Coming Clean About Caregiving is the raw, honest, and unfiltered guide to surviving life in the caregiving trenches. Hosted by veteran medical and business journalist Julie Peck (Medscape, Business Insider), this show strips away the polite clichés to talk about what caregiving is actually like.
Julie cared for her mother for six agonizing, beautiful, and overwhelming years until her death in 2022. Through that journey, she learned a lifetime of hard lessons—most of them too late to help. This podcast is the resource she wishes she’d had.
Each week, Julie brings together frontline family caregivers, top-tier clinicians, and elder care experts to share actionable advice, debunk hospice myths, and solve daily care logistics. From navigating medical data and building a care team to fighting caregiver burnout and handling the heavy weight of caregiver guilt, Coming Clean About Caregiving delivers the practical tools and validation you need to survive today.
We use a little humor, a lot of truth, and zero judgment to make the hardest job in the world just a little bit easier. Because you shouldn't have to figure it out alone.
Stop Being a Healthcare Project Manager: One Solution to the Caregiver Burden with Dan Dzina
When you’re managing care for a loved one, the hardest part often isn’t the hands-on care itself —it’s the relentless administrative logistics. Between navigating hospital discharge plans, tracking down medical records, coordinating specialists across different health systems, and managing care at home, family caregivers are forced to act as full-time project managers for a system that doesn’t talk to itself. This week, I chat with Dan Dzina, founder of Averyn Care. After spending a decade ru...
9 Oct 2026
"The Only Problem:" Caring for Elderly Parents with Morgan Hudson
What an informative and relatable conversation I had this morning with Morgan Hudson today on Coming Clean About Caregiving! As an only child, stepping into the role of primary caregiver really does bring with it a unique set of emotional, logistical, and professional challenges and Morgan has been through it all. After spending a decade climbing the corporate ladder—ultimately serving as VP of Global Brand and Travel Marketing at Visa—Morgan’s life started to shift dramatically when hi...
2 Oct 2026
The ICU Saved Their Life, But Who's Going To Heal Their Trauma - and Yours?
Millions of our loved ones make a lifesaving stop in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) every year, but very few of us are prepared for the toll it takes long after discharge. Moreover, a stay in the ICU doesn't just leave a mental and physical mark on the patient - caregivers can sustain an through an equal, and potentially even greater, dose of PTSD. In this episode, we spend some time with Dr. Jim Jackson, Director of Behavioral Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s ICU Recovery Cent...
18 Sept 2026
"Coming Clean" About Caregiving, Widowhood, and Resilience with Author Diane Heiler
What happens when you face profound loss later in life, and where do you find the strength—and the humor—to keep going? In this episode, we sit down with the witty and candid Diane Heiler, author of A Widow's Fire: An Intimate Memoir of Heartbreak, Survival, and Moving On. Writing and speaking with a rare, refreshing honesty from her 80s, Diane opens up about the realities of long-term caregiving, the complexities of grief, and discovering unexpected joy after losing her husband of 25 years. ...
11 Sept 2026
Flourishing with Alzheimer’s: Finding Joy & Humor with Carlos Olivas III
"An Alzheimer’s diagnosis doesn’t erase someone’s personality or their capacity for joy." This week on Coming Clean About Caregiving, I’m sitting down with Carlos Olivas III. You might recognize Carlos and his father, Carlos Jr., from the PBS documentary Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s. Carlos describes his dad as "flourishing with Alzheimer’s"—a journey built on love, deep patience, and a healthy dose of humor. Through his social media page @charlierobot, Carlos shares an honest, heartw...
7 Sept 2026
How to Keep Both Your Faith and Your Sense of Humor While Being a 3-Time Caregiver: Practical Advocacy, Dementia Care, and Finding Joy with Debbie DeMoss Compton
How do you navigate the overwhelming demands of caregiving while holding onto your peace, your humor, and yourself? In this episode of Coming Clean About Caregiving, we welcome nationally recognized caregiver advocate, speaker, international bestselling author, and Founder of The Purple Vine, Debbie DeMoss Compton, CCC, CCA. Drawing from her profound lived experience as a three-time primary caregiver and her professional expertise, Debbie shares practical wisdom, real talk on reducing stress,...
