Coffee With Caregivers

Eric Jorgensen is the Founder of True North Disability Planning, a national consulting company helping families, individuals and professionals navigate the maze of disability benefits, resources, and services. He has been helping his clients find answers since his retirement from the Navy in 2012. He was widowed the same year he retired. At the time, his 12 y/o autistic son, William, was completely dependent on his wife for everything. His frustration with the difficulty of figuring out what to do and navigating services for his son led him to start Special Needs Navigator.

Eric created a new category, Disability Planning. He specializes in helping clients identify what they do not know and providing clarity by connecting the dots. He works with people and companies around the country, developing individualized solutions best suited to their circumstances.

In addition to working with clients one on one; True North Disability Planning has a Substack (Waypoints), YouTube channel, and Podcast (ABCs of Disability Planning). Eric uses Waypoints as a way to share his thoughts as a parent and a professional. The podcast and YouTube channel focus on benefits, resources, and services people may not know of or want to learn more about, or Eric thinks he can give additional perspective.

You can follow Eric on social media at:

Facebook: @SpecialNeedsNavigator

Twitter: @NeedsNavigator

YouTube: Special Needs Navigator

Podcast: “ABC’s of Disability Planning”

To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please reach out to info@thelucasproject.org. We'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! This episode is sponsored by Meerkat Village. It takes a village to raise a child with special needs. Find out more at www.meerkatvillage.com.

Eric is a proud father to five daughters one of which has profound special needs. He is multi-passionate and involved in IV Vitamin infusions in Las Vegas while building a network marketing business in the health and well-being space. He is also the host of the “I Am Awesome” podcast. He finds joy in physical fitness, nutrition, outdoor activities, sports, biohacking, and getting to the root cause of disease. A follower of Christ, his faith underpins his purpose and he aspires to be a speaker and author.  Eric and his beautiful bride, Michelle, will be celebrating their 27th year of marriage in the winter of 2023. Their story is a testament to enduring love and resilience.
To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please reach out to info@thelucasproject.org. We'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! This episode is sponsored by Meerkat Village. It takes a village to raise a child with special needs. Find out more at www.meerkatvillage.com

Lyn is the wife to Brett (psychologist at Pine Rest), mom to Adelyn (and Stephen) and Kylee, and Nana to Sammy. She received her bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Calvin University and her Master's (and 3/4 of an Education Specialist) degree from Michigan State University, but is a loyal "Go Blue" University of Michigan fan. She currently serves as the Director of Family Ministries and Grand Haven's Covenant Life Church and as the Executive Director of Noorthoek Academy. Kylee has allowed her to experience God's grace and unconditional love in dynamic ways. Kylee was diagnosed with cerebellar hypoplasia at 3 1/2 years and May Thurner Condition (bleeding disorder) while in high school. To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please reach out to info@thelucasproject.org. We'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! This episode is sponsored by Meerkat Village. It takes a village to raise a child with special needs. Find out more at www.meerkatvillage.com

Dr. Crystal G. Morrison is a highly regarded executive advisor, strategist, leader, scientist, and tech entrepreneur.  While progressing in her career as a scientist, Dr. Morrison was also growing her family.  She has three amazing teenagers.  One of her children is autistic and has additional mental health diagnoses and two of her children were adopted and experienced extreme poverty and trauma early in their lives.  As a mom, she’s spent almost 20 years navigating the complex system of care and advocating for her children.  It’s been frustrating and overwhelming, and millions of parents and caregivers face the same feelings and challenges daily.  Her experience inspired her to co-found and lead Meerkat Village, a software company dedicated to improving outcomes for children with special needs by building collaboration and communication among adults providing care.   On her journey, she’s met countless people working at the intersection of community, education, health care and mental health.  She created the Village Vision podcast to celebrate their stories and ignite action.    To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please reach out to info@thelucasproject.org. We'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! This episode is sponsored by www.CapeAble.com. Weighted blankets. Weighted Wearables and Sensory Products. Use code CARE15 at checkout to try out one of these amazing products at 15% off.

