Juggling a career and caregiving – finding the balance

Caring for parents who are living with dementia while juggling the demands of paid work is a challenge, something that Wendy has had to navigate during the past few years.

Wendy cared for her dad who lived with dementia before he passed away and is now caring for her mum who lives with mild cognitive impairment. 

All the while, she wanted to keep working as an accountant in a job she loved. 

“I’ve picked a career where you have deadline and, when you’re caring, you have deadlines too – they can clash,” Wendy said. 

“If you are trying to juggle things too much, you just can’t do it all.” 

In the Hold the Moment podcast, Wendy shared with co-hosts Jim Rogers and Hamish Macdonald how she managed to juggle her professional life with the responsibilities of being a carer.  

Hamish also shared his own struggles balancing work commitments while caring for his dad who lived with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s and how he fought to keep structure and traditions, like a morning swim with his dad on Fridays. 

“Most Fridays we’d go for a swim, get a coffee, maybe get something to eat then I’d drop him back to residential aged care,” Hamish said.  

When work schedules clashed with this Friday routine, Hamish struggled to explain the impact to his boss. 

“I couldn’t really communicate or understand how important caring had become to me and I also didn’t understand the conversation I needed to have with my boss.”  

In this episode Dementia Australia’s Dr Kaele Stokes provided advice about navigating work commitments while in a caring role.  

“You want to have conversations as early as possible,” she said. 

Where to listen 

To hear more about navigating work in a caring role, listen to Hold the Moment wherever you get your podcasts or on our website.

More support 

You can find more information about caring for someone living with dementia, on the Family, Friends and Carers page on our website.

For free and confidential support, advice and expert information you can call the National Dementia Helpline.  

The National Dementia Helpline operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year on 1800 100 500.