About The Caregiving Years Training Academy
The Caregiving Years Training Academy traces its origins back to 1990, when Denise began supporting family caregivers. Denise continues to pioneer professional support for family caregivers through the Training Academy which she launched in 2020 after completing a successful acquisition of her first business. Today, we empower healthcare professionals, family caregivers, and organizations to transform their approach to caregiving with proven frameworks rooted in lived experience and authentic expertise.
Everything we teach is rooted in real experience. Our founder, Denise M. Brown, has walked the caregiving journey herself and brings that authentic understanding to every program, workshop, and interaction.
Our Mission & Values
We believe that every family caregiver deserves expert support from someone who has walked in their shoes. We believe that caregiving experience is valuable expertise that, when combined with effective training, creates transformation.
Our mission is to empower family caregivers and healthcare professionals with the knowledge, tools, and community they need to navigate caregiving with clarity, confidence, and hope.
We Believe in You
- You deserve to be empowered during your personal caregiving experience
- You are an expert in your caregiving experience—that expertise is invaluable
- Your expertise benefits from effective and timely training
- The best teacher is someone who's been through it, too
- You deserve insights that reflect your current reality
We Believe in Transformation
- You can empower others as an Advocate and Facilitator
- You can transform expertise into a career as a Caregiving Specialist or Consultant
- You deserve success that inspires others to believe
- Every family caregiver needs expert guidance rooted in lived experience
- Together, we can change how the world supports caregivers
Our Proprietary Frameworks
Denise has developed specialized frameworks that help family caregivers understand their journey and navigate their unique experiences.
The Six Caregiving Stages
A comprehensive framework that helps you understand where you are in your caregiving journey and what to expect at each stage. Recognition of where you stand is the first step toward clarity and action.
Learn About the Stages →The 14 Caregiving Fatigues
Identifies and addresses the specific types of exhaustion family caregivers experience. Moving beyond simple burnout to recognize the unique, interconnected challenges caregivers face.
Explore the Fatigues →The 19 Caregiving Systems
An integrated approach to understanding the interconnected systems that impact your caregiving experience and family dynamics. Recognizing these systems helps you navigate them effectively.
Discover the Systems →The 9 Domains of You
Maps the nine functional domains of caregiving work—Advocating, Assessing, Being, Communicating, Deciding, Managing, Planning, Providing, and Sustaining—and puts a value on each. Most family caregivers are operating across nearly all nine from the start.
Calculate Your Domains' Value →Our Community & Initiatives
Beyond training programs, we've created multiple initiatives to ensure family caregivers' voices and experiences are celebrated and supported.
CaringOurWay.com Community
Our thriving online community connects over 1,100 members with others who understand the caregiving journey. Members access support chats, podcasts, events, and resources—both during caregiving years and after.
Join Our Community →The Caregiving Listener Project
Held twice yearly, this unique initiative creates sacred space for family caregivers to speak from the heart about their experiences in private Zoom sessions with trained Volunteer Listening Artists.
Learn More →Certified Caregiving Consultant Program
Our flagship training program has trained over 400 consultants from 8 countries. Professionals are now advancing their careers while transforming the lives of family caregivers they serve.
Explore Programs →Content & Insights
Stay connected through Denise's weekly "Caregiving Reflections" newsletter, "Sunday Question" inspiration series, and our growing podcast and video library featuring insights, interviews, and support.
Access Resources →Your Caregiving Value, Calculated
Our free Non-Reimbursed Family Caregiver Savings Calculator puts a number on the work family caregivers do every day. Respondents report an average of $163,000 a year in non-reimbursed value—work that has gone uncounted for far too long.
Calculate Your Value →When Research Misses the Mark
A series examining how decades of caregiver research have measured burden while overlooking what family caregivers actually need. Published simultaneously on Substack, Caring Our Way, and the Training Academy.
Read the Series →The Comprehensive Caregiving Program Audit
A four-framework evaluation for any organization building programs for family caregivers—employer benefits, nonprofit respite programs, Medicaid waiver services, and more. We help organizations see what's load-bearing and what's missing entirely.
Learn About the Audit →Our Impact & Results
The overwhelming response from family caregivers and professionals tells us we're making a difference.
Family caregivers overwhelmingly recommend our programs because we understand what they need. When you engage with our training programs, you gain access to successful, proven methodologies—success that becomes your success.
Strategic Partnerships
We develop ongoing, meaningful partnerships to expand our reach and impact.
We develop ongoing, meaningful partnerships through FindHelp.org which refers leading health care systems and organizations to our programs. Because of these partnerships, we continuously expand our reach and impact.
Through our work with Plans4Care, we've developed a personalized coaching program to support dementia family caregivers with tailored care plans.
Ready to Begin Your Journey?
Whether you're a family caregiver seeking support, a professional interested in caregiving training, or an organization wanting to support your team, we're here to help.
Phone: 773-343-6341
Email: denise@careyearsacademy.com
