How do you define the term Healthy Living? For some it means care and attention to their food intake. Others focus on exercise. Some may rely on their restorative time in nature, and the uplifting power of friends and family. For the Y’s Healthy Living Director, Caroline Earle Ivens, the concept of healthy living is all these and more.  

As a new mom to her second child, Caroline’s recent ideas about healthy living have expanded to include peace of mind knowing her 4-month-old son is close and well cared for. Caroline’s youngest is an infant in the Y’s Childcare Center that serves children as young as six weeks old and up to four years old. Caroline lights up when she talks about her children, and her decision to live and work in Boothbay after settling in her husband’s childhood home. “I’m in love with the childcare center. Obsessed. I’ve never felt more comfortable and confident with the care and education my children receive. Knowing my kids are in the loving, capable hands of our staff has allowed me to see the inner workings of the childcare center in a way I hadn’t before. The work being done there is incredible.” For Caroline, her experience with the Y’s Childcare Center is a love story. She gushes when she speaks of the dedicated staff that treats her and her children with respect, kindness and care, which is a theme that runs through Caroline’s life and work in Boothbay.  

At the Y, Caroline directs Healthy Living programs that make it possible for others to care for themselves through transformative workout activities that are open to all community members like Pilates, cycle, and TRX Bootcamp. Under her direction, the Healthy Living Program also provides evidence-based classes that are included in Y membership, but also open to non-members. For example, “Enhanced Fitness” helps participants with fall prevention by focusing on balance and strengthening the body as it ages. She works behind the scenes to support the “LiveSTRONG” 12-week course for participants living with cancer, and “Rock Steady Boxing for Parkinsons.” In all of her offerings, the Healthy Living director combines attention to mind, body, and agility. “When I walk into the sessions where Catherine and Robin are supporting people as they box to actively stave off the symptoms of Parkinson’s, it’s incredible. There’s a powerful element of community as each person works hard to maintain their bodily autonomy,” Caroline said. “And being part of something bigger than what you’re singularly dealing with is really powerful,” she added. Caroline has a keen focus on healthy living for caregivers, too. She notes that caregivers are invited to sit in on sessions, or are free to take the hour for themselves to recharge.  

And as a mom to two she knows how important it is to recharge, and to lean on the support of community. Caroline has been coming the Boothbay Y since she was in high school. She married a man she’s known since they were 15. “My husband is a merchant marine,” Caroline shared, “community steps in when our loved ones leave. It’s our way of life. I’ve found a village I consider family here.” Caroline loves what she does, and she has her focus set on giving back. “I’d love to start working with our local student athletes to do team lifts to create a liaison between Boothbay and the school’s athletics department. Teens would use our Y with respect because they’d find home and security here,” she said. And for Caroline, her efforts in personal training, group offerings, evidenced-based learning all connect to the care and security she’s experienced enrolling her youngest in the childcare program: Healthy Living isn’t a class; it’s a state of balance. And that all connects back to love. Love of self. Family. Health. Community. And our connected future.