This episode examines why the conversation about care needs to change and why care deserves greater attention as a workforce, participation and societal issue.

In this milestone tenth episode, I reflect on the three key insights that have stood out across the nine previous episodes:

• Why work is often an anchor during periods of caring

• How connection shapes people's experiences

• Why there is no such thing as a typical caring journey

I also explore how these conversations have changed my own thinking to focus increasingly on how care affects participation.

Whether you are a family carer, leader, manager, researcher or policymaker, this episode invites you to think differently about care and its role in our workplaces, communities and society.

Social links

The Care Advocate website: www.thecareadvocate.ie

Follow the Care Advocate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-care-advocate

Follow Rosemary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemary-daynes-kearney

Why Caring Impacts People Differently: Work, Care and Chronic Stress

In this episode of The Care Break, Rosemary Daynes Kearney speaks with Professor Stephen Gallagher about stress, caregiving, work, and the diversity of caring experiences.

• the difference between acute and chronic stress
• why treating all carers as one group misses those most at risk
• how systems and structures are major sources of stress
• the protective role of work, identity and social connection
• and the skills that caring builds that employers are actively looking for but may not recognise

If you are a working family carer, an employer, or anyone trying to understand care, this conversation is for you.

Social links

The Care Advocate website: www.thecareadvocate.ie

Follow the Care Advocate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-care-advocate

Follow Rosemary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemary-daynes-kearney

Guest links

Follow Stephen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-gallagher

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qXyelowAAAAJ&hl=en

In this episode of The Care Break, Rosemary Daynes Kearney speaks with Damien Connolly about the reality of trying to support employees while also running a business.

This is a conversation about tension.

The tension between wanting to be a good employer and needing to deliver for clients, manage costs, and keep a business running.

Damien shares his experience of navigating flexibility, fairness, and competing demands in a small business environment. What becomes clear is that decisions are rarely straightforward.

The episode explores:

• the challenge of balancing employee needs with business requirements
• how efforts to support one person can create expectations for others
• why well-intentioned actions can lead to unintended consequences
• the gap between how employers are perceived and what they are managing in practice
• and the wider system pressures shaping how care is supported at work

This is a conversation about what it really means to try to be a good employer when the system itself is under pressure.

Social links for Rosemary

The Care Advocate website: www.thecareadvocate.ie

Follow the Care Advocate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-care-advocate

Follow Rosemary on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosemary-daynes-kearney

Social Links for Damien Connolly

I am the founder and MD of Sakura Business Solutions, which is an accountancy practice with offices in London and Dublin, that offers outsourced bookkeeping and an ‘end to end’ finance team solution to SMEs struggling to combine the right mix of staff and finance software to manage their growth.

Separately I specialise in providing a Fractional CFO solution along with early business sale or exit planning to €1.0 to €10.0m businesses and have more than 20 years experience of working with SMEs.

To date, I have worked with more than 50 SME clients, helping them to improve business profitability, ‘free up’ cashflow, deliver commercial projects and mitigate business risks, while supporting better decisions that drive consistent growth.

GO TO OUR WEBSITE - 🇮🇪: https://sakurabusiness.ie

CONNECT ON LINKEDIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianconnollyfcca/

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel for more information, resources, FAQs and podcasts on this and other topics - https://www.youtube.com/@sakura-business

BOOK a call directly with us on - https://calendly.com/d/cmzn-6n5-zgp