Healing on the Home Front Podcast

The holidays can be a difficult time for families of children with special needs. In this episode, Clayton’s Voice Podcast Host Shelby Myers welcomes her mother, Judy McGrath, who talks about how grandparents and the extended family can provide valuable support. 

Our guest, Katie Holcomb, is co-founder of Coping Space, which provides emotional support for families coping with a life-changing illness. As a teen, she watched her younger brother, Ryan, battle cancer. Through her personal perspective, she offers resources and support to help families navigate the sibling experience.

Those first few weeks of school can be challenging for children with special needs — and for their parents. In this episode, Shelby Myers, BAYADA Special Needs Advocate, shares some valuable tips to help parents and kids stay organized and to ease the transition back to school.

People with invisible disabilities such as epilepsy can experience a host of challenges, including fear. Host Shelby Myers welcomes guest Ashley Kulikowski, whose nonprofit, Fearless Movement, helps people with invisible disabilities and their loved ones overcome these challenges.

This month's episode features Evelyn Mann, an author, blogger, and mom of a teenager with a rare form of dwarfism. Evelyn talks about how special needs families can use their voice to find comfort, overcome challenges, and advocate for change.

This episode explores the isolation that can surround so many families with extra special children. Through the first-hand experience of Heather Schoell, the mother of a child with special needs, this episode provides resources and support to help families overcome that isolation

For American Heart Month, we're exploring various ways to nurture that all-important organ. In part 1, you'll meet Nathalis and Donna, a client-employee combination that proves when you put a little heart into your work, you get a lot back. In part 2, we talk to Dr. Richard Weiss, Clinical Cardiologist from the University of Pennsylvania Health Center, who details how far the science behind our hearts has come—and how far it still has to go.

Music therapy addresses one’s physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs with the clinical use of music. Hannah Phillips, a Bereavement Program Coordinator and BAYADA’s first music therapist, joins host, Mel Trice, to share some of her experiences with music therapy. She’ll discuss the benefits, the misconceptions, and how she got her start – all with a guitar in hand.

Care coordination is a patient-centered approach to connecting services across the health care continuum. This month, our host, Mel Trice, speaks with Transitional Care Managers, Michelle and Charlotte, on their experiences successfully coordinating care for our clients through effective communication, technology, documentation, and cultivating trust. 

Anyone who lives in a part of the country that is prone to natural disasters or extreme weather events needs to be prepared in case of an emergency. For someone with special medical needs, it’s even more critical to have an emergency plan in place. Host Mel Trice goes on a journey of Iris Cognevich's experience of working in a nursing home during Hurricane Katrina. In this episode, we will go into emergency planning and how to make sure loved ones and health care teams are best prepared for a disaster of any kind.