About Kim
I bring integrity, truth, and enthusiasm to all that I do. I love life and get a thrill out of the small sweet stuff as well as the grand mind-blowing thrills in life.
A Little Bit About Me
What I Love…
Spending Time With My Family
I live on an acreage with my husband, son, and various pets. We spend most of our vacation time visiting our extended family in Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Wisconsin. We fly often–my husband has been a private pilot for more than thirty years and our son is a professional aviator. When not flying to see family, we often meet up with them in other locales. We are blessed to have such close family ties.
My sisters and I began our annual “sacred sister trips” in 2008. We have an absolute blast! Being blessed with the support of wonderful partners, the men in our lives maintain the home fires as our trips evolved from four day weekends in Chicago or New York, to weeklong destinations abroad. I revel in recalling our antics and laughs in my work-in-progress memoir. If you are blessed with sisters, I highly recommend sister trips!!
No matter where I roam, I am always excited to get back home to see my boys as home is still my favourite place to be.
Creating
I have been a creator/maker/artisan for as long as I can remember. I learned to knit, stitch, and bake from my mother and grandmothers at an early age. I have taken many courses to pursue my creative passions over the years including painting, fibre arts, photography, and writing. I love to master new creative skills–learning is at the root of my creative passions! I addition to daily writing, I spend time in my studio space, Starfish Studios–named for my love of the beach, where I create jewelry, mixed fibre wearable art, sew, and just play. I sell my work at a few local markets, boutiques, and sometime on this website.
Loving my fibre! Right now I am making wraps and ponchos from the softest woolens and cashmere that I have sourced and carefully prepared for new designs!
Loving my beads! Making jewelry is my mainstay using the finest semi-precious gemstones, Swarovski crystal, and silver!
Loving sewing by hand and machine. I quilt and sew garments from patterns sometimes, but mainly I’m an intuitive sewist and often restyle and make it up as I go. I am a hand embroiderer and am learning to do it with beads–tedious, but meditative. Sew much to learn!
Travelling
I invite you to check out my ‘work with me’ tab for any upcoming retreats and consider joining!
Reading
I am a voracious reader and enjoy both fiction and non-fiction. One of my favourite things to do is spend time on a beach with a great read!
A few of my recent favourites:
♦ Kate Quinn: The Alice Network
♦ Victoria Sweet: Slow Medicine
♦ Tanya Talaga: Seven Fallen Feathers
♦ Kristen Hannah: The Nightengale
♦ Any beach read by Elin Hildebrand, Jennifer Weiner, or Emily Henry.
On writing creative nonfiction:
♦ Lee Gutkind: Keep it Real & You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
♦ Richard Rhodes: How to Write
♦ Jack Hart: Storycraft
♦ Roy Peter Clark: How to Write Short
Yoga
I began my yoga journey in 2009 and never looked back. A former fitness leader, my fitness activities ebbed and flowed over the years through love affairs with aerobics, pilates, strength building and so on. I like to keep active and lower back pain, that was at times limiting my movement, led me to yoga. Within 3 months I had minimal pain and much more flexibility in my spine.
I strive for functional fitness. For me, the end goal is our ability to keep on moving and doing all of the activities we enjoy.
I am a 500-hour certified yoga teacher and offer sessions to individuals, small groups and at workshops, conferences, and retreats.
Writing
My latest book, The Accidental Caregiver: Wisdom and guidance for the unexpected challenges of family caregiving, has just been released by Sutherland House and you can find it at your favourite local bookstore or on-line.
Current book projects:
I am working on three companion books that will complete the family caregiving series (titles to be finalized):
The CareBook: A Resource to take you from accidental to intentional family caregiving,
Juicy Self-care For Family Caregivers: A daily journal,
365 Days of Caregiving: Inspiration and Guidance in soundbites from the field.
Pilots, Polar Bears, and Patients: Adventures of a Young Nurse in Canada’s North is a memoir of my first ten years of nursing while studying and working in different communities. It tells the story of stretching and risk-taking while I was young and highly curious. I still am curious.
