EP 146 :: Caregivers in the Workplace :: Denise Brown

About 40% of employees are also family caregivers, but not all employers recognize the daily challenges of this growing community. To help these caregiver employees and prevent burnout, Denise Brown develops and leads training programs for family caregivers and their employers. It all begins by starting a conversation with your manager. Employees have the power to help design coping strategies and support programs to reduce stress at the office and remain effective workers. After all, caregiving is a very noble thing, but you need to be well to care for someone else. 

Denise began supporting family caregivers in 1990 and launched a business to help them in 1995. She launched one of the first online caregiving communities in 1996 which she managed until its sale in 2020. She now creates and delivers caregiving training programs for the workplace and for individuals who want to coach family caregivers. More than 300 individuals from seven different countries have enrolled in her training programs offered through her company, The Caregiving Years Training Academy.

Denise began helping her parents in 2004 after her father’s bladder cancer diagnosis. Her parents, now 90 and 87, live near Denise in their own apartment.

Denise is the author of several caregiving books, including:

• The Caregiving Years, Your Guide to Navigating the Six Caregiving Stages;

• Take Comfort (a four-book series)

• After Caregiving Ends, A Guide to Beginning Again;

• The Daily Healing Plan, Support for Healing After Caregiving Ends.

Next Avenue named Denise a 2017 Influencer in Aging, one of “50 advocates, researchers, thought leaders, innovators, writers and experts who continue to push beyond traditional boundaries and change our understanding of what it means to grow older.” Her insights have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, US News & World Report, USA Today, SmartMoney.com, Time magazine and Chicago Tribune.

Follow Denise on Twitter & LinkedIn.

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