28 Aug 2026
Special rebroadcast of our first episode with Charlene Lam of Curating Grief
At Coming Clean About Caregiving, our goal is to provide family caregivers with the information that even the most well-meaning clinicians sometimes forget to convey—so that you'll have an easier time in all phases of your caregiving journey. It's all the info I learned too late to help my mom and me during the six years I cared for her up to and including her death in March of 2022. I'm your host, Julie Peck. In this episode, I’m joined by certified grief coach, curator, and speaker Charlene...
21 Aug 2026
Special rebroadcast of our in-demand second episode with Rebecca Feinglos of Grieve Leave
I'm Julie Peck, and my guest this episode is Rebecca Feinglos. Rebecca runs the resource-packed website Grieve Leave (https://grieveleave.com), and she also has a podcast herself called Grief'd Up. We discuss the unrealistic expectations many workplaces have around returning to work after a loss, as well as how awkward it can be to come back to the office - people just don't know what to do with you, for you, or around you! Rebecca has experienced more than her fair share of loss, and is now ...
14 Aug 2026
Nicole Kidman Did It, Too: What End-of-Life Doulas Really Do with Omni Kitts Ferrara
You’ve probably been hearing a lot about "death doulas" lately—especially after Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman announced she trained to become one! But if you think end-of-life care is a dreary, somber topic, think again. This week, we are joined by Omni Kitts Ferrara, the Director of Education for INELDA (International End-of-Life Doula Association). Omni breaks down the vital role end-of-life doulas play in supporting both dying individuals and their caregivers. In this episode, we cover: Custo...
7 Aug 2026
Battling Caregiver Burnout: How to Ask for Help (and Actually Get It) with Dr. Katherine Schafer
Let’s be honest: if one more person tells you to "just take a nice warm bath" to fix your caregiving exhaustion, you'll be having visions of boiling them in oil. Burnout is real, it’s heavy, and no amount of scented candles are going to solve it. In this episode of Coming Clean About Caregiving, we’re ditching the toxic positivity and getting down to the tactical nitty-gritty of caregiver survival. Joining us is Dr. Katherine Schafer—a clinical psychologist, assistant professor at Vanderbilt ...
31 Jul 2026
The Truth About Palliative Care: What Every Family Caregiver Needs to Know
What exactly is palliative care—and why do so many people misunderstand it? In this episode of Coming Clean About Caregiving, I sit down with palliative care physician and medical educator Dr. Lindsey Ulin to separate fact from fiction about one of the most misunderstood specialties in medicine. We explore what palliative care really is, when patients should ask for it, and how a palliative care team supports not only people living with serious illness, but also the family caregivers who walk...
24 Jul 2026
Translating Medicine: How Caregivers and Doctors Can Work Together
Navigating a loved one’s hospitalization can feel like stepping into a foreign country where everyone speaks a different language. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Adjoa Boateng-Evans of Duke Health and Duke University School of Medicine to discuss how we can bridge the gap between medical jargon and everyday "human" language. Dr. Boateng-Evans shares her practical approach to empathetic medical communication and offers valuable insights on how family members and caregivers can become em...
23 Jul 2026
Navigating Grief at Work with Grieve Leave's Rebecca Feinglos
I'm Julie Peck, and my guest this episode is Rebecca Feinglos. Rebecca runs the resource-packed website Grieve Leave (https://grieveleave.com), and she also has a podcast herself called Grief'd Up. We discuss the unrealistic expectations many workplaces have around returning to work after a loss, as well as how awkward it can be to come back to the office - people just don't know what to do with you, for you, or around you! Rebecca has experienced more than her fair share of loss, and is now ...
23 Jul 2026
Curating Grief: What to Do With the Belongings Left Behind with Charlene Lam
At Coming Clean About Caregiving, our goal is to provide family caregivers with the information that even the most well-meaning clinicians sometimes forget to convey—so that you'll have an easier time in all phases of your caregiving journey. It's all the info I learned too late to help my mom and me during the six years I cared for her up to and including her death in March of 2022. I'm your host, Julie Peck. In this episode, I’m joined by certified grief coach, curator, and speaker Charlene...
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