Ep. 95 - Caring for Aging Parents while Maintaining Your Career (with Dr. Katherine Lee)

In this deeply moving conversation, Leslie talks with Dr. Katherine In-Young Lee, a higher ed coach and former tenured professor, about what happens when academic life and caregiving collide. After her father’s stroke, Katherine became a full-time caregiver for both her parents—a journey that reshaped her understanding of productivity and purpose. 

Together, they discuss the emotional, cultural, and institutional challenges that come with caring for aging parents while sustaining an academic career. Katherine shares hard-earned wisdom about things like navigating leave policies, finding support, and giving oneself grace through a demanding season of life. 

This episode offers a rare, honest look at the realities of elder care in academia and the clarity that can emerge when life’s priorities shift. It’s a conversation for anyone balancing their own academic careers with profound personal responsibility—and seeking a more compassionate way forward.

Transcript

EP 94 with Dr Katherine Lee 

Leslie: 

Today, I'd like to welcome Dr. Katherine Lee back onto Your Words Unleashed! 

Dr. Katherine In-Young Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist. She's the founder of Rise With Clarity, a coaching and consulting business for women of color faculty in higher education, and the host of the amazing Rise With Clarity podcast. She helps women faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. Dr. Lee received a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Harvard University in 2012 and served as Assistant and Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at UC Davis and at UCLA, respectively. She is ICF-certified as an associate certified coach and currently she's also a full-time caregiver for her father, who is a bilateral thalamic stroke survivor.

If you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you'll recognize Katherine as one of my very first guests. In Episode 61, we talked about how to empower women of color and academia. So go back and listen to that one, which is super useful. 
 
The reason I'm having her on today is to talk about what it's really like to care for aging and ill parents. This is something that comes up all the time for my own clients, some of whom have moved parents in with them or must manage long-distance care. You've probably heard of the term sandwich generation, which refers to a time of life in which people must simultaneously care for both their children and their parents. According to the Pew Research Center, almost half of US-based adults between the ages of 40 to 59 are part of this group. And obviously, these years also coincide with when women academics are trying to publish books, get jobs, get promoted, take on major service and leadership roles, et cetera.

Providing elder care has a profound impact on people's careers, and yet it's not something I see discussed often. It receives nowhere near the same amount of attention as child rearing does, and my sense is that universities don't tend to provide many accommodations for it. So, because Katherine has shared very openly about her journey as a full-time caregiver on her podcast, I wanted to have her back on here to share what she's learned. So, Katherine, welcome back to the show. 

Katherine: 

Oh, well, thank you so much for having me, Leslie. It's great to be on and it's great to be in conversation with you. 

Leslie: 

Absolutely. So let's just get into things. When did you first realize that yourfather's care was going to become a central part of your life? 

Katherine: 

I think I realized this pretty soon after my father's stroke, which was on January 30th of 2023. He was in the ICU, and then that was followed by being in an acute inpatient rehab hospital. And he was in the hospital for a total of 45 days, at the beginning of 2023. And after that, he was discharged for home. And so that would have been mid-March of 2023. And at that point, we knew that he would require full-time care and observation, 24-hour care. 

So I would say the very beginning of that year was more of crisis mode and just trying to understand what we were dealing with from day to day, week to week. And then once he was discharged for home, obviously, there were a lot of ups and downs too. But we were then moving towards sort of long-term care at home. And that's when I really became a full-time primary caregiver for my father as well as my mother, who is a full-time caregiver. But at this point, she's also requiring a little bit of care herself. So I'm pretty much providing care for two parents. 

Leslie: 

Yeah. So I know that there was a period of time where you were still in yourfaculty role, you were living across the country from your parents, and I know you were on your way out of academia, but can you talk a little bit about some of the challenges you faced trying to balance caregiving with your faculty responsibilities?

