The Care Career Conundrum Checklist
Help Mothers Name the Invisible Struggle That’s Burning Them Out
A free, practitioner-ready checklist that helps you name the systemic pressures behind guilt, burnout, and overwhelm — and take the first step toward creating real, sociologically-informed support.
Part of the Maternal Thriving Pack - download while it's available as a standalone resource.
Trusted by 300+ professionals
Across 20+ countries worldwide
"I feel like I'm failing at both."
"It’s like I have two full-time jobs - and I’m falling behind in both."
"I love my kids and I care about my work - why does it feel like I have to choose?"
You’ve probably heard versions of this from the mothers you support, whether you’re working in therapy, coaching, maternal health, education, or HR.
The Care Career Conundrum Checklist gives you a powerful, practitioner-ready tool to help mothers unpack these feelings, understand the systemic roots of this tension, and take the first step toward feeling less alone, and more empowered.
- A 12-page, research-informed PDF developed by a Motherhood Studies Sociologist
- An at-a-glance sociological overview of the Care Career Conundrum, including a visual summary and explanation of this model
- A comprehensive checklist of 100+ real-life indicators across 8 key categories (including career, care, emotional load, identity, and financial stress)
- A ready-to-use tool to help surface how care/career tension is impacting your clients or employees
This resource is for you if you're a:
- Therapist, counsellor, or social worker supporting mothers in transitions
- Coach or facilitator helping mothers navigate identity, burnout, or return to work
- Organisational consultant or HR professional advocating for maternal wellbeing
- Educator or maternal health practitioner addressing balance, identity, or guilt
- Or a mother yourself, seeking a way to name and validate your own experience and are curious about entering the field of mother-support in the future
- Spark reflection and insight in your one to one client sessions
- Validate and explore shared experiences in group programs
- Frame workplace presentations or consulting reports
- Facilitate deeper conversations around identity, worth, and work
- Open up awareness of social conditioning (and start dismantling it)
Many mothers think they’re the problem, when really, they’re caught inside a system that sets them up to feel like they’re failing.
This checklist makes the invisible visible.
It helps mothers name what they’re carrying, notice where shame is showing up, and understand how care and career are positioned in a culture that still expects them to do it all, without support.
It’s simple, powerful, and transformative, because naming the conundrum is the first step to changing it.
Created by Dr Sophie Brock, Motherhood Studies Sociologist and founder of The Motherhood Studies Certification, The Mothers at Work program, and The Good Enough Mother Podcast, this checklist draws on 13+ years of research and experience within Motherhood Studies.