Michelle Crawford is a single mom of two children living in Oklahoma. Her daughter was vaccine injured at four months old and now has seizures and significant developmental delays. In 2021 her world turned upside down when her estranged husband unexpectedly announced that he had shut down the business leaving her unemployed and with no where to turn for help. Since then, she has struggled to support her family while also being a full time caregiver to her 24 year old daughter. She says that she has been living in survival mode for the past two years struggling with feelings of loneliness and feeling trapped due to the lack of support she receives. Her dream is to one day create a funded home for single moms and their special needs child(ren) to live, build community, and where in-house care is made available through a combination of parent co-ops and quality caregivers.

To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please reach out to hello@thelucasproject.org. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! This episode is sponsored by www.CapeAble.com. Weighted blankets. Weighted Wearables and Sensory Products. Use code CARE15 at checkout to try out one of these amazing products at 15% off.

"Nobody's going to fix this but you" I said to myself.

Kristian Pattison is an Arizona Mama who has two wonderful daughters, Alaina and Sasha. Alaina was around 6 months old when Kristin noticed that she was not making eye contact like the other babies were. This eventually led to an autism diagnosis, a long journey to "recover autism" and an eventual peace about the life that Alaina would lead. We also chat about the staffing crisis and how difficult it is to find competent long term care for our children and the concepts of soothing versus self care and which is actually helping us as caregivers. Kristin is also the author of "Bringing You Back" and "Deliver us." I know you're going to love this episode!

To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please reach out to hello@thelucasproject.org. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review!

Kassondra Lambert is a  parent of a disabled 4 year old. Last year, she started a fundraising journey to fund a wheelchair accessible van. Through that experience, she saw the need to teach families how to fundraise online for medical expenses not covered by insurance. She's the founder of The Striped Stable which teaches copywriting and more to parents so that they can tell their stories in a way that connects with donors and helps them create community.

www.thestripedstable.com

To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please reach out to hello@thelucasproject.org. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review!

Lindsay is the founder and owner of The Pampered Parent, a monthly self-care subscription box and supportive online community for moms of children with special needs. In addition to The Pampered Parent, Lindsay is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). As a BCBA, she works with individuals with a variety of developmental disabilities, as well as with their caregivers and families, to improve communication and social skills, foster independence, and reduce challenging behaviors. In Lindsay's free time, she enjoys exercising, traveling, watching TV with her husband, and playing with her dog, Shockey. To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review!

Fred Marvel is 40 years old, has been married close to 16 years and is the father of three boys.  He was born and raised in Philadelphia where he works as a paralegal.  His oldest son Aleks (11) was diagnosed with Autism, ADHD and sensory processing disorder.  Fred started a podcast called the Spectrum Dad Podcast late last year because he wanted to help bring awareness to autism.

Connect with Fred on IG: @thespectrumdadpod

To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review!

Lisa Dempsey is the founder and CEO of the Forgotten Wishes Foundation, whose mission is to inspire a sense of belonging and be a source of joy for people with disabilities. Lisa belongs to a society of women who share the delights and dilemmas of raising children and caring for adults with special needs. She is a creator, explorer, and advocate and writes a blog about her experiences called Cluck Howl Crow. Lisa is happiest when she and her husband, Robert, are gathered around the kitchen table with their family. To refuel her mind and body, Lisa travels in her trailer named Rosemary von Wunder, takes walks on the beach searching for shells, or heads to New York City to binge-watch Broadway Musicals in person and eat Junior's Cheesecake. Lisa and her husband Robert have been married for 18 years and have four children. They live in Houston, Texas, with their teenage son and two Cardigan Welsh Corgis, Zeus and Mick. They are Momsie and Popsicle to their two granddaughters. Lisa is grateful to have a circle of extraordinary moms christened "special friends" whose presence adds a copious treasure to her life.

