Family Navigator: A Personal Reflection

Heather French, Director of Family Navigation and Resources, writes, “Families and individuals often have big feelings about situations they have lived through and may feel stifled in how they express those feelings as part of their story while trying to avoid stigmatizing or appearing negative while their situation was negative from their perspective. As family members advocating for our loved ones we often feel our perspective is dismissed by professionals we engage with and we struggle with how to advocate for what our loved one needs in a way that gets them to consider our perspective but not come off as emotional, overbearing, or helicopter parenting. 
 
As we are emotional because this our life every day, but we are the patient for just a short portion of that day.  For the provider it is often a moment in their day but for the individual and family it is much bigger as it is their life.  When we leave, the struggle or illness goes with us and the provider moves on to the next patient.”

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