Guest Profile

Kate Kaplan

Iowa native, Kate McLaughlin Kaplan is a 25 year advocate for caregivers of persons with

mental illness and the elderly.

With an M.S. in Rehabilitation from Drake University, she began her journey with the adoption

of twin girls who both experienced a constellation of early on-set mental illness inclusive of

Schizophrenia. Kate quickly learned that the struggle of this is not limited to those who have a

mental illness but also those who provide them care.

Her girls now at the age of 25 are employed, educated, and married. With her personal work

completed, she launched a business 3 years ago; Kate Kaplan Health And Life Coach, Mental

Illness Iowa to help other caregivers with the same battles she conquered. She is passionate

that caregivers not be lost in the silence of mental illness or the loneliness of elder care.

Her work in mental illness caregiver coaching dovetails her earlier work with families or

individuals facing painful elder care decisions. In that, she assessed and provided families and

individuals with at-home care givers preventing the need for the upheavel resulting from the

unwanted move to an unfamiliar “last move” place. Allowing seniors to remain in their homes if

they choose is of paramount importance to Kaplan.