregiver & VP of Marketing for CircleOf: A Caregiving App
How do we support caregivers in all of their caring responsibilities? It’s essential that we solve real problems for our family caregivers. There can be so much coming at us, from organizing care, trying to find help, managing daily tasks, and then communicating all of the logistics with others in our life.
My guest today is Michele Houck, family caregiver and VP of marketing for CircleOf. CircleOf is a free app for family caregivers to provide support and information. It's a place to stay connected, organize care, receive help and encouragement and manage all of our caregiving tasks in one location.
Michelle has been a family caregiver since she was 16 years old. She cared for her mother and sister, both with breast cancer. This conversation unearthed quite a bit of emotion and it's a great reminder of why we need to seek support when we need it most. When we are in the throes of caregiving we can experience decision fatigue and caregiver brain- we talk about how this impacts us, the emotional charge it brings, the anxiety we can experience, and how to have empathy for ourselves. As we put productivity tools in place to help us manage care, it gives us space and frees us to be able to focus on what is truly important- our loved ones. Thank you, Michele, for so beautifully sharing your story with us and trusting me to be there with you.
Michele shares about:
Her personal story of being a serial caregiver
Why CircleOf was made to help caregivers and why they are free for all
The various caregiver personas we have
How we bring empathy to our caregiver brain and find support
What collaboration can bring in supporting caregivers
How we can take compassion to action
The value that productivity tools can bring for caregivers
Encouragement and support for caregivers- tips to feel supported
About Michele Houck & CircleOf
Professionally, Michele is a Marketer who has helped startups (Invisalign and HeartStart), household names (P&G) as well as innovative health & wellness solutions (WebMD) for over 20 years.
Personally, she started her caregiver role at age 16 with her mother's first breast cancer diagnosis. Over the recent 5 years, she's been the primary caregiver for her mother, her sister AND her father all of whom passed away due to different cancers.
She now uses these lessons learned as the main caregiver for her family PLUS her professional marketing roles in an effort to improve the caregiver experience and promote a culture of care.
CircleOf: A Caregiving App
"We’re here to help you navigate your day-to-day life as a caregiver and empower you to delegate tasks so you can still have time for yourself."
Visit CircleOf.com for more information.
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Nicole Will is our host and founder of willGather.