Katherine: 

Yeah. So that year, that academic year, I was on leave, so I was kind of backand forth between California and Michigan. My father had this stroke when I happened to be in California. And fortunately, I was able to fly back to Michigan the next day. But I would say one of the challenges that I encountered was, there was so much unpredictability with my father's condition, with what happened after the stroke. And so I just didn't know what my schedule was going to be like on a day-to-day basis. And I was also trying to see some of my graduate students through their milestones, exams and various writing assignments. Doing that sort of thing.
 
So it was challenging because I was staying at the hospital for pretty much eight to ten hours a day, and I had to hold meetings at the hospital lounge or sometimes in my dad's room in order to still be there for my students as well. Because even if you're on leave, as many of your listeners will know, sometimes you are still responsible for supporting your graduate students through their dissertation chapters or their exams. That work still happens. 

So that was challenging. I do remember that there were many things I had to drop out of or withdraw from. So, for instance, soon before my father's discharge, I was supposed to go to Boston to participate in the Association for Asian Studies conference. And I was a respondent. At that point, I should have probably withdrawn completely from being a respondent, but I thought that I could still provide the comments, but not attend in person, because I was still going to the hospital. 

But Iremember coming home after a pretty arduous day at the hospital and working on the comments for the papers, and I just thought, “this is probably one of the hardest things I have to do because I'm so exhausted and I don't have the bandwidth to understand these papers and to give the incisive critiques that I normally would.” So that was a real light bulb moment that, “Oh, this is really, really hard for me because I'm being stretched at both ends right now.” 

Leslie: 

Yeah. And there's maybe no balance between the two. 

Katherine: 

Yeah, yeah. So there were a lot of things that I dropped balls on, to be perfectly honest. And I had to give notice to people that I was withdrawing my article because they had a very strict deadline, and I just couldn't meet it. 

So I learned later onto give myself a little grace in those situations. But it was hard because I'm normally somebody that will follow up or show up in those kinds of situations. 

Leslie: 

Right, right, right. Yeah. And I think for folks who pride themselves on follow-through, it can be very, very hard to essentially drop out. But you have to completely drop out sometimes in order to preserve yourself. 

Katherine: 

Yes. 

Leslie: 

Okay, so remind me of the timeline. So after that year, is that when you left the academy?

Katherine: 

It was the same year. So 2023 was a really intense year for me because my father had the stroke at the beginning of the year. He was then discharged for home in March of that year, and I ended up resigning from my tenured faculty position in August. I also ended up launching my business in September of 2023. So there were a lot of things going on at the same time. 

But what happened– I've talked about this before in my own podcast, and I think also maybe with you, Leslie. My father's stroke gave me the clarity that the struggles that I was enduring in academia were really not very meaningful anymore. It just provided me such a clear sense that I needed to be home. I needed to be with my parents. I needed to support my father during this time. And the things that were giving me anxiety or were difficult kind of evaporated in that moment. And so I was able to resign. 

And at that point, I was already giving full care to my father. But I didn't have to worry about additional things like publication deadlines or expectations of being hyper productive in the academy or dealing with toxicity or dysfunction. That kind of stuff disappeared pretty immediately. 

Leslie: 

Yeah. Right. Absolutely. And so we've talked about how your father's stroke brought clarity to your values. What other things were clarified for you about life in academia after this happened? 

Katherine: 

Well, I would just follow up on what I just said about the hyper productivityexpectations that you're always needing to be writing, and you're preparing for the next big thing that's coming up for the next promotion. And so at that time, I would have been preparing for my second book project. And you just always need to be preparing for that next milestone. And I think that you end up feeling guilty that you're not meeting those milestones or that you are always running behind and that you're not doing enough. And when you compare that to somebody who is trying to survive it pales in comparison. Because then the meaningful metric becomes, I want to support this person as they're fighting for their life, versus I just really need to make sure I get the readers' reports in time so that I can work on my revisions by the fall, and that timeline becomes less meaningful. At least that was my case. Yeah, it simplified things. 

