Club Sandwich

Club Sandwich You've got them. We've got you. The community for those caring for ageing parents, and everything else. Real talk. No platitudes or BS.

Weekly podcast, live events across Australia, people who respond at 2am 'same'. Just expert support that works.

30/05/2026

"I'm useless now. I can't drive."
That's the voice in their head of your elderly mum or dad the day the keys come out.
Once they stop driving, they're twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression. Their anxiety spikes. And it can last four, five, six years.
We talk about taking the keys like it's a logistics problem. It's not. It's the loss of agency. It's the spiral into "I'm useless now." And it's the mental-health story we rarely tell at the kitchen table.
This week on Club Sandwich, Sarah Macdonald sits down with Dr Joanne Bennett — researcher at Australian Catholic University and designer of the Thriving Without Driving program — to walk through what's really happening on the other side of this conversation, and what families can do about it.
The loss is real. Naming it is where the help starts.
Episode 16: Driving Me Crazy: Taking the Keys. Out Now 🥪
Jo Bennett Australian Unity Australian Catholic University (ACU)

29/05/2026

"When the keys go, the goal isn't to just get them from A to B. It's to help them live well.🥪
Dr Joanne Bennett on the practical scaffolding: Uber Senior, taxi vouchers, community transport, grandkids as the unsung heroes that keeps an ageing parent independent and connected. Brought to you by Australian Unity. Proactive local care that helps your parents live well at home, less worry for you, more time for the good stuff.

Episode 16: Driving Me Crazy: Taking the Keys. Out now wherever you get your podcasts.

28/05/2026

"He told the whole pub I'd stolen his car."
After she finally took his keys, her dad told everyone at the bar she'd ruined his life. She just smiled. "Hi everyone, call me Jane."
🥪 This is what taking the keys actually looks like.
Not a clean handover.
Not a logistics problem.
It's identity.
It's blame.
It's the white-knuckle worry that something will happen the next time your 90yr old mum drives past those three schools on her way to the shops.
This week on Club Sandwich, Dr Joanne Bennett walks us through the personal stories most families don't say out loud — and how to navigate this without losing your parent in the process.

Episode 16: Driving Me Crazy: Taking the Keys. Out now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Check out our Youtube channelcommunity

28/05/2026

Taking the keys isn't logistics. It's grief. That's why this conversation breaks families.
🥪 This Thursday on Club Sandwich: Sarah Macdonald sits down with Dr Joanne Bennett — researcher at Australian Catholic University and the designer of the Thriving Without Driving program — to unpack one of the hardest conversations in the sandwich generation: taking the keys away from an ageing parent.
🎧 Spotify + Apple 📺 YouTube

27/05/2026

The dad who taught you to drive is now the one you're terrified to let drive.
🥪 This week on Club Sandwich: Sarah Macdonald sits down with Dr Joanne Bennett (Australian Catholic University) to unpack the conversation nobody wants to have … when (and how) to take the keys away from an ageing parent. Why licence loss is grief, not just logistics.
🎧 Spotify + Apple + 📺 YouTube, Drops Thursday.
🔗 Link in bio.

24/05/2026

The conversation with your ageing mum or dad you keep meaning to have. Need some help?
On Tuesday 2 June, Dr Kathryn Mannix is in Sydney to help us all know where to begin.
Kathryn has spent decades at the bedside of people in the last chapter of their lives, and helping the families around them find the words. She's a palliative care physician, a global campaigner, and the author of With the End in Mind, now translated into 16 languages.
She'll be in conversation with broadcaster Sarah Macdonald, for anyone caring for an ageing parent and quietly wondering where to start.
One warm room. Club sandwiches. Bubbles. A real conversation about ageing, living well and a good death.
Tuesday 2 June, 6pm to 8.30pm. The Collider, Sydney (near Central). Tickets $35 at humanitix.com.
Places are limited. We'd love you to come.

How do you support a parent who's lost their life partner?Bob Carr knows. He shares three things on this week's Club San...
23/05/2026

How do you support a parent who's lost their life partner?

Bob Carr knows. He shares three things on this week's Club Sandwich.