I also write academic articles for peer-reviewed scholarly publications about home care, case management, family caregiving, and the therapeutic aspects of arts-based work.
In addition to writing my books and academic articles, I write essays on yoga, caregiving, creativity, and health.
I play with poetry, practice scene writing, journal frequently, and in general, just try to keep my butt in the chair!
…and yoga helps with writing–a lot! Watch for my Writing and Yoga short workshops and offerings. The two work hand in hand to make both a richer experience.
A Little Bit About Me
My Work Life…
Professional History
Dr. Kimberly Fraser, author and speaker, workshop facilitator and creativity coach, is a champion for family caregiving.
As a nursing professor, I researched, published, and taught about family caregiving, home care, case management, and related health policy as well as knowledge utilization.
- I use innovative and arts-based approaches in my applied research and my approach to teaching and learning..
- I am particularly interested in the knowledge used to inform policy decisions that lead to better outcomes for home care clients and their family caregivers.
A former Associate Professor at the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, and Clinician Scientist-Home Care with Alberta Health Services, I am now a contract professor with the Faculty of Health Studies at Athabasca University and devote most of my “work” time to teaching, writing, and community board work.
I have extensive clinical practice and leadership in home care and community health.
- A nurse entrepreneur, I owned We Care Home Health Services (Edmonton), among other companies, with my husband Don for over 25 years.
- I held several past board positions, often in executive roles, with organizations that support home care and family caregiving.
- I am the current Past-President of Caregivers Alberta and a board member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.
I advocate for quality home care for all Canadians delivered in respectful, supportive, and safe environments for clients, family caregivers, and paid providers alike.
Credentials
Registered Nursing Diploma – Aberdeen Hospital School of Nursing – I lived in a female-only residence here, and some great memories happened at the good ol’ Aberdeen. I proudly wore my black band, prior to caps being cast aside in the early eighties. My mother and my youngest sister are also alum.
Bachelor of Nursing Degree – Dalhousie University School of Nursing as a Post-RN student….funded by my stints working in Canada’s North.
Master of Arts (Health Education & Promotion) – Dalhousie University Faculty of Recreation, Physical Education, and Kinesiology – Because every student should experience university life in Halifax at least once. I did it thrice, and Halifax is still one of my favourite cities.
Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing – University of Alberta Faculty of Nursing – I have a curious mind–particularly about how we make decisions in health care and how they do (or don’t) help patients and clients. I’m still curious about that.
MFA Creative Nonfiction – University of Kings College at Dalhousie University – I just can’t get enough of school. I wanted to be a better writer and write for the general public in a more accessible manner than most academics do. When I saw the low-residency MFA program at King’s, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for!
Board & Volunteer Work
As a nurse, I spent my career in community and home care including practice, administration, nursing entrepreneurship, teaching, and research roles. I have seen the first-hand value of a robust home care system to support family caregivers–the primary caregivers when loved ones need care. I have had a rich nursing career and am blessed to have loved all my experiences.
An inherent leader and entrepreneur, I get my greatest joy from helping others learn new things, apply new skills, and achieve their goals. I advocate for better home care and more support for family caregivers.
Currently, I am a volunteer board member with Caregivers Alberta (Past President) and the Writers Guild of Alberta. I am also on the editorial board of Yoga Bridge, a quarterly publication by the Yoga Association of Alberta.
I am a peer reviewer for several scholarly journals related to my areas of expertise.
Publications
Through my well-funded research program at the University of Alberta, I published as an author or co-author in high-impact scholarly journals such as Medical Decision Making, Social Care in the Community, International Journal of Nursing Studies, and Advances in Nursing Science, to name a few.
More enjoyment comes from community engagement, workshopping, and writing in venues accessible to all, like this link to Healthy Debate, where I talk about how we might improve urgent care for older people.
Other Education & Certifications
- Yoga Teacher–500-hour Certification
- Life and Executive Coach Certification
- Creativity Coach Certification
- MFA Creative Nonfiction
…and lots of other short courses, because it’s fun to learn!