Leslie: 

No, absolutely. I've shared before how my dad's own health crisis was a real turning point for me in terms of when I started considering leaving the academy. So in 2017, he experienced heart failure. He was in the ICU. He was in Los Angeles, I was in Boston. I had to fly home. It was like the third week of the semester. And it was just one of those semesters of just terror and then immense guilt because I couldn't be there. And it was a heavy, heavy caregiving load for my mom and for my siblings. That was something that truly clarified, like, “what is important? What do I need to be caring about? How do I try to provide support while not being there?” Yeah, so what you're saying really resonates with me. 

Do you have any thoughts on how folks can try to manage some of these things if they can't actually be there in person or they can only be there some of the time?

Katherine: 

Right. That is an important observation because there are many different forms of caregiving. There could be in-home caregiving that's really hands-on. But then there are many individuals who might live in a different state or a different country, and they're also trying to provide care and support. I think it happens in a variety of ways. 

Being maybe the advocate for the– let's say it's a parent. Being the advocate for the parent and scheduling appointments, or figuring out insurance details or medications. There could be that kind of caregiving support, caring that is done remotely. And that also takes its toll because you want to be there in person, but you can't. So that is definitely a challenge. 

I think that you have to first acknowledge that thisis a very difficult situation and that if you are trying to balance your work responsibilities along with caregiving, which often happens in an unexpected way or sometimes very abruptly, you're kind of thrown into the act of caregiving or providing care, that you have to give yourself grace because nobody really prepares you for this journey. It's kind of thrust upon you. So, try to find support systems to the extent that it is possible. And maybe we can talk about that a little bit later. But it's hard to go at this alone. It's often an isolating journey. 

Leslie: 

Yeah, absolutely. Well, we can talk about it now. I mean, so say that you are an academic who, all of a sudden, you need to take on the role of caregiver, either in person or from far away. That's a very overwhelming situation for folks. 

What arethe first few things someone should think about? 

Katherine: 

Let's see. First few things, I would suggest that people look into theirinstitutions’ leave policies. There are going to be different kinds of leave situations that are granted. So it could be paid leave, it could be unpaid leave, FMLA or some kind of arrangement that you make with your chair or dean to perhaps spend a little bit of time with your parent, with your loved one, when there is a critical moment and you're not able to balance everything. So maybe that's just the first thing to acknowledge that this is a critical moment and that you need to have some kind of institutional support. 

Unfortunately, many people don't have access to paid leave. There is no national family paid leave policy. But some institutions have certain kinds of leaves that you accrue if you work for a certain number of years. So maybe talking to somebody in HR to figure out, “could I take one term off to care for my parent? Or could I take unpaid leave to support my parent during their cancer journey?” That might be one step just to look into what are the various policies that your institution supports or does not support.

Leslie: 

Yeah, I remember my old school had a sick days bank that I didn't even know about, I feel like, for the first couple of years. But it was sort of like a university-wide accrual system, and you could actually donate days to other people. Or I think if you were to retire or resign, maybe you got them paid out. But that's also another option, isn't it? 

Katherine: 

Yes. Yeah. And I've heard about that system where faculty members can donate their sick days hours, and that other people could benefit from that if they needed to take advantage. 

Another tip I would say is just be realistic with thesituation, and everybody has a different care story, a different set of experiences. So some families may be choosing to put their parent into an assisted living home or to set them up with home healthcare. I'd say it's pretty intense. If you are the caregiver who is hosting your parent in your own home, that's a very different intensity level of care. But maybe just be realistic with what you are able to support and what you are not able to support, and kind of work from there. 

Also, look into online support groups. I have joined a number on Facebook: Stroke Survivor Support Group, also Thalamic Stroke Recovery. I just learned about the Caregiver Support Group as well. So that can provide you with little details about, let's say, walking devices, walkers or rollators. What's the difference between a quad cane and walking sticks? And how can they best support the sort of physical ailment that your parent has? You can find that information on those support groups or you can ask questions to the people who are in the groups. 

