The Caregiver's Voice: Technology, Advocacy, and the Human Side of Alzheimer's Care with Dr. Caron Leid

Caregiving for Alzheimer’s isn’t just hard; it’s isolating, invisible, and full of grief that never gets a clean ending.

In this episode, Dr. Caron Leid, counselor, educator, author, and caregiver advocate, discusses how her mother’s early Alzheimer’s diagnosis and later aphasia changed everything and how the system largely left her to figure it out alone. She names the ambiguous grief of losing a parent in slow motion, and the emotional whiplash of being a daughter while also becoming the decision-maker.

Dr. Leid gets real about the “impossible choice” caregivers live with, especially in the sandwich generation. She talks about the guilt of choosing between a child and an aging parent, the exhaustion of constant vigilance, and how martyr culture rewards caregivers with praise instead of practical support. That dynamic can keep people stuck, suffering quietly, and feeling like asking for help is failing.

She also brings a trauma-informed, schema-based lens to caregiving. What we react to is not only today’s crisis, but old family patterns, cultural expectations, and the layered impact of racism and microaggressions on access, trust, and how black and brown families are treated in care settings. She explains why informal caregiving and formal healthcare work are not the same job.

Tune in and learn how to center caregivers as the backbone of care, without romanticizing their burnout.

• Connect with Dr. Leid on LinkedIn here and visit her website!

• Check out Dr. Leid’s books: Alzheimer’s: What They Forget to Tell You: A Personal Journey, Self Love: What They Forget to Tell You, Grief: What They Forget to Tell You, and BS and Other Childhood Tales We Learned by Dr. Caron Leid