Stephen Andrew's mission in life is to help people who are struggling with a chronic illness like alcoholism. He goes about it in many different ways, but at the core of every one of his endeavors is compassion. In this podcast, Stephen, who is a licensed clinical social worker, explains how we can and why we should try to have compassionate conversations — even in the worst of situations.

Looking back at her childhood, Denise Kinney, now in her 50s, says she always had some degree of muscle weakness and she didn't have the stamina other kids had, but she enjoyed athletics. However, whenever she played basketball, by the second quarter, she'd be out of energy and didn't know why.

Decades later, she finally got the answer, but not because she had been searching all those years. She'd simply been living and enjoying her life when one day everything changed. Denise shares her story in this episode of the Catching Health podcast.

My guest in this episode of the Catching Health podcast has put me to shame! From the moment she wakes up and wiggles her toes until she slides under her blankets at night, Liz Johnson is on the move. She might be dancing or she might be pulling weeds, but even if she's lounging (I'm not convinced she ever does), her brain certainly isn't. She takes classes, plays bridge, none of which she can do in person right now because of the pandemic. That hasn't slowed her down a bit. She just fires up her computer, clicks on a Zoom invitation, and off she goes. Join us for a conversation about aging that will inspire you to be more active.

What is old? Wendy Adlerstein, my guest on this episode of the Catching Health podcast, suggests that it has more to do with attitude than how many birthdays you've celebrated. She's a licensed social worker with a certificate in gerontology and the Executive Director of FirstLight Homecare in the Boston area. We tackled several issues related to getting older that are definitely worth listening to, especially if you or your parents are getting older.

What does it mean to be you? If that seems like a question that would require deep reflection, you are right. It's exactly what psychologist Dr. Fred Craigie is inviting us to do. In this Catching Health podcast, he has a wealth of questions to help lead us along a path of self-reflection and he has a new book that we should certainly take along on our journey.

When COVID forced a lockdown in London in early March, Hazell Jacobs knew she had to find something to help her cope. She found inspiration in her vast scarf collection and decided to write a blog about them. Its title Scarf Aid is an apt one. The stories about her scarves that she has been weaving since March have brought comfort not only to Hazell but to her growing list of followers. This is Hazell's story.

The title of this post says Catherine Gentile, author. She is so much more, but her greatest strength is her ability to pull gold from her life experiences and observations of the lives of others and weave them into meaningful stories that touch us all. As you will learn from our conversation, Catherine has been writing since she was a young child, and now, a few plus decades later, she is a published author celebrating the release of a new book — Small Lies.

One of the personal experiences she draws from is her late mother's diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. It led her to write the book The Quiet Roar of a Hummingbird, start a support group in her community, create an online publication called Together with Alzheimer's, and make some lifestyle changes to improve her health and, hopefully, prevent getting Alzheimer's herself.

Enjoy our conversation and learn. I certainly did.

Two friends — one retired, the other thinking about it — were curious about how other working women were handling this monumental transition in their lives. So curious they decided to send out a questionnaire to women everywhere. About 300 women responded and boy, did they have a lot to say.

The answers Leslie Inman and Roxanne Jones received were rich and full of truth and wisdom. While retirement or the idea of it, was scary for some women, many others said it was an exciting time of growth. Over and over, women asked if they planned to write a book, and hoped they would. That wasn't the plan when they started their project, but it is now!

I guess it's obvious that Leslie and Roxanne don't plan to take it easy in this phase of their lives. Even though they have busy schedules these days, they took a break to talk with me about some of the responses they received and about the book they're working on — Retirement Voices: Women reveal what life after work is really like.

"A shapeshifter, crafty and intelligent. It mutates, resists lethal weapons, keeps itself just out of reach of just the smartest interventions." These are the words that Sally Connolly uses to describe glioblastoma, the brain cancer that took her husband Peter's life in 2016. In her newly published memoir, Sally not only recounts their three-year struggle that followed her husband's first surgery and diagnosis but she also tries to provide some guidance and lessons about caregiving that she learned mostly the hard way. Her story is both heart-wrenching and heartening.

Rita Losee describes herself as a Woman of adventure, Doctor of Success, Proponent of Prosperity, InspirACTional Speaker, Author. She is that and more. Decades ago, she made a promise to herself that she would live a life of adventure. What a ride it has been and she is not even close to slowing down. At 78, Rita is also doing her best to encourage people to follow her lead. Instead of thinking it's all downhill from here, you could be a soaring senior — just like Rita.