At the beginning of this episode Jennifer warns that her caregiving story is long! She has over 10 years of personal caregiving experience caring for her parents and grandfather. She has dealt with caregiving issues related to veterans, organ transplants, in-home caregiving, home modifications for aging in place, assisted living and hospice. Professionally, she is a certified life coach through The Life Coach School, as well as a Certified Caregiving Consultant, Educator and Support Group Facilitator through the Caregiving Years Training Academy. She launched her own business, Brave Caregiving, in 2019, where she helps caregivers who are struggling while taking care of their aging parents. In addition, she has over 4000 hours of coaching experience working for The Life Coach School as a contracted coach for their Self Coaching Scholars program. Prior to caregiving, Jennifer was a Director of a community-based behavior management service for adults with intellectual disabilities at the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis (IABA). Her 20+ years at IABA gave her extensive knowledge of challenges facing families with children and adult children with disabilities, as well as how to navigate the state funding in California.
Jennifer provides support to caregivers in a variety of ways through coaching, consulting, and training. Jennifer received her Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies from Chapman University in Orange, CA and her Master's in Organizational Management & Leadership from Ashford University. Jennifer and her wife became emergency placement foster parents for their newborn nephew in 2019 and finalized their adoption in October 2021. She has been an advocate for LGBTQIA+ issues in both her coaching and personal life. She enjoys traveling and most recently got married in Iceland in 2018 to her partner of 20 years. They currently reside in Orange County, California with their 3 year old son and 2 dogs.
Jennifer's website Bravecaregiving.com