Head to www.forgottenwishes.org to see how you can help with Lisa's mission to help those with disabilities. 

To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review!

Join me as I chat with Liza Blas, a storyteller and the host of the Very Happy Stories podcast. She brings hope, empowerment, and validation to parents raising kids with unique challenges. Liza delivers inspiring stories and shares her best practices through her podcast, speaking engagements, and personal transformational coaching. Her stories are inspired by her personal experience navigating the complex conditions of her two children, including depression, anxiety, ADHD, OCD, ASD, Tourette’s Syndrome, and Lyme disease.

We chat about what it means to practice radical self-care, how to flip your mindset to one of empowerment and the benefits of rituals and mushrooms.  You'll love to learn practical tips on how to care for yourself while caring for your child.  

To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review!

Stephanie Simoes is a wife & mother to four beautiful children from Pennsylvania and enjoys being a Cause Entrepreneur with ONEHOPE.  She hosts private wine events to raise awareness and donations for different causes. Supporting medical research and support for special needs families is really important to her because she has three children who have been diagnosed with PANS. She is extremely passionate about raising awareness and believes that if her journey with PANDAS/PANS can help even just one other family, it is worth it.  To learn more about One Hope Wine check out - Onehopewine.com/myshop/winewsteph To support The Lucas Project with a purchase head to - onehopewine.com/event/97722 To stay connected with Jess, head to www.jessplusthemess.com.  If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! 

"Let go and let God." 

For years, Laurie Hellmann has fiercely navigated therapies, medications and countless medical and personal challenges with her 17-year-old, autistic son, Skyler. While continuing to fight for her son’s ongoing needs, she has become the voice for other families with a loved one on the autism spectrum. From sharing insights on how autism impacts an entire family – its influence on a marriage, neurotypical siblings, and life as a whole – Laurie invites others into her whirlwind life with the hopes of raising awareness about a cause near and dear to her heart. She is the author of Welcome to My Life: A Personal Parenting Journey Through Autism and also host of the podcast Living the Sky Life – Our Autism Journey both of which empower individuals faced with an autism diagnosis as well as those who are open to learning more with insights, tools and resources to do so. Learn more about Laurie Hellmann by visiting www.lauriehellmann.com.

To purchase my book Sunlight Burning at Midnight https://amzn.to/37oRyop To stay connected with Jess head to www.jessplusthemess.com. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org

"Pity is the worst feeling for me as a caregiver." 

Jess chats with Sarah Blunkosky, M.A., an integrative education consultant, certified peer-breastfeeding counselor, and registered Accessible yoga instructor specializing in family, children’s, special-needs, and prenatal/postpartum movement/embodiment. Her learning life spanned teaching high school social studies at Open High School in Richmond, Virginia to studying slavery and social history on a graduate school path that pivoted when her eldest daughter's intellectual disabilities and medical needs required an intensive lifestyle shift.  She started Learning Heroine LLC in 2015. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook sharing her dharma/mission: Set learning free.  When she isn’t homeschooling her kids or teaching yoga, you can find her writing articles and working on a book.  A forever student of yoga, she is also studying to become a certified yoga therapist.  Then one day, she hopes to open a group home for her eldest daughter to live in. Website: http://learningheroine.com/ To purchase my book Sunlight Burning at Midnight https://amzn.to/37oRyop To stay connected with Jess head to www.jessplusthemess.com. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org

"I held on to that word "normal" and waited for it to happen." 

Jess sits down to chat with her friend Rachel Kang, a New York native, born and raised just outside of New York City. Rachel is a mixed woman of African American, Native American, Dutch, and Irish descent, she writes prose, poems, and other pieces that whisper into the thin tension between faith and life. She is a graduate of Nyack College in New York where she obtained a degree in English with Creative Writing, and she is the creator of Indelible Ink Writers. Jess and Rachel talk about how a vaccine injury led to Rachel's brother's profound special needs, how the experience as a sibling caregiver has shaped Rachel's life, and the impact of the KETO diet on her brother's symptoms.  To continue to connect with Rachel, find her at www.rachelmariekang.com and follow her on Twitter & Instagram @rachelmariekang.   To purchase my book Sunlight Burning at Midnight https://amzn.to/37oRyop To stay connected with Jess head to www.jessplusthemess.com. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org

"You matter just as much as your child." 

