57: A New Program: Writing Support for Faculty Caregivers

In this 57th episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I wanted to use this time to share with you a new program that I am launching later this summer as well as the reasons why I’m doing this. 

The program is called “Writing Support for Faculty Caregivers,” and it’s a pilot group coaching program that I’m developing for faculty who are trying to make meaningful progress on a specific writing goal this summer, while also navigating elder caregiving duties.

You can find the full written transcript for this episode at RisewithClarity.com/57, along with all of my other podcast episodes and other resources for women of color faculty in higher education.  

Dr. Katherine Lee is a Higher Ed Coach and Career Strategist and a former tenured professor at an R1 university. She helps women of color faculty to manage the tenure track, navigate politics, and take the next steps to advance their careers. To find more resources or to work with Katherine, check out her website at: Rise with Clarity.

Transcript

Hey Professors,

I hope that you are all holding up right now. And, as you wrap up your academic years, I hope that you will take some time to truly rest, recalibrate, and spend some quality time with family and friends this summer.

In this 57th episode of the Rise with Clarity Podcast, I wanted to use this time to share with you a new program that I am launching later this summer as well as the reasons why I’m doing this. The program is called “Writing Support for Faculty Caregivers,” and it’s a pilot group coaching program that I’m developing for faculty who are trying to make meaningful progress on a specific writing goal this summer, while also navigating elder caregiving duties.

You can find the full written transcript for this episode which will include information on how to register for this program at RisewithClarity.com/57, along with all of my other podcast episodes and other resources for women of color faculty in higher education.

If you’re a regular listener to this podcast (and thank you for that), then you probably know that I am a full-time primary caregiver for my father, who is a stroke survivor. I have been a patient advocate and a caregiver for him for almost the past 3.5 years. I’ve talked about this on the podcast, in Episodes 33 (Caring for Aging Parents When You’re on the Tenure Track), 34 (Caring and Advocating for Aging Parents as Faculty), and 35 (10 Tips for Coping with Caregiver Stress: Faculty Edition), as well as on Leslie Wang’s Your Words Unleashed Podcast (Caring for Aging Parents while Maintaining Your Career with Dr. Katherine Lee), which I’ll go ahead and put a link to in the transcript for this episode. 

For the first 8 months of 2023, which I would characterize as a time of extreme crisis for my family, I was still a full-time faculty member. Let’s just say that it was one of the hardest years of my life. 

And for me, perhaps the most challenging aspect was having no real frame of reference, no prior experience with having a parent in the hospital before, learning how to provide 24-hour home care, and also learning how to navigate the monstrosity of the US healthcare system. I also did not have a really great local support system at the time.

Even though I was on leave, I still had professional commitments that I had to hold up. I still had to see some of my graduate students through their milestones and I also had other speaking and publication commitments. And I remember trying to balance all of this, and trying to determine how to move forward on certain things and also how to decide what to let go of. It was a pretty destabilizing time for me.

Although I had the benefit of tenure, I am not sure how I could have continued on with my faculty duties while also managing full-time care beyond those first 8 months. I would have likely had to explore moving to part-time status or go on unpaid leave.

While my decision to leave my faculty position and start Rise with Clarity was not based on my family caregiving situation, my father’s stroke and his subsequent care definitely accelerated my decision to resign in August of that year. And then one month later, I launched my business.

I have no regrets about that, as it was the right decision for me.

The “Silent” Crisis that Many Faculty Caregivers are Going Through

So today I want to focus on the fact that so many faculty go through this kind of caregiving experience with their parents or with another loved one, yet it’s kind of a silent topic.

Meaning that people don’t really openly talk about it with their colleagues, even though they may be going through significant challenges at home in relation to providing this kind of care. 

Although there are a few occasions where the tenure clock can be stopped for exceptional situations, life does not stop for what is going on in our professional careers. 

