Life After Public Service
Life After Public Service
Podcast Description
Donna is a Registered Nurse who has worked in the NHS for three decades. She brings you real-life stories from people in front-line public service roles. Some of these stories discuss war, terrorism, suicide, abuse, COVID, death, and moral injury, which may be triggering for some listeners. However, alongside these are stories of joy, hope, empathy, and humanity: highlighting the positive impact these individuals have made. Many of her guests have navigated career changes, found work-life balance, or transitioned into new roles, including charity work or entrepreneurship. If you have a story to share that could inspire others, have moved in or out of public service roles or have successfully introduced an additional income stream alongside your public service role, please get in touch. Inviting individuals from fire, police and probation services, healthcare, military, teaching, social services, local government, and civil service.
Donna continues to add to her extensive academic achievements, experience and skills. She is working towards a Diploma in Coaching and Positive Psychology and offers support to individuals looking to find clarity in their careers, to reach their full career potential or to plan their exit with confidence.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers a wide range of themes focused on personal stories from public service workers, such as experiences of trauma, career transitions, and the impact of public service on mental health. Specific episodes delve into topics like navigating career changes, the effects of COVID-19 on professional duties, and the challenges faced by first responders dealing with traumatic events.
Honest conversations for the people who give everything.Millions of people across the UK are caring for someone they love: a parent, a partner, a child, a sibling – without ever calling themselves a carer. They’re sons, daughters, husbands, wives, friends. And quietly, without noticing, many of them are running on empty.Care Without Burnout is the podcast that speaks directly to them.Hosted by Donna Bentley-Carr, founder of Care Without Burnout CIC, registered nurse, and someone who knows what it means to care for a loved one whilst holding everything else together. This show brings together expert voices and honest solo conversations to help unpaid carers protect their own wellbeing before crisis hits.Each episode explores what it really takes to keep going: the emotional weight of caregiving, the identity shifts that come with it, and the practical strategies that build genuine resilience – not the kind that asks you to do more, but the kind that helps you stay whole.
Donna talks with lived-experience expert Sarah Challiss to explore the unspoken realities of long-term caregiving, from the acute emotional trauma of suicide risks and end-of-life crises to the profound physical toll on the caregiver’s own body.
Together, they confront the critical gaps in hospital discharge support, the overwhelming anxiety of managing complex medical care at home without training, and the systemic isolation that leaves carers fighting burnout in silence, highlighting practical strategies for breaking the cycle, including why carers must prioritise their own health screenings, how to build local and digital support networks, and why speaking up with absolute candour is vital to saving both the carer and the cared-for.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Carers face severe, long-term health risks from chronic stress and physical strain, making routine personal health screenings and scheduled respite essential rather than optional.
Inadequate hospital discharge planning leaves unpaid carers overwhelmed by complex medical tasks, highlighting the critical need for transitional helplines and proactive logging of care failures.
When caregiving becomes unsustainable, carers must shed “carer’s guilt” and use clear, written statements or digital AI tools to demand formal intervention from social services and support charities.
BEST MOMENTS
“Number one, fill your cup up first and take care of you, but we do need to be a lot more vocal.”
“Ticking a box on a form doesn’t mean that that person’s prepared to be able to be a carer.”
“Do not suffer in silence. Bang a drum and do whatever it takes.”
ABOUT THE HOST
Donna brings both professional depth and personal lived experience to every conversation. She holds a Diploma in Coaching and Positive Psychology and is a qualified Alcohol-Free Performance Coach. She had 28 years in NHS nursing and clinical leadership – including Matron roles in a busy teaching hospital – yet found being a carer for a loved one incredibly challenging. That was when she founded Care Without Burnout, a not for profit Community Interest Company, to bridge a gap the NHS simply doesn’t have the capacity to fill: preventative, relational support for the people doing the caring.
Whether you’re in the thick of it right now, supporting someone who is, or working alongside carers professionally this podcast is for you.
New episodes every Monday. Subscribe wherever you listen.
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Disclaimer
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