The Care Break

Why Episode 9: Caring Impacts People Differently: Work, Care and Chronic Stress

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

Episode 8:The Push and Pull of Being a Good Employer

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 [https://sakurabusiness.ie/]     CONNECT ON LINKEDIN - https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianconnollyfcca/ [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 [https://www.youtube.com/@sakura-business]   BOOK a call directly with us on - https://calendly.com/d/cmzn-6n5-zgp [https://calendly.com/d/cmzn-6n5-zgp]

Episode 7: When stress meets care: understanding the mind body connection at work

In this episode of The Care Break, Rosemary Daynes Kearney continues her conversation with Sinead O’Donovan, exploring stress, leadership, and what is happening underneath how people show up at work. A central idea runs through this discussion: the body andmind are one integrated system and both need to be cared for. Stress is carried in the body, shaping energy, sleep, clarity, and how people respond day to day. Through her own experience, Sinead describes how this buildsover time through small, gradual shifts that accumulate, particularly where there is ongoing demand, such as balancing work and care. The conversation explores: * how stress is experienced across body and mind together * how the nervous system responds before conscious thought * how sustained pressure affects energy, sleep, and decision-making * how care creates an ongoing, unpredictable pattern of demand * and how everyday interactions shape whether people feel safe or under pressure. We reflect on leadership and the creation of physiological and psychological safety. This is a conversation about understanding stress and whatthat means for how we lead, work, and sustain energy over time. 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: Dr. Sinéad O'Donovan spent over a decade as a corporateexecutive and knows firsthand just how demanding leadership can be. Sinéad's mission is to transform how leaders perform, scale their impact, and sustain it for the long haul, with energy left for life outside the role. Through herbusiness, The Leadership Biome, she works with organisations to buildleadership capacity by integrating human physiology into how leaders are supported and developed. Because the body is not separate from performance. It is the foundation of it. ⁠⁠www.theleadershipbiome.com⁠⁠ [http://www.theleadershipbiome.com/] https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadmodonovan/ https://www.instagram.com/sineadmodonovan/

Episode 6: What does good look like? Leadership when everything changes

A real conversation about leadership when care changeseverything. Episode 6: What does good look like? Leadership wheneverything changes. In this episode of The Care Break, Rosemary DaynesKearney speaks with Sinead O’Donovan about a real leadership experience thatbegan with a single conversation and how that moment shaped her approach as aleader. This conversation explores how leaders can navigatecare-related conversations in practice, including: * the importance of connection and honest conversations * asking “what does good look like?” as a starting point * understanding the cognitive, emotional and logistical load employees carry * bringing individual learning back into the organisation * and the relationship between care, stress and health over time Sinead also shares her own experience of asking for support,and how leadership shaped that experience. This episode offers a practical and human approach toleadership, grounded in real experience. 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: Dr. Sinéad O'Donovan spent over a decade as a corporateexecutive and knows firsthand just how demanding leadership can be. Sinéad's mission is to transform how leaders perform, scale their impact, and sustain it for the long haul, with energy left for life outside the role. Through herbusiness, The Leadership Biome, she works with organisations to buildleadership capacity by integrating human physiology into how leaders are supported and developed. Because the body is not separate from performance. It is the foundation of it. ⁠www.theleadershipbiome.com⁠ [http://www.theleadershipbiome.com/] https://www.linkedin.com/in/sineadmodonovan/ https://www.instagram.com/sineadmodonovan/

Episode 5: When Care Changes Your Path

When caring enters someone’s life, the path they expected can change overnight. Episode 5: When Care Changes Your Path Many of us imagine our lives and careers unfolding in a particular way. For family carers, that path can change suddenly. In this episode of The Care Break, Rosemary speaks with Caroline Lawless about her experience of becoming a family carer and how that reshaped her plans, identity and confidence. Caroline reflects on navigating the reality of being both a parent and a carer, how confidence can shift during long periods of caring, and how those experiences can also develop resilience, adaptability and new ways of seeing the world. Together they explore how caring can change the direction of a life and how carers can reconnect with their own ambitions alongside their caring role. 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: Caroline Lawless is a qualified personal, business and executive life coach. LinkedIn Ikshana LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ikshanalifecoaching/] Website Ikshana Life Coaching [https://ikshanalifecoaching.ie/] Instagram @ ikshanalifecoaching [https://www.instagram.com/ikshanalifecoaching?igsh=MTZobDJ6YWZ3ejVLcQ==]