And this can create a great deal of financial and psychological stress for faculty members. You can couple that with the emotional landscape of coping with aging parents who are dealing with:

chronic illnesses or conditions, 

disease, 

disabilities, 

anticipatory grief, 

and also end-of-life stages. 

Being a caregiver just in and of itself—whether you are doing it remotely or at home—takes up an incredible amount of mental and emotional bandwidth. 

And some of you who have immigrant parents may have intense expectations that are thrust upon you as daughters to take care of your parents—and to do this in more of a hands-on way because of cultural norms and also a distrust of assisted living facilities or care homes. 

Moreover, this can all happen rather suddenly after a parent’s health crisis, without much pre-planning or discussion beforehand.

All of this is likely to run interference with your capacity that may be required to do focused intellectual work. 

Even though this can feel like a near impossible situation, I’ve learned that many faculty members do not want to reveal too much of what they’re going through because sharing their challenges and their vulnerabilities can possibly put them at risk for future promotions or evaluations.

After all, so much of higher education is oriented towards how you are externally evaluated—there is the evaluation of your scholarship, your publication output, your teaching, and your service. Judgment is baked into every level of academia.

Anything that makes you look “weak” can contribute to a negative perception of you.

But the thing is, nearly every individual will come upon a time in their life when they are going to be thrown a major curveball or have the rug pulled out from right underneath them. And this may likely include moving into a caregiving role or needing care for oneself.

If you’ve never heard of the famous quote by Rosalynn Carter about caregivers, I think it’s pretty instructive. 

So it goes like this:

“There are only four kinds of people in the world: 

Those who have been caregivers,

Those who are currently caregivers, 

Those who will be caregivers, and 

Those who will need caregivers.”

So rather than keeping this necessarily human experience tightly under wraps and feeling a degree of shame about it, I think it helps to name this, especially as more and more of us are going to be facing this caregiving challenge in the near or distant future.

And since I’m no longer in the academy, I am now in a position to better support faculty who may be in the beginning stages or in the midst of their own caregiving journeys. And who may really be struggling at the moment and who may feel very isolated.

So let me tell you a little bit more about this pilot group coaching program that I’m launching in the month of July.

A Pilot Group Coaching Program: Writing Support for Faculty Caregivers

The program is called “Writing Support for Faculty Caregivers” and it’s really designed for faculty who are navigating elder caregiving duties while they’re also trying to make meaningful progress on a specific writing goal this summer. 

We’re going to meet as a group for 5 Thursdays in July, from 10-11:15am ET, and additionally each participant will receive 1 60-minute 1-on-1 session with me in August. This is going to be a small group, and we’re going to be meeting on Zoom. The price for this program is $397. 

If you are unable to attend a session due to an unforeseen reason or a scheduled conflict, no problem. Certain portions of the sessions will be offered as recordings afterwards.

So if you’re little bit curious, this is not intended to be a program focused on hyperproductivity, offering tools on how to become superhuman faculty caregivers. Rather this is hopefully a space where you can learn to give yourself the permission to subtract in order to make room for the things that are the most meaningful for you. 

It’s also a non-judgmental space where you can freely ask questions, share as much as you would like, learn about ways to ask about institutional accommodations, receive resources related to caregiver support, and also to be in community with others who are in a similar season of their lives.

So during the month of July, you can expect to:

• Design a realistic writing routine built around caregiving demands

• Brainstorm strategies to locate caregiving support 

• Make meaningful progress on a summer writing goal

• Have some gentle accountability along with some encouragement

• Be in community with other faculty who are navigating similar challenges.

My hope is that you can feel less alone on this journey and that you can receive support, guidance, gentle encouragement, and community care. 

Because you deserve that too.

If this is something that resonates with you and you’re interested in learning more or enrolling, then please reach out to me at Katherine at risewithclarity.com. I will keep enrollment up until mid-June. Also feel free to check out Episode 32 to learn more about the Rise with Clarity Signature Program for Women of Color Faculty that I offer in addition to other services like workshops and also keynotes.

That’s it for today.

Stay strong and stay well.