Debbie Compton

I attribute my success to God, absolutely. Because he had the plan, I did not. This was not my plan. I never dreamt that this would be the path that I would be on. But he sees the bigger picture, and he had it all planned out. My training at work and the skills that I gained at work have been very beneficial in forming my company - very beneficial in organization, and management, and everything. I've learned that I was a little spoiled, because before I had teams, and I would just tell them what I needed, and they would do it, and now I have to do it all myself. But God had the plan and brought me through 21 years of caregiving for three loved ones with different forms of dementia so that I could help other caregivers with the real-life experience and knowledge I gained.

The best career advice I have received is not to live to work, but to work to live.

Let go of perfectionism and remember to take care of yourself. It can be so overwhelming in this field, and perfectionism will hold you back. You have to release that need to do everything perfectly and make sure you're taking care of your own needs, because if you don't, you won't be able to sustain the work of caring for others.

The main challenge I have is that many family caregivers don't even recognize that they are a caregiver. I didn't either in the beginning - I was just a daughter who's taking care of her parents. So when I use the term caregiver, they tune out because they don't think it applies to them. A huge challenge is getting people to understand that yes, you are a caregiver, and I can help you. People don't like to ask for help as a general rule. If you're a caregiver, you're typically the type of person who comes with a Wonder Woman cape - I can do it all, I got it all myself, I don't need help. Help can seem like you're failing, or like you didn't do enough, like you should be able to handle it by yourself. These are all false beliefs that we have. What happens then is that you get to the end of your rope in what is now termed caregiver burnout - the state of complete exhaustion, mental, physical, emotional, sometimes spiritual - because you've waited so long to get help. One of the main things that I do is teach caregivers to take care of yourself so that you don't even have that point of burnout, but that requires that you take some time to take care of yourself, and self-care is not selfish, though so often we think it is.

Honesty and integrity are most important to me. Loving and caring for other people, truly caring - people need love and support, a listening ear. They need someone who understands, someone who will listen without judging. Some people like to stand on a soapbox and act like they have it all figured out and do everything perfect. I don't do that. I'm not one of those people. I will openly say, hey, I did this, don't do it, this did not work well. I use laughter to teach all the time, because laughter's great medicine - it lowers stress and helps you to be able to continue on the journey. If you can laugh about it, you're gonna be okay. I have tons and tons of funny stories, things that did not feel funny in the moment, but I use them as teaching tools.