Welcome to Carer Mentor!
Hi, I'm Victoria. I live in the UK and I’ve been caregiving since 2015.
I resigned from my corporate VP position in Belgium to help my Mum care for Dad until his passing in 2020. After eighteen relocations across ten countries, I care for my mother in my childhood home.
A nightmare situation liberated me from the societal definitions of ambition. Now I’m learning to live my bespoke definition of thriving. I’m building this website and paying forward two decades of leading commercial teams through mentoring, while my highest priority remains caring for my mother.
I’m building Carer Mentor: Empathy and Inspiration for Caregivers and anyone with a chronic illness or health condition.
I launched the website on my Dad’s birthday in 2020, the first without him. I joined Substack in October 2023 and could finally build the community support network I’d envisaged, with this fifth evolution of Carer Mentor.
The Carer Mentor website is a hub of tools, resources & insights, as well as a community support network. A portal of hope ❤️
Purpose & Mission:
It's personal because I've experienced a rollercoaster journey: caring for my parents, recalibrating my sense of self, discovering how to sustain my mental health and well-being - to name just a few of the challenges!
By sharing my caregiving experiences and those of others in the Carer Mentor community, we can build a network of empathy and inspiration to support each other.
Through this network, we can shift the narrative of caregiving from behind closed doors, from an individual’s burden to everyday, mainstream conversations that highlight the social collective crisis of caregiving. You are not alone, and we cannot do this alone.
You can read more about why I started Carer Mentor in this article:
“There are only four kinds of people in the world—those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers.” -Rosalynn Carter, Former First Lady of the United States.
The Carer Mentor Website and Publication continue to evolve.
As our community and network grow, the publication will evolve to meet your needs.
The website is a hub and portal to the resources, training, and insights I've acquired as a caregiver and a global commercial leader. E.g. A series of articles on a specific topic: Emotional Agility
The iCARE Stack is a reliable Go-To Hub. (Read the introduction here) I’ve curated the information based on my personal experience and journey—what I would have wanted to read. I curate the indexes and anthologies, so you don’t have to spend your precious time and energy scrolling or searching for care-related articles. It will never be a complete compendium, but it’s a great starting point when you have limited time! Two of the most popular Anthologies include: The Caregivers Hacks/Tips or the iCARE Cancer Anthology.
iCARE Stack also serves as a portal to other authors’ publications focused on caregiving, as well as to creators who share their experiences as part of their broader portfolios.
Collaborations with Author-Caregivers. I’ve led several collaborations with other caregivers. The most recent is ‘Letters from a Caregiver’, which I started on September 4th 2025. We’ve been sharing heartfelt messages of wisdom and comfort to our younger selves.
My story in brief
This image below shows the fairly sedate ups and downs I had until 2015 and then the seismic shifts and jolts I’ve experienced since then:
In 2015, I took a leave of absence from my role in a pharmaceutical company as a Commercialisation Vice President to help my Mum care for my Dad.
In 2017, I resigned to dedicate more time to helping my Mum care for my Dad. At the same time, I started my mentoring business, supporting clients in their work challenges and career strategies.
Now, I’m a full-time ‘unpaid carer’ with a small business that fits around my caring routine for Mum.
My most precious gift is time, and I choose to spend it caring for my loved one and on this mission, advocating and supporting other caregivers.
Please consider supporting the publication with a paid subscription. Thank you.
Please ‘❤️’ LIKE the article & consider subscribing!
