Christine, wearing a black dress, captured while presenting a workshop

Engaged & Experienced

During the past 20 years of my professional life, I developed and delivered more than 3,000 presentations and workshops for groups as large as 700 people. I have facilitated conference sessions and delivered keynotes at both the local and national level. I've spoken on radio shows, podcasts, videos, and been interviewed on television.

I found you to be an excellent speaker and your method of presentation was very effective. This is saying something, since as of 3:30 today, we had already endured 6 hours of lecture time and until your presentation began I was nodding-off at my desk.
- 4th-year medical student

Storytelling with Substance

I wanted to thank you for a really amazing presentation yesterday. The audience loved it and it was perfect info for them. You are an excellent presenter!
- Professor Occupational Therapy

Here are my general areas of focus

Our Story

Once upon a time, there was a former professional skydiver/daredevil and a frequent fainter/fraidycat who fell in love...and stayed in love.

Spoiler alert: one of them dies of the cancer that kills far more people each year than any other.

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Trauma- Informed Care Can Save Your Patient's Life

My husband's first cancer was "very curable". But, he would have refused to endure treatment because it repeatedly re-activated his previous, horrific trauma.

He is not alone. Let's change that.

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michael feet hospital bed

Widow Tantrums & Caregiver Confessions

If you've ever wanted to scream or collapse in your driveway with drama, because you're struggling: I hear you.

Caregiving is no joke, but sometimes it feels like the biggest one of all.

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Workshop Descriptions

I think Christine is a fabulous facilitator! Welcoming, fun, and clear.
- Professor, Master of Public Administration
Trauma-Informed Care

Content warning: sexual & physical abuse statistics and discussion.

The Problem - An estimated 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men (like my husband) with cancer are previous survivors of childhood sexual abuse (citation: Journal Psychosocial Oncology). These numbers do not include additional survivors of physical abuse (also like my husband) and may indicate that childhood abuse affects a significant percentage of cancer patients. Given the number of patients seen daily for cancer treatment and in clinics, practitioners are likely working with numerous patients every day with this history.

Important for Clinicians - Research indicates that survivors of childhood abuse have lower rates of compliance with cancer treatment and worse outcomes. Patients may refuse or not complete potentially curative or life-extending treatment, lash out unpredictably during procedures and experience significant re-activation of trauma from practitioners' well-intentioned help.

The Session - Increase cancer-specific trauma awareness, discuss and gain quickly-implementable solutions for your patients and staff. Hear about our experiences that bring the research to life.

I am not a trauma expert, but I am an expert at workshop delivery and will share the lived experience of how trauma impacted Michael's cancer treatment and decisions.

Love and Large-Cell
Lung Cancer

For most people, getting cancer is a life-changing, world-stopping event.

My husband, Michael, was diagnosed with two different, unrelated cancers within two years and even when we knew the second one would be fatal, he never asked, "Why me?" 

In fact, he often said, "Why NOT me? Cancer is not the worst thing to have happened to me in my life—by far." Watching him suffer was definitely the worst thing to happen to me though—by far. It was an extremely difficult case for his healthcare practitioners, too.

His oncologist called his cancer, "low volume, very bad location" disease. That means there was barely any cancer in his body, but it tortured him until it took his life—and my heart with him.

The day before he died, despite having been in hospital for four months and paralyzed from the ribs down, Michael said, "There's always hope."

I'm sharing our story because I want there to be more hope for all cancer patients, but especially for stigmatized and under-funded lung cancer patients, so that my "worst thing" can become something worthy of the hope Michael held onto until his very last breath.

Widow Trantrums &
Caregiver Confessions

To paraphrase an old comedy routine by Jeff Foxworthy:

If you can drive a vehicle and (mostly) safely sob at the same time, you might be a caregiver or widowed person.

If you feel raging jealousy towards other cancer patients or partnered people, you might be a caregiver or widowed person.

If there are nasty voices in your head telling you you're doing everything wrong and failing everyone, you might be a caregiver or widowed person.

Let's bring caregiving and grief out of the shadows. There are some public resources to help, but sometimes finding a community of people who get it, is what's most comforting and validating. After all, most of us will face both in our lifetime and we shouldn't have to cope with the surviving, fallout, and recovery, alone.

Hear our story and share your own experiences, helpful strategies, and dark confessions that only others going through similar situations will understand (and not judge you for).

Still unsure? If you feel like screaming every time another person asks you, "But, are you taking care of yourself?" this might be the workshop for you.

Best workshop I've taken so far in 3 years. Very helpful!
- Biomedical Computing Graduate
Advocacy