June 3, 2023

June 3, 2023

The Challenges of Caregiving: Nurturing Our Well-Being in The Midst of Stress

Being a caregiver is no easy task, and that’s an understatement. Caring for someone else is rarely done in isolation. It often coincides with the demands of a family, work obligations, and assuming new roles and responsibilities that were once fulfilled by the person in need of care. During it […]

May 27, 2022

Mental Health

“We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness.” This is what Ashley and Wynonna Judd said publicly in response to their mother’s recent death. Much of the world was surprised. Much of it wasn’t. Naomi Judd was a brave and outspoken advocate for mental health […]

May 4, 2022

Love Unconditional

Spring is here and I hope we will all take time to think about people in our lives whom we love and how we express our feelings for them. I share some thoughts about unconditional love which were triggered by my presence at a birthday celebration online. As I explore […]

March 4, 2022

March 4, 2022

The Terror of War: Echoes of History

As many of you know, I write the Sanity Savers newsletters with a hope of being helpful. Some of the articles are more personal than others and I appreciate the feedback you offer. It means a lot. I had written and was ready to post a different article this month. […]

January 7, 2022

How to Develop a Legacy that Honors a Loved One

We enter a new year, often filled with hope and resolutions. At this time, we also remain in a pandemic that has lasted longer than most, if not all, of us could ever have imagined. Lives have been upended, and many of us have lost loved ones. When we lose […]

September 1, 2021

Disconnecting From Technology One Day Each Week

Disconnecting From Technology One Day Each Week Unplugging one day a week. Our day of rest. With technology available at our fingertips 24 hours a day, the boundaries have become blurred in our lives between work and rest. This can lead us to feel distracted all the time, […]

August 2, 2021

Mental Health and the Olympics

Mental Health and the Olympics “Suck It Up” is an unkind, unempathetic, and wrong message to send when it comes to mental health. With the spotlight shining so brightly on Simone Biles this week, the world is becoming ever more aware of the incredible mental and emotional stress […]

July 5, 2021

The Power of Personal Music Playlists on the Brain

As some of you know, my father, Jerry Atkins, at the age of 74, died after living with Alzheimer’s Disease for 13 years. A passionate music lover with an extensive record collection, he sang, danced, played the drums, and always had a song in his heart and on his lips. […]

March 10, 2021

Who’s Caring for the Caregiver?

We have long realized that patients with long-term illnesses such as cancer or Alzheimer’s Disease go through phases of inevitable decline that require the medical team to continually adapt treatment to meet their changing needs. Through my work with caregivers who oversee the daily care of family members with such […]

March 3, 2020

Finding Resilience When Facing Personal Hardship Experiences

When everything is going our way, life is great. Things fall into place and we can see possibilities and opportunities easily. We can become attached to these feelings and never want them to end. We may expect that they will not end. Then something happens and our world changes, and […]

Caregiving