Donna Barker Communications

I help non-profits and socially responsible businesses learn to tell their stories more effectively.

How?

Through writing, strategic planning and training support.

Here’s a list of services I can provide your organization; a list of my recent clients (feel free to contact any of them for a reference); a few client testimonials; and links to some resources I’ve written.

I sporadically add posts to my blog. Find client stories collected here; my sharedVISION column here; and old health blog posts here.

What the school pamphlets don’t tell you

My health column for the March issue of Today’s Vancouver Woman (formerly sharedVISION Magazine)

In the 2008–2009 school year, B.C. schools began providing the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine free to girls in grades 6 and 9. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that typically has no symptoms and is one cause of cervical cancer.

I learned about the new “recommended childhood immunization” from my son and was upset to hear that many of the girls he hung out with were having the shot. I wanted to call every mother of every Grade 6 girl I knew and explain why I thought the HPV vaccine was a bad idea. But that might have isolated my own child as “the kid with a crazy mom.” Continue Reading »

A sure-fire recipe for maintaining a top-notch ticker

My health column for the February issue of Today’s Vancouver Woman (formerly sharedVISION) magazine.

by Donna Barker

It’s February—the month marked by a sea of red hearts in store windows and skyrocketing sales of cards, flowers, chocolates, and diamonds that whisper, “I love you.” Even women like me, who don’t usually buy into the marketing hype, want to feel acknowledged by our sweeties on Valentine’s Day. Men, it seems, don’t have the same need: our hearts appear to be different in this respect.

Our hearts are also different in another, more important, way: how they develop heart disease. Continue Reading »

(Hint: it’s all in the way you feel)

My health column for the January issue of sharedVISION magazine.

This month I have to renew my driver’s licence and, in so doing, share personal information about my body with bureaucrats. Hair colour: brown. Height: 178 centimetres. Weight: 59 to 68 kilograms, depending on the time of year.

Truth be told, I’ve never owned a scale and don’t weigh myself often. But I do know that when I feel sexy in short skirts and tight T-shirts, I’m at the low end of what I consider my normal weight range. And that when my belly flab hangs over my belt, I’m at the high end. When I think my body looks best in clothes, I find my naked reflection scrawny with pointy edges: a breastless Twiggy. And when I hate how my size 13 jeans fit, I love the way I look naked: a Rubenesque beauty, baby!

All this got me to wondering what my perfect body weight should be. Continue Reading »

So stay warm, avoid stress, and nix chemicals

My health column for the December issue of sharedVISION magazine.

When I was a kid there were four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I don’t recall when it was added, but for years now, as soon as Rita MacNeil’s holiday concert ads hit the TV, so do messages about the fifth season—cold and flu.

We have Don Cherry shilling for Cold fX, public health departments encouraging us to get a flu vaccine, and news stories predicting the gravity of this year’s viral and bacterial strains.

Continue Reading »

Avoiding mid-life madness by being ‘good selfish’

My health column for the November issue of sharedVISION magazine.

If you’re over 45, odds are you’ve had a conversation that goes something like this:

Jane: “Did you hear Joe left his wife, bought a Ferrari, and got hair implants?”

Sarah: “You’re kidding! Did you know Mary quit her job, became a belly dancer, and took up with a man half her age?”

Well, maybe you haven’t had a conversation quite like this. But now that I’m in mid-life, tales of friends, family, and co-workers seemingly diving off the deep end are becoming more frequent. Continue Reading »

Unblock your pathways and kiss fatigue goodbye

My health column for the October issue of sharedVISION magazine.

We’re a society of people who work hard, play hard, and ultimately, collapse hard. If there’s one thing most of us wish we could have more of, it’s energy. Certainly, the $5-billion (and growing) energy drink market attests to this, as do the number of coffee shops around town. Even those of us who try to eat well, get enough sleep, and take weekends to relax often find ourselves melting into a puddle at the end of most days. (I am no exception to this. My son, however, loves those evenings since it means Cheerios for supper and no homework-haranguing from me.)

So what gives? Why are we so tired? Continue Reading »

Your inner cavewoman may be keeping you awake

My health column for the September issue of sharedVISION Magazine.

When I was a kid I was quite jealous of my mom. She was narcoleptic and could fall asleep anywhere and at any time (although not always by choice!). Myself, I fall asleep easily enough (OK, as long as the room is perfectly dark and dead quiet), but I rarely sleep through till morning, waking up at between 2 and 3 am most nights. I don’t really consider this a problem, since my partner has a similar sleep pattern. He’s good company at 2 am.
Continue Reading »

But how often is too often, darling?

My health column for the August issue of sharedVISION Magazine.

I love road trips. But people travelling with me sometimes get frustrated by my frequent need to pull off the highway to empty my bladder. A golden retriever would be impressed with the number of roadside shrubs I’ve marked over the decades.

It never occurred to me that my constant need to pee might be a medical condition until I saw an ad offering a solution to the inconvenience of having to go no. 1 so often. As directed, I went to the website address provided and took an online quiz. Continue Reading »

They lurk everywhere, from your toilet bowl to your cereal bowl. But is total annihilation the answer?

My health column for the July issue of sharedVISION magazine.

Once, when I was eight years old, I was sitting on the toilet and eating my favourite cookies. I had one cookie in each hand and the rest of the box on the floor. And then my mom walked in. Although this happened 35 years ago, the memory of her disgust still triggers my anxiety.

I was reminded of this experience recently when watching television. In one hour I saw an ad selling antibacterial hand and body soap, another telling me I should use a product proven to eliminate 99.9 per cent of the bacteria in my home (all the way down to the U-bend of my toilet), and a third saying I should eat a special yogurt that has bacteria added to it. Continue Reading »

Rekindle the fire in your loins

My health column for the June issue of sharedVISION magazine.

Several years ago I was kvetching with two girlfriends about my non-existent sex drive. I’d been married for a decade, was having sex with my husband once every six or eight weeks, and was of the mind that if I never had to have sex again, my life would be no worse.

Don’t get me wrong—I loved my husband. I just had no interest in getting naked with him anymore. My GP prescribed antidepressants. My counsellor encouraged me to explore past sexual experiences. My girlfriends bought me sex toys. None of these things helped. I decided that something in me was broken, and went as far as proposing to my husband that he have an affair while away on a business trip. Continue Reading »