Laurie Barr — Author · Caregiver Advocate · Speaker
Bringing the Caregiving Conversation to Your Audience
Laurie draws on her deeply personal caregiving journey — and her years as a healthcare executive — to deliver talks that are honest, warm, and immediately useful. Whether she's speaking to a room of family caregivers, healthcare professionals, or a corporate audience navigating work-life balance, Laurie meets people where they are and leaves them feeling seen, supported, and better equipped for the road ahead.
Speaking Topics
I Just Want to Be a Daughter
The emotional cost of becoming your parent's caregiver.
A candid, compassionate conversation about role reversal, exhaustion, guilt, family dynamics, and finding your way back to the relationship beneath the caregiving role.
Ideal for: Family caregivers, community organizations, senior living communities, healthcare organizations, and sandwich-generation audiences.
The Long Fade
Grieving someone who is still here.
An intimate exploration of anticipatory grief, ambiguous loss, changing identity, and finding connection and meaning as a loved one slowly declines.
Ideal for: Caregiver support groups, hospice and palliative care organizations, grief programs, faith communities, libraries, senior communities, and general audiences.
The Whack-a-Mole Game
When no one sees the whole patient.
Lessons from years of navigating specialists, ER visits, fragmented care, and a rare neurological diagnosis — and what family advocates can do to connect the dots.
Ideal for: Healthcare organizations, patient advocacy groups, care managers, senior living professionals, caregiver organizations, and families navigating complex chronic illness.
The Unexpected Caregiver Toolkit
What she wishes she'd known before caregiving became her second job.
A practical, audience-friendly session on preparing for caregiving, organizing medical information, building a support team, asking for help, and protecting the caregiver.
Ideal for: Libraries, hospitals, employers, community centers, senior organizations, caregiver coalitions, faith communities, and public education programs.
When Love and Resentment Coexist
A caregiver's story of the feelings we rarely talk about.
An honest exploration of caregiver resentment, family dynamics, unmet expectations, guilt, boundaries, asking for help, and the turning point when professional support created room to reconnect as mother and daughter.
Ideal for: Family caregivers, adult children caring for aging parents, sandwich-generation caregivers, caregiver support groups, hospice and palliative care organizations, senior living communities, faith communities, and organizations supporting employees who are balancing work and caregiving.
What to Expect
Keynote
A 45–60 minute keynote weaving personal narrative with practical takeaways, tailored to your audience and theme.
Workshop
An interactive 90-minute session that goes deeper — with guided reflection, group discussion, and hands-on tools for caregivers.
Panel & Q&A
Laurie is an engaging, candid panelist and welcomes audience Q&A on caregiving, memoir writing, and the healthcare system.
Book Club Visit
A virtual or in-person visit with your book club — conversation, questions, and the stories behind The Long Fade to Morning.
Book Laurie
Invite Laurie to Speak
To inquire about availability, fees, and topic customization, please reach out using the form below. Laurie speaks locally in the Portland, OR area and is available for travel and virtual engagements.