Donna began her journey in Human Services in 1983. During the next 35 years she held various positions and formally retired in 2018. She writes on an array of social issues. Donna's relaxation time includes walking her Lab, Roxy, having fun with her seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, writing for Silver Sage, spending time with friends and family. Her last full-time position was providing care to her father. Since that has ended, Donna is taking the time to invest in her own self care and interests.
Caregiving During Difficult Times by Donna L Scrafano Although my caregiving duties ended with my father’s death prior to the 2020 pandemic, I continued to facilitate a caregiver support group at the YWCA in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where my father once attended an adult program. During the pandemic, I’m continuing to facilitate the group via phone, Read more
Emotional Spring Cleaning by Donna Scrafano Spring is usually the season when we clean out our brick-and-mortar homes and closets for the coming year. But Spring is also a good time to clean out any toxic energy that may have infiltrated our lives. Such toxic energy may come in the forms of everyday stressors, pending Read more
The Other “F” Word by Donna Scrafano I hope the title of this article didn’t get anyone’s bottoms in a bunch. This title flew out of my mouth while meeting with a client, approximately twenty years ago. The client was sharing her stories about abuse suffered by her family of origin. The client processed her Read more
The Perfect Pandemic Wedding by Donna Scrafano Two years before the pandemic, my granddaughter, Mariah, and her fiancé, Chris, began planning their wedding. Their first thought was to have a destination wedding in Jamaica. After several family meetings and many discussions, however, they decided that a destination wedding would be too complicated for some family Read more
Retirement, Reinventing, Redesigning by Donna L. Scrafano As a young professional and a single parent, the answer I gave when asked about retirement was, “I’ll be dropping dead at a desk somewhere because I’ll never be able to retire.” A bleak answer, for sure. As the fates would have it, I took an early, unplanned Read more
Planning Holidays In a Pandemic by Donna Scrafano Like everything else under pandemic restrictions, holidays have been and will continue to be celebrated differently in my family. When the world shut down in March, everyone seemed to be scrambling about trying to figure out how to live their daily lives. Holidays were not the main Read more
Intergenerational House Sharing by Donna L. Scrafano Last year, I was forced to make some major, life-changing decisions. My 90-year-old father, whom I was taking care of (and who has since died), was ailing, and his condition was getting worse. So we decided that it was best that he and I live with my daughter Read more
Love Out Loud By Donna L. Scrafano While we all attempt to survive this pandemic, we can’t deny that life as we once knew it has changed greatly. In addition to picking up groceries or walking into a store with our masks and armor on, we are social distancing from family and friends or not Read more
The Dreadful What-Ifs by Donna L. Scrafano Oh, what we do to ourselves by attempting to anticipate the future! During the years I worked as a Human Services professional, I often advised clients to relieve themselves of the “what-ifs”—those annoying, self-doubting questions of what may or may not happen, questions that cause us to worry Read more
Beautifully Mixed by Donna Scrafano As a young social worker, in the 1980s, I had the grand opportunity to work with a wonderful psychologist. She taught me many valuable lessons. One thing she said continues to resonate in my mind: “God made mixed children extra beautiful because he knew the special challenges they would face.” Read more
