The struggle to share the mental load and coping when you're caring for a loved one

Life Matters - Full program podcast

Women do the bulk of the laundry, the cooking, the school lunches and running the family's social calendar. And this picture hasn't really changed in 20 years, according to the most recent Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey.

So, what are the struggles in trying to share the domestic mental load? Matt Johnson is co-host of parenting podcast Two Doting Dads and Alistair Thomson is a historian, co-author of Fathering: An Australian history. He's also a proud dad, stepdad and grandad.

When you're caring for a loved one who's unwell, the light at the end of the tunnel is obviously their recovery. But what about cases where that won't ever happen? Bruce Willis' wife, Emma Heming Willis, has recently revealed she and her 70-year-old husband now live separately due to his care requirements. Dementia advocate Pam Eade, who was diagnosed in 2021 shares her insights. As does Sophie Hennessy who runs the Nightingale Project - which runs a palliative model of advanced dementia care.

Our modern lives are filled with beeps, dings, and buzzes. From washing machines and dishwashers to smartphones and fitness trackers. Driving is now a chorus of warnings and alerts - and while these features are meant to keep us safe, new research shows one in five drivers are turning them off. Milad Haghani is an Associate Professor in Urban Risk & Resilience at The University of Melbourne. And David Alais is a Professor of Psychology, University of Sydney.

And finally, psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones offers advice about how to deal with trauma dumping - one-sided sharing of emotional information.