CAREWELL Conversations

In the fourth episode of the second series of Carewell Conversations “Young carers in Ireland part 2, the lived experience of young carers and how they are being supported'  Family Carers Ireland’s (FCI) Padraig McGrath, Young Carers Lead, and Niamh Finucane, Young Carers Support Manager, discuss the range of supports available through FCI to young carers and adult young carers. They are also joined by Sean Collins, a young adult carer and young carer Sarah Ann Buday who talk about their respective experience accessing these supports. Sean and Sarah in conversation with Padraig and Niamh outline what it’s like to be a carer while in 2nd and 3rd level education and what supports they would like to see to help them transition through their education into their future chosen careers. The supports and resources for young carers outlined during this podcast can be found at Family Carers Ireland.

“A piece of the world that is precious and dear would surely be missing if you weren’t here.   If not for your smile and your laugh and your heart, this place we call home would be minus a part.”  Read by Sarah from “You’re here for a reason” by Nancy Tillman

In our third episode of the second series “Young carers in Ireland, emergent research on their transition through school, education and employment'  Professor Stephen Gallagher, from the Psychology Department at the University of Limerick is joined by three PhD students to discuss this important topic. Ms Breda Moloney is a PhD candidate in University College Dublin and is a member of the ‘CAREWELL’ project team, the focus of her PhD research is around young carers’ experiences during second level education. Ms Aoife Bowman Grangel is a PhD Candidate at the University of Limerick. Her research aims to examine the long-term health effects of caregiving on adolescents and young adults. Ms Victoria McDonagh is a former young carer and currently Head of Department of Social Care & Early childhood at SETU Waterford Campus. Her research is examining the voice of young carers in the Irish caring landscape, and how do young carers view their role in society. Our contributors provide an evidence-based insight into the challenges young carers face transitioning from secondary education to finding their place in higher education and/or career progression, while advocating for supports and policies to help them during this transition. Some of the supports and resources for young carers outlined during this podcast can be found at Family Carers Ireland and Care Alliance Ireland.

In our second episode of series two “From Kaleidoscope to Re-emerge: getting back to education and employment with Care Alliance” Dr. Attracta Lafferty PI of the Carewell project is joined from Care Alliance Ireland by Ms. Lisa Dunne Re-emerge Project Co-ordinator and Amy Lavelle Re-emerge Project Manager. Lisa and Amy outline their latest project, Re-Emerge which aims to support family carers with their transitions back to paid employment. Focusing on family carers emotional, physical and mental well-being, Re emerge builds on the experience and learnings from previous projects, Kaleidoscope and Return ready.  Attracta is joined later in the podcast by Ms. Caroline Lawless who shares her experience of undertaking the Kaleidoscope program with Care Alliance, which has led to her currently working on the Re emerge project and training to be a life coach. Further details on the Re emerge project can be found at Reemerge or you can also contact Amy Lavelle at amy@carealliance.ie

Welcome to the first episode in the second series of our podcast series Carewell Conversations, “Balancing your career with a family caring role- A family carer's perspective”. In this episode Dr. Gillian Paul, Assistant Professor in Public Health and Health Promotion, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health, Dublin City University, and CAREWELL Co-investigator, is joined in conversation by family carer Dr Julie Bernard, Deputy Head of Recruitment and Enrolment Planning, TU Dublin. As one of over 250,000 family carers in Ireland combining caring and paid employment, Julie shares her lived experience of the challenges and issues she found herself faced with when trying to fulfill these two roles. Julie also shares how becoming a carer can impact your career choices and progression, while outlining how organisations can support family carers better to balance their careers with a caring role.

In our twelfth episode “Caring Employers-carving caring into your culture”. Brian Doyle, a member of the CAREWELL team and producer of the podcast series is joined in conversation by Sue O’ Grady, Marketing Manager at Family Carer’s Ireland and Margaret Gribben, Head of DEI, Irish Life Group. Sue discusses with Brian how the Caring Employers program has evolved since it’s inception just over 3 years ago, how the program is rolled out in the various organisations already signed up like Irish life, and also how interested employers and employees can get involved. Sue and Margaret discuss how Irish life got involved in the program three years ago and how that transformative involvement has benefitted both Irish life employees and the organisation itself. You can learn more about the program at Caring Employers or by emailing Sue at sogrady@familycarers.ie .

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In our eleventh episode “Working Care Out-a family carers experience of a returning to work and education program”. Mr. Brian Doyle, a member of the CAREWELL team and producer of the podcast series is joined in conversation by Ms Jenny Farrell, Program Manager of Family Carer’s Ireland “Working Care Out program and Ms Tracey Pearson a Family Carer who has recently completed the program. Jenny explains in detail how the program works and how people can get involved. Tracey talks about her participation in the program and outlines some of the benefits she has experienced such as increased confidence in her ability to source suitable employment and how she felt she was treated so positively by those running the program. Further details about the program and how you might get involved can be found at "Working Care Out"or by contacting any of Family Carers Ireland Community Support Managers.

