Darra Wray & Dee Childers join Denise to share how they’ll transform our personal caregiving experiences with Family Game Nights at The Caring Conference on March 25.

To join us on March 25, visit https://join.caringourway.com/groups/3608146/feed.

About Darra Wray & Dee Childers, Your Presenters
Darra Wray is a business professional, senior care consultant and software developer from Boise, Idaho. Darra has more than 30 years of practical business and finance experience and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. She also has over 30 years of personal experience as a family caregiver and patient advocate and has had a life-long interest in healthcare. She developed a true passion for family care giving and elder care services through her personal life experiences. As the CFO of a large non-profit organization, Darra saw how reliant businesses have become on immediate and secure access to information. Yet, as the CEO of her family, she discovered that she often did not have the information she needed to manage and support her family in an increasingly digital world. An unexpected family medical crisis made her realize that her family was completely unprepared to manage the business of life in a digital world. In the wake of this family crisis, Darra set out to find a tool to help bridge this digital divide, and when she couldn’t find one… she created one. In 2018, Darra became a Certified Senior Adviser (CSA) and left her role as a finance executive to launch My Care Companions. The mission of My Care Companions is to provide education, tools, resources, and information management services to caregivers so they can focus more of their time and energy caring for their loved ones. In 2019, Darra developed the My Data Diary+ family information management software solution and set out on a mission to simplify the business of life for families everywhere. In 2020, she founded LEARN - Lifelong Education and Aging Resources Network Inc, a CSA Leaders Network, with a mission to provide free community education on aging and caregiving topics. Darra invites you to join her crusade to help individuals and families more effectively navigate and manage the family caregiving process.

Dee Childers founded Life Changes Elder Care Consulting after experiencing the challenges of helping her parents live with infirmity and memory loss. She saw very clearly what many others have seen — the lack of readily available information and resources for helping a senior family member. It became clear to her that with our aging population, many others would also find themselves feeling clueless and overwhelmed with the responsibilities of senior care giving. Her training and background in both counseling and human resources management as well as her first-hand experience as a family caregiver inspired Dee to leverage her experience to help others in similar situations. Life Changes Elder Care Consulting was founded to help those needing guidance and support on senior care issues by providing professional geriatric care management. A team of Care Managers help with assessing, planning, and coordinating the care of the elderly to improve their quality of life and maintain their independence for as long as possible. Life Changes works with families around the country to assess, select and manage the specific needs of senior while providing family caregivers with the professional help they need to manage and support the needs of those they love. Dee earned a BS in Psychology from the University of Utah and a MS in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Phillips Graduate Institute. She worked as a Marriage and Family Therapist for 6 years and transitioned into care management following 30 years as a corporate Human Resources Executive. She has expertise in interpersonal dynamics, crisis management, conflict resolution, mediation, benefits, and health and safety. Dee is a NACCM Certified Care Manager (CMC), an Advanced Professional member of the Aging Life Care Association™, a certified Elder Mediator, and a volunteer Support Group Leader for the Alzheimer’s Association. Dee is also a founding board member of LEARN - Lifelong Education and Aging Resource Network.

About Denise
Denise develops and leads training and leadership opportunities to help individuals transform a personal caregiving experience into a volunteer opportunity, a small business or a career change. More than 300 individuals from seven countries have enrolled in Denise’s training programs. Denise began supporting family caregivers in 1990, launching one of the first online caregiving communities in 1996. She sold the community in March 2020 to Ohio’s Hospice. She convened a National Caregiving Conference for four years (2016-2019), hosted a 36-hour Christmas chat for six years and celebrated creative side of family caregivers with an online Caregiving Art Show. Her research shined a light on family caregiver stress, the needs of working family caregivers and the daily challenges faced by family caregivers. She was a 2017 Influencer in Aging. Denise is the author of several books including "Healing Words: Soothing Strategies for Your Caregiving Fatigues," "The Caregiving Years, Navigating the Six Caregiving Stages and the Take Comfort series." Denise also helps her parents, who are 90 and 87. Learn more at https://www.careyearsacademy.com.