Brave Together Podcast: Support and Community for Caregiving Parents

Hello Brave Friends!  Welcome to our practical episode with Katie Taylor, who not only has wonderful professional credentials, she is also our Connection Circle Leader for Austin, Texas, and we are so grateful for her leadership and her enthusiasm to serve and support caregiving moms. Katie Taylor is very impressive. She is the co-founder and CEO of Child Life On Call, a digital platform revolutio...

Hello Brave Friends! On this episode we’re exploring what being an amazing advocate looks like. As we all know, advocacy can take on a lot of forms, helping with communication, getting all the right medications and in some cases… calling out the professionals who’ve maybe forgotten that their patients are much more than their disabilities.  Our storyteller, this episode, is Lori Rivera, a sister c...

Hello Brave Friends! This is our inaugural Ask Us Anything episode in which YOU, the listener, get to write or call in and, you guessed it, ASK US ANYTHING!  Today we’re discussing the question, “Is it strange to feel frustrated when I see friends and family support and volunteer with programs that support people with disabilities and yet, do not volunteer to help my child or other children outsid...

Hello Brave Friends! Welcome to Season 5 of Brave Together Podcast! This season we are rolling out a brand new episode format called Ask Us Anything. In these episodes my wonderful co-hosts, Life Coach and Soul Care Coach, Suzanna Peace Lovell and Marriage and Family Therapist Kimberly Kooy and I will do our darndest to honor and answer YOUR questions about anything and everything.  Whether you ha...

Hello Brave Friends, you know we encourage sisterhood on this podcast but we don’t always talk about the unexpected community that can form around our children with unique needs, when we’re open to it. And sometimes that means having a broader idea about who that community may include. It might NOT be other mom’s, even care-giving mom’s with kids the same age because hey, they're BUSY! Instea...

Vacationing with your kids doesn’t always feel like a vacation, more like a relocation, am I right?! And when any of your children have special needs, it can feel even harder to relax in a new location, no matter HOW sandy the beaches are. But what if you had a qualified nanny along for the ride? On this episode, host, Jessica Patay, interviews CEO and founder of Break Relief Sitters and Nannies L...

In extreme parenting, mastering flexibility is key! We never know what is around the corner and our kid’s unique needs keep us permanently on our toes. But we are also the ones providing routine for our kids, especially those who struggle with anxiety. So we have to stay nimble, dancing between providing the necessary structure and going with the flow enough to avoid a mental break!  In today’s st...

Transitions are hard for everybody, but especially for our neurodiverse teens and their parents. Just when you’ve gotten used to middle school and all that is expected in that environment, your teen is ushered into the wilderness of high school and a fresh batch of unknowns. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a guide? Well, you’re in luck! On this practical episode, host Jessica Patay interviews Natalie...

Happy Mother’s Day! Though the holiday this year has passed, we are here to remind you to do something special FOR YOU today! You deserve it! We want you to feel appreciated for ALL that you do, even if it’s just in a deep breath as you read this paragraph. We see you, we honor you and we are rooting for you! For this episode we hear a letter from an inspiring mother, Suzanne Eisenbrand, who raise...

Our lives as caregivers require WAY more help than we are willing to ask for, so what stops us? The intention for this episode is encouragement and maybe a nudge toward self-reflection as to WHY ON EARTH we of all people wouldn’t be able to ask for the help that we so badly need.  On this episode, host Jessica Patay, talks to Cheryl Ryan Chan, who does workshops on The Lost Skill of Asking for Hel...

You have to PRUNE to create room for real GROWTH, this is a sentiment gardeners understand but often busy parent caregivers forget. Are you making space in your life to experience peace? To exhale? To hear your own thoughts? In our busy world and even busier caregiving lives, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and out of touch with what we really require to thrive as human beings.  On this episode, host...

Does your child have sensory issues? Picky eating, general dysregulation or motor skill delays? Have you been to a bunch of different therapists but they all seem like they’re on their own planets and aren’t communicating with each other? Now, can you imagine taking your child into ONE therapeutic clinic and having them look for the ROOT CAUSE of your child’s issues?  On this practical episode, ho...