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In our tenth episode “Carer friendly workplace standards- A Canadian perspective” Professor Allison Williams McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada is joined in conversation by Mr. Brian Doyle, a member of the CAREWELL team and producer of the podcast series. Allison is a social and health geographer with research interests in career-employees, quality of life, critical policy/program evaluation and therapeutic landscapes. Allison uses PowerPoint slides to illustrate the topics discussed including, the motivation behind her area of research, the workplace standards for carer friendly workplaces she helped develop and implement in Canada and beyond, and other areas of research she is currently working on. You can access all the links and resources referenced during this podcast at https://ghw.mcmaster.ca/projects/healthy-productive-work-partnership-grant/ or contact Allison directly at mailto:awill@mcmaster.ca

Listen to our podcast at CAREWELL Conversations and please sign up to receive regular updates about the podcast and project.

In our tenth episode “Carer friendly workplace standards- A Canadian perspective” Professor Allison Williams McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada is joined in conversation by Mr. Brian Doyle, a member of the CAREWELL team and producer of the podcast series. Allison is a social and health geographer with research interests in career-employees, quality of life, critical policy/program evaluation and therapeutic landscapes. Allison uses PowerPoint slides to illustrate the topics discussed including, the motivation behind her area of research, the workplace standards for carer friendly workplaces she helped develop and implement in Canada and beyond, and other areas of research she is currently working on. You can access all the links and resources referenced during this podcast at https://ghw.mcmaster.ca/projects/healthy-productive-work-partnership-grant/ or contact Allison directly at mailto:awill@mcmaster.ca

Listen to our podcast at CAREWELL Conversations and please sign up to receive regular updates about the podcast and project.

In our ninth episode “Aligning the concept of caring and paid employment with social justice, equality and cooperative work.” Prof. Kathleen Lynch, Emeritus full professor (RTA) at the School of Education in UCD is joined in conversation by Dr. Doreen Mucheru, CAREWELL Project manager at UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems. Kathleen is the author of the book Care and Capitalism and she has advocated both nationally and internationally as an academic and activist for social justice and equality with community groups, non-governmental organisations and statutory bodies. Doreen and Kathleen examine the challenges experienced by all family carers and those in paid employment referencing, the gendered lens, care centric thinking, cooperative working, social justice and equality.

Listen to our podcast at CAREWELL Conversations and please sign up to receive regular updates about the podcast and project.

Listen to our podcast at CAREWELL Conversations and please sign up to receive regular updates about the podcast and project.

In our seventh episode “Combining paid employment and family caring - a political perspective” TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeillspokesperson on equality and Vice Chair of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party is joined in conversation by Prof. Thilo Kroll, Health Systems Management, UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems. Jennifer who is a member of the Cross Party Interest Group on Carers outlines the importance of acknowledging the challenges family carers face and how important it is to advocate for them and raise awareness around the supports and policy provisions that are available to them.

Listen to our podcast at CAREWELL Conversations and please sign up to receive regular updates about the podcast and project.

In our sixth episode “Jobs for Family Carers-A social enterprise connecting family carers and employers” Ms Fiona O’Neill, Social entrepreneur and founder of Jobs for Family Carers is joined in conversation by Mr. Brian Doyle, a member of the CAREWELL team and producer of the podcast series. Fiona explains how her journey with Jobs for Family Carers now known as Count on Us Recruitment, started when she became a family carer herself. Fiona also discusses with Brian how she endeavours to match family carers to employment opportunities which meet the 18.5 hours’ time constraints on family carers in receipt of carers allowance. Fiona also outlines how raising awareness among employers in how to open up job opportunities to include family carers will enable them to potentially avail of the skill, experience and commitment that family carers can bring to companies and organisations.

In our fifth episode “The challenges and benefits of supporting family carers in paid employment - A business perspective” Dr. Kara McGann, Ibec’s Head of Social Policy is joined by Dr. Linda Dowling-Hetherington Director - Assurance of Learning, UCD School of Business. As a strong advocate of gender balance, diversity and inclusion within the Irish business community, Kara discusses the importance of retaining and supporting family carers within paid employment and how businesses through policies and supports that can help achieve this goal . Ibec’s “Better lives, better business” policy campaign aims to make Ireland a better place to work for all sections of society including family carers.

In our second episode, “European Perspective on Working Carers”, Dr. Nikki Dunne, Research Officer at Family Carers Ireland is joined in conversations by Mr. Stecy Yghemonos, Executive Director of Eurocarers to discuss the EU Directive on Work Life Balance and the importance of the collaborative approach to advocating for those in a caring role facilitated by Eurocarers. which can influence change such as that outlined by the EU Directive and outlines some of Eurocarers aspirations for the future.

In our first episode, Dr Majella Fahy, a member of the CAREWELL team at UCD will be joined in conversation by Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Ireland, Director, Ms Mary Connaughton to discuss ‘Policies and practices that provide support for family carers in the workplace’. CIPD are the professional body for experts in people at work. CIPD advocate for better work and working lives by setting professional standards for HR and people development, as well as driving positive change in the world of work.

During the course of the conversation Mary and Majella examine many issues and challenges facing employers and working family carers (WFC) including, the national need for employers to retain the skills and experience of WFC in the workplace and the benefits to WFC of remaining, in some capacity, in paid employment. They also discuss the importance of raising awareness within workplaces around the challenges faced by WFC and employers need to create an ethos of supporting all employees through flexible working arrangements or personalisation of the working relationship.

We hope you find this episode informative and engaging and look forward to you joining us for future episodes of “CAREWELL conversations”.