Sherri Snelling published her first book on caregiving in 2013 — four years before starting the Master of Arts in Gerontology (MAG) program at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. A Cast of Caregivers: Celebrity Stories to Help You Prepare to Care was the culmination of a decade of experience as a marketer, journalist and health care consultant. That experience included interviews with celebrities and advising the White House.
Despite her success, Snelling still felt she had more to learn. “I certainly knew a lot about the world of caregiving,” Snelling says. “I didn’t know as much about aging and gerontology. The MAG program, grounded in science and research, expanded my thinking and gave me a more powerful voice.”
Learning gerontology from the best
Snelling is a Trojan through and through. She completed her BA in journalism and political science at USC in 1985. When she decided to pursue her Master’s, she wasn’t interested in going anywhere else.
“USC is like home for me,” Snelling says. “That it has the top gerontology program in the nation was icing on the cake.”
MAG provides inspiration for her second book
A theme throughout Snelling’s coursework was the biopsychosocial model of aging — a concept she’d incorporate into her second book. The model emphasizes the interactions between the biological, psychological and social aspects of aging over the life course.
Many of Snelling’s classes looked at this model from different angles:
- Counseling Older Adults and Their Families: Co-taught by Donna Benton, PhD and Paul Nash, PhD, this class covered common psychological conditions in older adults and different intervention techniques.
- Gerontechnology: Aaron Hagedorn, PhD looked at artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality — and their applications to aging and health care.
- Housing for the Elderly: John Pynoos, PhD highlighted how people’s homes and environment affect their wellness as they age.
- The Mind-Body Connection Through the Lifespan: This course, co-taught by Andrei Irimia, PhD and Paul Nash, examined how emotions, behaviors and beliefs impact the biology of aging.
Snelling also recalls the last class she took at USC Leonard Davis School. “It was taught by George Shannon, PhD, who recently passed away,” she says. “Professor Shannon was still teaching into his 80s. He was an inspiration to always pursue your dreams and keep learning.”
Understanding the importance of caregiver support
Living in a multigenerational household at a young age planted a seed of interest in caregiving for Snelling. That seed didn’t start to grow until an unexpected job opportunity arose in the early 2000s. A company that sold family caregiver employee benefits solutions to employer groups hired Snelling as Senior Marketing Manager.
“Supporting family caregivers felt right to me and became my passion,” Snelling says.
At that time, there weren’t a lot of people talking about caregiver support and Snelling had the opportunity to advise at high levels. She served as a board member and president of the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC). In 2004, the NAC published Caregivers in Decline. This research study was one of the first to focus on the physical and psychological health toll of being a caregiver.
Snelling was also invited to share her views on caregiving with government officials. In 2009, she participated in then-Vice President Joe Biden’s Middle Class Task Force at the White House. Her work with the government expanded to reviewing small business program grants focused on preventing or treating Alzheimer’s disease for the National Institute on Aging.
These early experiences laid the groundwork for Snelling’s future career, inspiring her to launch her website and write her first book.
Filling a void in caregiving awareness
Snelling’s website, Caregiving Club, sought to raise awareness and provide education about the role that family caregivers play in society. It dovetailed with the stories she was writing around the same time as a journalist for PBS Next Avenue and Forbes.com.
“Through PBS Next Avenue, I interviewed quite a few celebrities such as Holly Robinson Pete and Joan Lunden, who had cared for loved ones,” Snelling says. “They struggled with the same challenges as noncelebrities — the roller coaster of emotions and a fractured health care system. It’s pretty universal for caregivers to feel like there’s no one to help.”
It was from all this experience that she gathered the material for that first book A Cast of Caregivers, which includes:
- Celebrity stories
- A to Z list of what to expect as a caregiver — from nutrition and housing to the legal and financial aspects of caregiving
- Tips for self-care
Creating a life as an authorpreneur
Snelling’s book took off, leading to a flurry of speaking engagements, educational programs and consulting jobs. She leaned into the role of authorpreneur, using her books to drive new business initiatives and programs.
In August 2023, Snelling released her second book. Me Time Monday: The Weekly Wellness Plan to Find Balance and Joy for a Busy Life builds on the self-care chapters from A Cast of Caregivers.
“Me Time Monday is based on the biopsychosocial model I learned at USC Leonard Davis School,” says Snelling. “I broke the model into seven areas — or elements — of wellness. I then developed research-based wellness strategies for each element. When developing strategies, I drew from the field of neuroscience, the brain’s connection to nature and our ancient beginnings as humans.”
Snelling has also started working on her third book, The Snug Home: A Family Caregiver Guide to Well Home Design. This volume focuses on home design and environmental wellness, one of the seven wellness elements in Me Time Monday. It goes beyond making spaces accessible for older adults, incorporating nature-centered (biophilic) design to help people live longer, healthier and happier.
Caregiving has changed, solutions must follow
When asked about what’s changed since she started working in the caregiving field, Snelling points to the RAISE Family Caregivers Act. Passed in 2018, the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support & Engage Family Caregivers Act is helping create a national strategy for family caregiving. She also points to the excellent research at the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers that focuses on workplace caregiving issues.
“It’s exciting to see the implementation of some of these national strategy recommendations,” Snelling says.
The definition of caregiver is also changing. “If we think about gerontology as aging across the lifespan, we should also look at caregiving through that lens,” Snelling says. “Caregiving is a role we play throughout our lives — whether caring for others or practicing self-care. We need help to plan better for caring for both younger and older generations while balancing caring for ourselves.”
Indeed, Snelling, who defines herself as a corporate gerontologist, is taking that approach in her own work. The recommendations for more life balance in Me Time Monday are for everyone, not just caregivers.
Snelling continues her role as a corporate educator for a network of 61,000 employers and ERGs (employee resource groups). She presents monthly webinars on burnout, Alzheimer’s, brain health and other topics to better support caregivers in the workplace.
“USC Leonard Davis School has given me such a broad perspective of life,” Snelling says. “Going back for my master’s in my 50s was one of the best things I’ve done.”
To learn more about the Master of Arts in Gerontology program at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, call us at (213) 740-5156.
