Caregiver Connections: Radical Realism: New tools for Self-Care

Donna Thomson

Donna Thomson, our guest speaker, is a caregiver, author and educator.  She is the mother of two grown children, one who has severe cerebral palsy and medical complexity. Donna also helped care for her mother who lived with dementia until she passed away in the summer of 2018 at the age of 96. Donna is the co-author (with Dr. Zachary White) of The Unexpected Journey of Caring: The Transformation of Loved One to Caregiver (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) and author of The Four Walls of My Freedom: Lessons I’ve Learned From a Life of Caregiving (McArthur and Co., 2010 and The House of Anansi Press, 2014). Donna is a co-designer and co-instructor of The Family Engagement in Research Course as well as the Leadership Academy and she facilitates the Caregiving Essentials Course, all at McMaster University. Donna is a past board director of Kids Brain Health Network and the National accessArts Centre. She is on the advisory council of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence where she recently won the inaugural Vickie Cammack Trailblazer Award.