Donna Thomson

Donna Thomson is a caregiver, author and activist.  She is the mother of two grown children, one who happens to have severe cerebral palsy and medical complexity. Donna also helped care for her mother who passed away in the summer of 2018 at the age of 96. Donna is the co-author (with Dr. Zachary White) of The Unexpected Journey of Caring: The Transformation of Loved One to Caregiver (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019) and author of The Four Walls of My Freedom: Lessons I’ve Learned From a Life of Caregiving (McArthur and Co., 2010 and The House of Anansi Press, 2014). She blogs regularly here at The Caregivers’ Living Room.  Donna is a board director of Kids Brain Health Network and is a leader and instructor in family engagement in health research. She also teaches families how to advocate for care at The Advocacy School and at Huddol.com. For the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, Donna sat on The Expert Group on Home and Community Care, the advisory committee for the white paper on aging and on the Working Group on Complex Care for Adults with Developmental Disabilities.

When she’s not writing and reading about caregiving, Donna loves to cook for friends and family, dance and whenever possible, meditate in the wilderness, either in Quebec or in Cat Island, Bahamas.