Love, Dignity & Parkinson's with Terri Pease, Ph.D.

If the love of your life had a progressive disease when you met them, would to see it through from love partner, to care partner to caregiver? Today’s Aging GreatFULLy guest did—and wrote the book—her soul’s rite of passage, if you will, describing her journey in <i>Love, Dignity &amp; Parkinson’s: From Care Partner to Caregiver.</i><br /><br />You won’t want to miss a single second of this power-hour of enlightYOUment with special guest Terri Pease, Ph.D., an Author, Coach, and Consultant for Spousal Caregivers. When Terri married her husband, diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease before they met, she brought her confidence and a wealth of knowledge and experience to bear on caring for him. Her professional experience has informed her approach to caregiving and to encouraging Parkinson's caregivers to make self-care real, practical, and possible. <br /><br />Terri Pease is on a mission to educate family members, spouses, and caregivers of those with Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's, and other progressive illnesses on how to maintain a sense of self, ease loneliness, and ask for help while taking care of their patient/loved one. Her book, <i>Love, Dignity &amp; Parkinsons,</i> serves as a roadmap and a shepherding hand for those who find themselves in the care partner and/or caregiver role and seeking support and guidance. With more and more people caring for loved ones, her book offers practical information to help family carers every step of the way. <br /><br />Terri shares how to solicit support from others to thwart the ever-present challenges of loneliness and exhaustion caregivers experience. She shares the difference between self-care and after care, and describes why Parkinson’s is a thief and a two-person condition. She offers important advice for families to support the primary caregiver to help shoulder the burden and prevent caregiver burnout and even discusses the often overlooked conversation of creating caregiver agreements and understandings made with the person carers may find themselves caring for