Happy Healthy Caregiver Podcast
HAPPY HEALTHY CAREGIVER PODCAST IS A WINNER OF TODAY’S CAREGIVER MAGAZINE’S 2023 CAREGIVER FRIENDLY® AWARD
Today’s Caregiver, the first national magazine for all family and professional caregivers, and caregiver.com announce the 2023 Caregiver Friendly® Award recipients. The Caregiver Friendly® Awards are designed to celebrate products, services, books and media created with the needs of caregivers in mind.
Welcome to the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast – a top-rated and 5-star caregiving podcast. The show where real family caregivers share how to be happy and healthy while caring for others. I’m the host and Certified Caregiving Consultant, Elizabeth Miller, and I share my stories and tips and speak with current and former family caregivers. A new episode is published bi-weekly on Wednesday mornings.
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Click here to learn more about your host, Elizabeth Miller.
Recent Episodes
Let Yourself Be Helped with Rosanne Corcoran
After spending more than a decade as the primary caregiver for her mother, living with vascular dementia, Rosanne Corcoran dedicates her work to supporting and empowering family caregivers nationwide. She is a leading voice with Daughterhood, host of Daughterhood the Podcast, and was named a 2024 Advocate for Aging by Next Avenue and the American Society on Aging. In this episode, Rosanne shares practical wisdom on accepting help from community and support networks so that you can carve out time to be off the caregiving clock and learn that it’s ok to share uncomfortable feelings outside your family. We also talk about aging well, navigating in-home dementia care, seeking everyday joy, and what true self-care can look like when caregivers finally take time for themselves.
Beyond Caregiving Survival with Betsy Hicks-Russ
Betsy Hicks-Russ, Director of the nonprofit Autism Odyssey, shares what it takes to navigate caregiving when your child has high support needs. Drawing on her over three decades of experience as a family caregiver, Betsy discusses overcoming significant obstacles, letting go of victimhood, and choosing to try new things—even when the path forward feels uncertain. In this episode, we explore the powerful gut-to-brain connection and why good nutrition matters for caregivers and care recipients alike. Betsy also reflects on how caregiving has changed over time, comparing today’s information overload with earlier days of lower-tech living and stronger local community connections. Plus, we explore the joy of discovering shared interests with our care recipients—such as a love of Grateful Dead music and nature—and how these shared joys can deepen connection and resilience in caregiving relationships.
Creative Therapy with Brendan Kelso
Meet sandwich generation caregiver Brendan Kelso, who shares his journey caring for his mom with Alzheimer’s while also supporting his son with ASD. Brendan discusses embracing vulnerability and how therapeutic writing—even just 15 minutes a day—helps him process the messy parts of life and the mental traffic that shows up at night when sleep feels impossible. You’ll learn how creativity weaves through Brendan’s caregiving life—from thrifting books with his son to run an eBay bookstore, to adapting extended plays into child-friendly experiences, to writing a debut mystery-thriller inspired by his mother’s Alzheimer’s journey, and even transforming her former tiny home into a brick-and-mortar bookstore. We also dive into the importance of saying no, accessing California caregiver support, and finding meaningful ways to adapt when life doesn’t go as planned.
Featured Episodes
Celebrity Cares for Dad
Steve Guttenberg is a beloved Hollywood actor, known for his role in films including Diner, Police Academy, Short Circuit, Three Men and a Baby, Cocoon, and television shows including Ballers and Veronica Mars. We have enjoyed Steve Guttenberg in many roles and now I’d like to spotlight maybe the role that was the most difficult for Steve – the role of family caregiver to his dad and hero, Stanley. Steve wrote about his care experience while reflecting on his childhood and Hollywood career in his new book, Time to Thank. We learn about why Steve and his sister pursued home dialysis training, how Hollywood’s portrayal of care and death differ from real life, the self-love creed Steve recited with his dad, and all the terrific micro acts of self-care Steve practices to remain happy and healthy.
Caregiver Recovery
Christina Keys was living the American dream until one day in March of 2013, her mom had a life-changing stroke. Within 3 years of caregiving for her mom Pat, Christina was financially, emotionally, and mentally bankrupt. Her doctors told her that the stress of caregiving was literally killing her. Christina took action to make a different choice and turned her caregiving co-dependent mess into a message. In this episode of the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast, Christina shares a few of her priceless caregiving stories, reveals her first act of self-care, explains how she redefined normal and introduces the vibrant community she is building to help family caregivers locate the keys to a successful caregiving life.
Employee Resource Groups
Gene Lanzoni’s life centers around caregiving, both at home and at work. As an only child, Gene and his wife of over 30 years, Elizabeth, took on the responsibility of caring for his aging parents. Professionally, Gene leads the development of thought leadership research and produces content on caregiver trends. He is also a co-lead and founding member of a caregiver-focused employee resource group (ERG). In this episode of the Happy Healthy Caregiver podcast, we discuss the origins of the ERG and the numerous benefits it offers to employers and employees. We also explore how Gene’s spiritual self-care practices and his love of coffee have helped him navigate the challenges of caregiving.
What Type of Caregiver Are You?
These will take you to a collection of episodes that may be of interest.
Episode Player
Grateful for this Show Recognition!
- Today’s Caregiver Magazine 2023 Caregiver Friendly Award Winner
- 5-star rated Apple podcast
- 2022 UK Health Radio Award: Care Organisations Listener’s Choice
- Feedspot #2 Caregiving Podcast and AgingCare.com’s Top 10 Caregiver Podcasts
- Nominated for a 2019 WeGo Health “Best in Show: Podcast” award
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Start Your Own Podcast
My podcast manager, Jordan Lang can help you, too! And, I can introduce you to the Whole Care Network where you’ll also find dozens of other care related podcasts.