One of the invisible burdens many parents of children with degenerative or recurring disease carry is the knowledge that someday the other shoe may drop. They don’t know when or at which doctor’s appointment, but that knowledge, that things could take a turn for the worse, bears weight on their souls. Our story teller on this episode, is a father, Ryan Barbera, whose son was diagnosed with the rar...

Hello Brave Friends! This episode is something that has been on Jessica’s mind and heart since the launch of We Are Brave Together. We are an organization that preaches SISTERHOOD and COMMUNITY but what if you’ve been burned by friends in the past or you’ve just never been close to other women or maybe you’re an introvert and a WABT retreat feels overwhelming to you. Well, this episode is here to...

This episode is about the unexpected twists and turns that make this journey extra hard. When you get into a groove, with any kind of lifestyle, even our especially complex kind, it can feel manageable. Then, SURPRISE, you’re dealt another difficult hand of medical cards. How do we keep going when our child’s health and our life’s trajectory experience another brutal setback? On this episode, host...

Remember that game we played as kids, Truth or Dare? Well, for our world as caregivers, the truth is hard to say but ultimately freeing and the dare is accepting the consequences of holding it all in. This episode was born out of a conversation on Facebook about the difference between truth telling and playing the victim. Who said that being honest about our journey was the same as acting like a v...

Welcome Brave Friends! So many of us grow up learning that keeping it all inside is what we have to do to be accepted. We think that by holding in our true feelings it will help us be the person others need us to be. And so our emotions, our needs and our truth get buried deep inside us. But today we explore what it looks like to release that need to please, embrace our desires and SCREAM our trut...

Hello Brave Friends, do you think you fully understand ADHD and how it impacts school and everyday life? Although it is common, it is not simple, not by any means. It is extremely complex. There are many aspects to this disorder. There is no magic pill or formula that will help all kids and adults who struggle with ADHD, but there are proven methods, tips, skills, and wisdom to be applied. We have...

Hello Brave Friends, every relationship has its struggles and triumphs but not every relationship allows the world to peek behind the “fairytale” curtain and see its gritty inner workings. This takes bravery and trust, especially when it’s a relationship tethered to the added complexity of a diagnosed child.  In this story episode, we hear from author Carrie Cariello, who is a mother to five child...

We talk a lot about being a parent but what about being a partner? It’s not always a picnic right? Now add in ADHD to your partnership and all bets are off. From the forgetfulness to the impulsivity it can be a challenge sharing a life with them.  Now, this practical episode is specifically in support of Mom’s whose partners have ADHD but the advice and tools are applicable to lots of relationship...

Hello Brave Friends, if you’re on planet earth right now, you probably have social media. It’s a handy tool that connects us with friends, allows us to share our lives and generally makes our lives easier… except for when it doesn’t. Lets just say, those memories that “pop up”, aren’t always welcome. Today we hear Amy Neyer’s story about her early days navigating the medical system with a child ba...

On today’s practical episode, host Jessica Patay invites DBT expert, Matt Metcalf, to share from his wealth of knowledge about parenting kids who struggle with INTENSE emotions. He explains to us his BIG four tips for parents which include: structure, validating with consequences, remembering parenting is an amateur sport that you are not a “good parent” based on how well your child is doing in th...

Imagine you’re listening to the news and they’re describing a form of torture and then you realize what they’re describing is something you do for your child's survival, DAILY! Our journey as parents to children with unique needs can involve pretty traumatizing tasks for us and our children. When they become part of our daily routine we don’t always process how hard they really are.  On our s...

What if we changed things up a bit and started speaking to ourselves with loving kindness and compassion?? What if instead of self-judgment and self-criticism in our heads, we heard empathy and encouragement? Jessica Patay believes the key to thriving and surviving amidst chronic hardship is the practice of self-compassion. From this all other compassionate practices will flow–as in acknowledging...

The day we found out our child’s diagnosis lives in all of us. It is a marker of a major shift in our journey as human beings. Who we are, how we feel, what we know, all began to change that day. And society will tell us to “overcome” that experience or look on the “bright side” of whatever that diagnosis brought us, but what if that doesn’t feel possible? Today host, Jessica Patay, interviews mom...