In this episode, Jessica reflects on a transformative conversation she had with Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, the author of Shameless Parenting and a leading expert in sex therapy, feminism, and social justice. Through a poignant personal anecdote, Jessica explores the challenges of navigating societal shame and sexual expression in the context of dementia. Dr. Tina's insights resonate as Jessica grapples with the profound impact of cultural taboos on personal autonomy and well-being, highlighting the importance of embracing shameless human responses amidst adversity. Join Jessica as she revisits this conversation, inviting listeners to reconsider societal norms and advocate for authentic self-expression.

Listen in as Jessica chats with the author of Shameless Parenting, Dr. Tina Schermer Sellers, who is a licensed sex and gender feminist psychotherapist, researcher, and professor. Dr. Tina's expertise covers sex therapy, spiritual intimacy, parenting, medicine, and social justice. When Mom refused to even consider using a vibrator because she was worried what her priest would think of her, I had THE sex-talk with Mom I wished she would have given me as a teenager. Living with Dementia was challenging enough, but Mom lost more then memory when pleasure and sexual expression became a dilemma to choose more behavior altering medication or her to have a shameless human response.

When a caregivers journey ends there is a mixture of relief and grief. Many caregivers might think the journey ends when their loved one goes home, but the reality is one stage ends and another begins through the necessary cleansing of grief. Listen in as Jessica shares how the journey continues with the reflection of how Caregivers are blindsided through the reconciliation of love, loss, and learning to keep living.

Listen as Jessica chats with the Author Debbie Weiss, about her memoir, "On Second Thought, Maybe I Can." Debbie became a caregiver at the early age of 17 for her father, then later for her husband and sons. After a life of prioritizing everyone else’s needs and opinions other than her own, Debbie realized at the age of 50 that this was her one and only life. She didn’t want to look back years from now with regret for the things she had never done. She stopped saying “I can’t” and replaced it with “Maybe I can.”

Listen in as Jessica expands on the previous conversation with Dr. Amy Baker, pharmacist and healthcare administrator turned Leadership and Intimacy Coach. Dr. Baker has combined her personal past challenges of sexual trauma, addiction, eating disorders, depression, and emotional liability with years of therapy, over 30 years of leadership, dancing, yoga, athletic endeavors, and studies in Taoism and sexuality, Vipassana meditation, Gateless writing, mindset and relationship coaching into one, simple understanding: A healthy and resilient nervous system is the core of health, therefore if we are not addressing our nervous system health, we are not addressing health. If we do not address our feelings during the caregiving journey, then we are not addressing the sources of victim mentality. Watch the episode at https://youtu.be/YIRTfG4CLiY Learn more at proactivecaregiver.com

Today I want to talk to you about Caregiver nutrition habits and those that affect our seniors. We gain many habits during our childhood centered around marketing trends, family financial resources, and what is provided through school lunches. I don't know about you, but many of those habits I have gradually had to replace with healthier habits as I got older. When you understand what the body needs, you can change your level of energy and help your body age better, especially in response to stress

Listen in as Jessica reaches a special mile stone for The Proactive Caregiver show. "When I started podcasting, it was such an uncomfortable feeling that I could not see continuing past the first 10 episodes, and here we are now celebrating the 100th." This episode recaps the changes Jessica has experienced throughout her caregiving journey. From family caregiver to advocate, from feelings of hopelessness to hopeful, and to accepting there was always going to be an end to the journey for Mom - join us in celebrating 100 and going beyond.

Today we continue with our Medicare series , part two because it is now the U.S. Medicare Annual Enrollment period through to December 7th. To help us understand the upcoming changes for 2024, Co-founders, Joe and Monique Barajas of the Barajas Insurance Group joins me. Last episode we discussed the difference between the Medicare Annual Enrollment period and Open enrollment which is the difference between applying for insurance through January to March and making changes during October 15th to Dec 7th.

Today we begin part one of a two part series because it's that time again for the U.S. Medicare Annual Enrollment period of October 15th to December 7th. To help us understand the upcoming changes for 2024, Co-founders, Joe and Monique Barajas of the Barajas Insurance Group joins me. After reading through the CY 2024 changes in effort to find the differences between what changes are ahead of new enrollees, I knew you would benefit more from the agents.

Listen in as Jessica expresses what life becomes after one caregiving journey ends. Understanding your loved one is changing through the stages of illness causes an internal dilemma between gratitude for time spent and pain of needing to let them go. Thinking it is one thing, yet feeling the loss of their life force energy takes grieving to a different level. What happens when the caregiver loses yet another identity? Where does the anger come? How do we channel the grieving into something positive for the next chapter in life? These are questions that came to mind as Jessica adapts to life without her mother after over a decade of caregiving. In reality, we never stop being caregivers when self-care is still vital to our well-being, especially during mourning the life of a loved one passing on.