Additionally, there will also be people just sharing their stories really candidly. And so sometimes just reading a story or a testimonial from somebody can provide some comfort to the caregiver because you feel that the words are resonating on a different level and that you understand the immense duties, obligations and frustrations that go into the act of caregiving.

Leslie: 

Yeah. No, those are great suggestions and I do want to talk more with you about other ways to find support. 

So you've mentioned that your cultural background hasplayed a role in your caregiving experience. So, how has being a Korean American daughter shaped your response to the situation? And how do you think things like gender and cultural background affect this experience of caregiving for women of color academics? 

Katherine: 

I think there are a lot of family expectations that are built into this. And I know that there are scholars who can talk about the intersectionality of all the gender and the race dynamics into the act of caregiving, especially for minoritized women faculty. But I would just say, number one, there are more women who are providing care. Just generally, if you look at the statistics, 60% of caregivers are women. And much of that is unpaid caregiving, just caregiving in the home. 

And I think as a Korean American whogrew up with Korean immigrant parents, we have a pretty tight-knit family. And it was never discussed in the past two or three decades what would happen when my parents aged. It just was not a topic of discussion, unfortunately. Even though I knew my father was routinely picking up brochures on power of attorney and will and advance directives. But unfortunately, my parents never did anything with the brochures. And there was also not a discussion about would we ever put someone in an assisted living home because of that. I think it really thrust everything onto me as the eldest daughter, and I had a younger brother who passed away in 2019. So I'm really the only child, and we don't have a support system of relatives in the United States. All of my parents' siblings live in Korea. So it really centers on me and then my mother providing the care.

But I think there's that expectation that I would be providing the care, and also that I'm the best person to do it. Also, because I am able to translate in certain circumstances. My parents are fluent in English, but there are some things that are harder for them to convey. So I am the translator, I'm the interpreter. I'm the one who accesses the medical charts. I'm the one who interprets that for them. My mother handles a lot of the calls with the insurance company. But if there are things that she cannot convey or she gets frustrated, then I will pick that up. 

So there are just certain things that I'm expected to do. There's no other option for them, or in their minds, there's no other option. We've talked about - since my father's stroke - what would it look like if my dad were to be in an assisted living facility, and my mother will say, “Well, daddy would die.”
 
 Leslie: 

Oh my goodness.
 
 Katherine: 

“He would die quicker.” And I think there is some truth to that because my father's needs are very complex and we have figured out the best system of care for him here. But I think there's also a distrust of assisted living homes. That is not a concept that they grew up with as Koreans in their home. So it was just expected that the eldest child, and oftentimes it's the eldest son, who takes on the responsibility of taking care of the ailing parents. But when you look at it, it's probably the eldest son's wife that is providing a lot of the care. So there is a gender dimension to the act of caregiving in an Asian family or an Asian immigrant family. So that has been a little frustrating at times. 

Leslie:

 I bet. I bet it's all on you. 

Katherine: 

Yeah. 

Leslie: 

And I'm wondering also about those conversations that, if they were had earlier, could be helpful later, but they can be uncomfortable. And I think this can often transcend race and culture. It’s just talking about what happens when I can no longer take care of myself. And I know in my father's case, very few things had been discussed, and extremely fortunately, he made a complete recovery and he's still with us seven, eight years later. But at this point, everything has been documented, everything has been discussed and it's all out in the open. But it definitely took that kind of wake-up call. 

What might you advise folks if their parents are not coming to them and having this

conversation, how could their child approach them and start opening somecommunication about later? 

Katherine: 

Maybe by just sharing stories of other families who are going through thiscould be an entry point. I do think for some families it's going to be difficult to start with, “How about that advance directive? Let's talk about…” So maybe sharing– and feel free to use my story if that's helpful. Sharing a story that they can understand in human terms. “This family underwent this very difficult crisis. It was unexpected and everything shifted at that moment. And since then, they were able to do the advance directive and they were able to get the financial power of attorney, the health power of attorney, the will, all from a pro bono lawyer.” 