Jess chats with Annie, aka “blessedforthismess” a mom to two kids, Ava & Brody. Her daughter Ava was diagnosed with Angelman syndrome in 2014 which led to Annie’s belief that we need to teach our kids that they are undefined by their circumstances.  Annie is also passionate about advocating for the advocators & sharing the depths of her heart through her own journey as a mother to a child with a disability. Her motto is that “you are more than the circumstances that surround you.” To learn more, find Annie at www.blessedforthismess.com. To purchase my book Sunlight Burning at Midnight https://amzn.to/37oRyop To stay connected with Jess head to www.jessplusthemess.com. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org

“Everyone deserves to use the restroom with dignity.”   

Carrie In this episode, Jess chats with Carrie Prater, a mother of 4 children ages 12 to 25 years old and special needs advocate. Her son Gibson was born with Mowat-Wilson syndrome with a secondary diagnosis of Autism.  This syndrome includes impairments ranging from mild to severe with Gibson falling in the moderate to severe range. Jess and Carrie talk about how important community is for the caregiver, some of the more challenging behaviors they’ve both experienced with their sons and Carrie’s groundbreaking initiative throughout superstores in the Midwest. To purchase my book Sunlight Burning at Midnight https://amzn.to/37oRyop To stay connected with Jess head to www.jessplusthemess.com. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org

"It is important for a child to have lots of healthy relationships with adults but a child with [attachment issues] they need to get the relationship with their primary caregivers down first.”  

In this episode of Coffee with Caregivers, Jess sits down with author Shannon Guerra, an Alaskan, homeschooling mama of 8 kids via birth and adoption. She is the author of  Upside Down: Understanding and Supporting Attachment in Adoptive Families, Oh My Soul: Encountering God in Unconventional, Honest (and Sometimes Messy) Prayer, and the Work That God Sees series. Jess and Shannon discuss what attachment disorder looks like in children and how it often presents in adoption. They also discuss how important it is for people to understand that the attachment must occur with the primary caregivers before all other attachments. This was a raw, vulnerable conversation as both mamas shared their experiences with adoption and how the church needs to step it up and see adoption and foster care as mission fields right in their own backyards. To learn more about Shannon and her story visit copperlightwood.com.  

#RAD #attachmentdisorder #adoption #specialneeds 

To purchase my book Sunlight Burning at Midnight https://amzn.to/37oRyop To stay connected with me, head to www.jessplusthemess.com. I'd love to hear what you think, so please rate and review! If you are interested in being a guest please contact me at jess@thelucasproject.org

“People need to understand the pain and the suffering before we’ll see change.” 

In this episode of Coffee with Caregivers, Jess chats with Vance and Kristy Goforth in an extremely vulnerable and honest conversation about life as a caregiver to Joshua, their son with profound special needs.  They discuss the details from Joshua’s aggressive behavior to their mental health struggles as his caregivers and Vance’s eventual health problems which were stress induced. They also discuss why we need to desperately raise awareness for caregivers in order to gain the resources that are needed.  To learn more about the Goforths, please follow them at Facebook/A Voice for Joshua Instagram/ A Voice for Joshua  

#severeautism #caregiver #coffeewithcaregivers #autism

 “Don’t be afraid of THAT kid…Their needs are actually pretty simple.” 

In this episode of Coffee with Caregivers, Jess sits down with Ryan, her husband and Lucas’s adopted dad. They talk about how Ryan felt the first time he met Lucas, his past, present, and future worries about caring for him and what stresses him out and how he tries to relieve that stress. In addition to caring for Lucas, Ryan is dad to 7 other children and enjoys flipping houses and fishing.