Elizabeth Marie Chambers shares her experiences as a muti-generational caregiver in today’s episode as she highlights caring for a child with complex medical needs, multiple children, and a parent. She details her breaking point in care and how she recognized the need to care for herself. She further highlights how she uses her experiences to drive change and advocate for shifts in the system and how others view ‘caregiving’. About Elizabeth Marie Chambers: Elizabeth Marie Chambers is a teacher, life long learner and the epitome of a (club)sandwich generation caregiver. Elizabeth and her husband care for her elderly mother who has Alzheimer's; their adult son with lifelong support needs, who spent his childhood as Elizabeth’s foster brother; their resilient teenage daughter; and their medically complex youngest son. Before becoming a Medical Mama and Knowledge Broker, Elizabeth was working at a national level organization leading professional learning for educators and school administrators. After the traumatic birth of her youngest, which they barely survived, Elizabeth’s life followed a path to becoming involved in the field of childhood disability research. The experience with her youngest has involved over 300 days of inpatient hospital care, countless interactions with multidisciplinary healthcare teams, and daily engagement with disability support systems, which all profoundly informed her approach to research and community leadership. Elizabeth’s passion for transformative family-centred practices began with a research study at CanChild Centre for Childhood-Onset Disability Research, based out of McMaster University, called ENVISAGE. This experience marked a pivotal shift in her trajectory from caregiver to research partner, advocate, facilitator, and leader. Since then, she has become devoted to sharing the ideas of family-centered care, strengths-based approaches, partnerships and advocacy at a local and international level. She feels honoured to now be a member of the International Leadership Team for ENVISAGE. Elizabeth is also a Parent Partner and Co-Principle Investigator in several research projects; has chaired several advisory committees at her local children’s treatment centre; is a committee member and consultant for a new pediatric hospice build, a global speaker and a blogger at www.lightkeeperlife.com Elizabeth is deeply committed to creating inclusive, collaborative spaces in healthcare, education and research and is a fierce advocate, for her family, for other children, other elders, other caregivers and the service professionals who support them. *The content shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and it does not constitute therapy or counselling. If you are in need of mental health support or professional guidance, please reach out to a qualified healthcare provider or mental health professional. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host.* Visit us on our website to see all that we offer for caregiver support: www.compassionincaregiving.com For more visit our Instagram! http://www.instagram.com/compassionincaregiving