Maybe that's another part that you can look for elder care law services in your county or in your town that offer pro bono services. That will take a little bit of time. There's a waiting list involved, but you can draw up the paperwork, and you can also change it later. So maybe that's another thing that you could say. This doesn't have to be the final document, but at least this is a start. 

And the advance directive is something that does not have to be done through a lawyer. It can be done through your hospital. So maybe that could be a first step, deciding for oneself do you want to be put on life support at the very end or do you not want to be put on life support? These are important things for the family to know if there is a serious accident or a serious injury. My father had not done an advance directive, in which case my mother was the one to provide the consent when my father was unconscious. So he was on life support twice. But fortunately, when we asked him later was that okay, he definitely said it was okay. That he wanted to try and make it through. He wanted to survive. 

Leslie: 

Yeah, yeah. But at the time, it's a question mark. 

Katherine: 

Yeah, it was a big question mark. 

Leslie: 

Yeah. Can we talk a little bit about hospitals for a moment? Because you haveclearly dealt so much with hospitals and what would be useful for people to know who are, at least in the US, navigating the US healthcare system. Are there ways to advocate for your parents' care when they're hospitalized? 

Katherine: 

Yes, there is a way to advocate for your parents when they might not be ableto do it very effectively or at all. I would say one of the things that was most helpful for me was having access to my father's medical chart. He had a notebook, a big, thick green notebook where he put all of his computer passwords. And I have to say that was very helpful because I could look through the notebook, find his password and access his chart. And this was when he was unconscious. Of course, he knows that I now have access to his medical chart and have been helping him.

Leslie: 

So his passwords he already had written down. 

Katherine: 

Yes. 

Leslie: 

Okay. So that's also another tip. Have your parents write down all their passwords on one sheet of paper. 

Katherine: 

Yeah. And have it be a physical. At least for me, that was very useful. Not having to unlock something in his computer to access a random file that was untitled. No, it was all in a green notebook that was by his sofa. So then that gave me the ability to see what was going on in the evenings and throughout the day when the medical team provides their notes, when the nursing staff provides their notes, to see the various results from the labs and to be able to keep tabs on what was going on. Because you don't necessarily get the information from the nursing staff when you're in the hospital during visiting hours. 

So, having access to the medical chart is very important. If you are accompanying a parent who is in the ICU, there are visiting hours. But the medical team tends to make their rounds early in the morning. And it is important for you to be able to, I feel, get the information directly from the residing doctor or whoever is in charge of providing the care, rather than getting the relayed message later on or not at all. So that means that if you have the ability to be at the hospital from the time that it opens, visiting hours, to the time that it closes, then you're going to be able to meet with several people in the room when they come in, and you can ask questions, and you can advocate at that time. 
 
I'll just give you an example of how this can play out in negative or positive ways. So my father was in a coma. He had a very rare stroke that was misdiagnosed for the first day and a half or so because he didn't present with the traditional symptoms of a stroke, where there's a drooping of the face or hemiparesis. He was able to move his hands and his legs, both sides, but he was in a coma, and he had vision damage, third nerve palsy. And then later on, we learned that the bilateral thalamic stroke presents with hypersomnolence. So he sleeps a lot. It's the opposite of insomnia. 

So he sleeps currently between 18 to 20 hours a day. So when we were in the hospital, at the very beginning, he was in a coma. He was on life support. But then he was kind of starting to come out of it. And I knew that because I could see him playing with my ball that I gave him, or playing with my hands, squeezing my hands, and I knew that he was there. Somewhere deep inside, he was there. But the medical team would visit when he was clearly sleeping. 

Leslie: 

Right. 

Katherine: 

And then the neurologist, who visited every day, but visited after visitinghours late in the evening, would write, “patient unresponsive.” And so that's very different from my experience of being there 8 to 10 hours during the visiting hours and seeing that my dad was moving. He couldn't talk, he couldn't open his eyes, but there was something going on. So I started to record videos of him playing with the ball and to show that this is not my dad being unresponsive. He is responsive, but you're not seeing him in these moments when he is more active. So just being there can help a lot to advocate for your parent when other specialists who are coming in are just seeing a slice. They're in there for five minutes or so, and then they write their notes and then they leave, right? 

Leslie: 

Yeah, absolutely. You know, you've mentioned before how isolating caregivingcan be, especially if you're the primary caregiver doing it in your home. Right. What has given you the most strength or support during your hardest moments? 

Katherine: 

I would say the thing that has given me the most strength is my father's spirit and his milestones. He is a fighter at heart. Prior to his stroke, he was incredibly active. He was working at H&R Block. Actually, he had the stroke at work. 

Leslie: 

Oh my goodness. 

Katherine: 

And the year before the stroke, he had served 300 clients as a tax preparer and EA. 

Leslie: 

How old was he there? 

Katherine: 

He was 80, but he was very healthy, a hearty and hale 80. He's also an 8th-degree black belt in Taekwondo. And the day before the stroke, he was leading– You'll love this, Leslie. He was leading a workshop on sound healing.
 
 Leslie: 

Oh, amazing! 

Katherine: 

Using Tibetan singing bowls. And he just has a real appetite for life. And so,when I saw him in physical therapy and he just kind of lit up when he was doing various exercises. Seeing him move through these challenges has been a source of strength for me. And so I just feel like I'm providing baseline support for him to live out the rest of his life with some dignity. But also these new experiences that he never thought that he would be having.

Leslie: 

Yeah, absolutely. And I imagine you also have drawn support from friends and other folks in the community. I think a lot of us have a hard time asking for help.  

How have you asked forhelp and gotten support from folks who are not in your family? 

Katherine: 

Right. That is a hard thing for some of us to do. And admittedly, I am one of those people. My friends actually organized a meal train for my family. This was pretty soon after my father had been discharged for home. And I did not realize there was such a thing as an online meal train. I knew that it existed in kind of local communities, but all of my friends at that point were pretty much outside of Michigan, outside of the state where I was living. So they organized this meal train. And that just meant once a week, a friend or a set of friends would donate a meal to our family, and it would arrive on our doorstep. Because now you can schedule and order food through various services like Uber Eats or DoorDash, or the restaurant will have that as well. So that was an immense gift that I will always be grateful for, that my friends were thinking of us, and every Thursday we looked forward to the meal train. 

 And I have one incredible friend who is trained as an end-of-life doula, and she is also a professional organizer. Her name is Suyun Ko. I want to give a shout out to her, and she has flown out here a number of times to help my family when I have had reasons to be in California or in other places for talks. And she helps my parents when I'm unable to be here. And she helped out earlier this year when my father had a setback, a pretty major setback. And he was hospitalized at the end of December last year. So she was here for about six weeks. And it was a combination of respite support, but also emotional support as well. 

Leslie: 

That's incredible. That is incredible. And I'm so grateful to her. 

So you've described caregiving as a journey withdifferent phases. Where would you say you are now in that journey? 

Katherine: 

Yeah. Thanks for observing that, Leslie. And thanks for asking that important question. I would say right now we are nearing the end of the journey. But that said, there are different components to it. Some people would say that this is more comfort care or moving into a kind of hospice. My mother and I have differences of opinion on hospice care. I feel that there are many benefits to working with a hospice team. But my mother is reluctant to give up the access to the primary care physician that my dad has known for a long time, as well as his other specialists. So that has been a little bit tricky to navigate. 

But regardless, I think we're moving into maybe palliative care. And that said, every week there's a different energy that comes up. So sometimes there could be something that my dad is looking forward to. In June, for instance, mid-June, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. So that was a really big milestone at the beginning of the year. I wasn't sure if he would still be alive for that, but he was alive and they had a nice celebration and we marked it. 

But every week is a little bit different. And so there's a lotof adjusting. And sometimes there can be something that is unexpected. It could be some kind of infection or just extreme fatigue. And so we just kind of have to roll with it. Oftentimes in caregiving, they say it's one step forward and two steps back. But since we've been through such an intense journey since January 2023, I feel that at least we're not dealing with active crisis mode for this period. 

Leslie: 

Right, right. I hope that continues.

Katherine: 

There's more stability, but there is a general declinethat I'm observing. And so I have been trying to read up on end-of-life and thinking about this precious time. So every day is really meaningful and precious, and just trying to live in the present. 

Leslie: 

Yeah, absolutely. And despite all of the challenges, it sounds like you've really embraced a growth mindset. You've tried to really stay open. 

In what ways do youfeel like you've grown as a person through this experience? 

Katherine: 

Well, that's a great question. I feel that I just have a lot more empathy for people who are struggling. Obviously understanding some of the struggles that caregivers have and the people who are being cared for, but thinking also about people who have children who are disabled, who have various kinds of disabilities. I think about this now when I take my father to doctor's appointments or take him out to places where there isn't a door that can be opened with a button. You have to physically open the door, or there isn't a ramp for a wheelchair, or there isn't a parking space for somebody who has a handicap placard. 

I think about these things that I neverreally was attuned to before because I never had to interact with anybody in my family who had a disability. So that has given me tremendous insight into living in different ways and to have empathy and care, and compassion for those people too. So I think that's one big thing. And then also just understanding that this is a very human experience that I'm going through. And it's not connected to what doctoral degree that I have or what book that I publish. It doesn't matter. 

At the end of the day, I'm doing things that are very basic and essential and unglamorous, but it's important for the well-being of my father. So I don't know if I've mentioned this on the podcast, but my father requires assistance with all activities of daily living. So this is walking, it's toileting, bathing, putting on his clothes, eating, because he has a risk of aspiration pneumonia and choking. So in so many ways, I feel like I'm learning how to support another human in their life. And that's really valuable. That's a pretty valuable skill set to have. 

Leslie: 

Yeah, absolutely. Oh my goodness. Thank you, Katherine, so much for sharing so openly about your story. I hope this is the beginning of many conversations that people within academia and beyond have about what it's like to be a caregiver. What are the best ways for listeners to connect with you? 

Katherine: 

Thanks for inviting me onto this podcast, Leslie. I think it's so important to be able to have these conversations and especially for people who are in academia who are navigating this very pressure-filled environment, along with caregiving duties. I think we just need to expose it and just say that this is what people are going through right now. 

To answer your question, the best way that people can reach out to me is through my website. My website is called Rise with Clarity, and I have a LinkedIn presence, so you can find me on LinkedIn. And I did want to mention that a colleague of mine, Dr. Diedra Wrighting and I co-facilitated a workshop on academic caregivers. This was for the Women of Color and the Academy conference that Northeastern hosted. So we are thinking about possibly offering it again.

But I would like to make the suggestion here that faculty members who are caregivers can try and form their own support groups on their campuses. And this might not be done from a top-down level. It might have to be more grassroots. It might have to just be a few faculty members in conversation with one another. But there are going to be things that are specific to your town or your state in terms of laws or resources, or facilities. And being able to compare some of those notes and to also know that there's another faculty member on campus who is going through something similar is incredibly powerful, empowering and important just to be able to share that experience with somebody. So that's what Dr Wrighting. and I encouraged was actually to form small support groups on your campus. 

Leslie: 

Yeah. That's such great advice for all aspects of faculty life, including this, right?

Katherine: 

Yes. 

Leslie: 

All right, folks, please go and listen to the Rise with Clarity podcast and connect with Katherine if you need guidance about your career and also about caring for aging and ill parents. 

I will talk to you again soon.