1. Get them talking. About the small stuff. Ordinary moments. The things you never thought to ask. Bob says he's learned more about his late wife Helena since she died than he knew when she was alive.

2. Honour the partner they lost. Their image is sitting huge in your surviving parent's head, every day.

3. Be patient. There is no time limit on this.

That last one stopped us.

When a parent loses a partner the urge is to push them forward. Into routines. Into activities. Into moving on. Bob's saying the opposite. Slow down. Sit with them in it.

Full episode wherever you listen.

22/05/2026

There's no time limit on grief.

If you're helping a parent who's lost their partner, this is what The Hon Bob Carr, former Premier of NSW wants you to know.

Get them talking. Press for stories about the person they loved. Honour the fact that they're carrying a huge image of that person in their head every day. Don't rush them. Get the photo albums out. Sit with them in it.

Bob lost his beloved wife Helena suddenly in 2023 after 50 years together. He wrote a book about what came next, called Bring Back Yesterday. This part of the conversation is the one we keep coming back to. For everyone with a widowed parent. Or who one day will be.

In partnership with , who walk alongside Australians at every stage of life, ageing and care.

Full episode wherever you get your podcasts. Link in bio.

21/05/2026

How do you start the conversation? Dr Kathryn Mannix has spent her career answering that question.
She's a global leader in care and conversations through the later chapters of life, a much-loved author and campaigner. Her book With the End in Mind has been translated into 16 languages and was shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize. Together with Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations, her work has helped hundreds of thousands of people find the courage to have the conversations they'd been putting off.
She has spent decades at the bedside of people in their last chapter, and knows what we most need to say to those we love, and what we most wish we'd asked.
She's briefly in Australia. On Tuesday 2 June, she's sitting down in Sydney with Sarah Macdonald, host of the Club Sandwich podcast, for an evening on the conversations worth having with our ageing parents, about living well, and dying well.
1 in 6 of us are caring for an ageing parent. 9 in 10 of us feel unprepared for what that actually asks of us.
If you haven't seen Kathryn talk before, this is the one not to miss.
Tuesday 2 June, 6pm to 8.30pm
Flex by ISPT The Collider, 477 Pitt Street, Haymarket, Sydney
Tickets $35 at clubsandwich.community
A Club Sandwich night. With love.

If you're caring for an ageing parent (1 in 6 of us are), and you're feeling overwhelmed, unprepared, or unsure where to...
21/05/2026

If you're caring for an ageing parent (1 in 6 of us are), and you're feeling overwhelmed, unprepared, or unsure where to start (9 in 10 of us feel exactly that), this evening is for you.
We've put together a special in-person night on Tuesday 2 June, in Sydney. The kind of evening you wish someone had organised years ago.
Dr Kathryn Mannix is a global leader and campaigner for better care and conversations in the later chapters of life. She is one of the most listened-to voices in the world on how we talk to those we love about living well, and dying well. Her books With the End in Mind and Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations have helped hundreds of thousands of people find the courage to have the conversations they'd been putting off.
Kathryn has spent decades at the bedside of people and their families in their last chapter, and knows what we most need to say to those we love, and what we most wish we'd asked.
Sarah Macdonald, voice of the sandwich generation and host of the Club Sandwich podcast, is sitting down with her, and asking her everything you've been thinking about.
Real conversation. Warm. Sometimes funny. Always honest. You'll leave with the courage to begin.
Every guest takes home a copy of Put The Kettle On, our free guide to the conversations worth having with your mum or dad. Signed copies of Kathryn's books will also be available to purchase on the night.
Club sandwiches and bubbles. Tea. A roomful of people who understand. We'd love you there.
Bring a sister, a friend, your colleague - someone who needs to hear this, too.
Tuesday 2 June, 6pm to 8.30pm
Flex by ISPT The Collider, 477 Pitt Street, Haymarket, Sydney
Tickets $35 at clubsandwich.community
With love, Sarah and Kathryn x

21/05/2026

"I've suddenly been banished to the world of bereavement."
The Hon Bob Carr on the first 48 hours after losing his wife Helena in Vienna. Sudden. Disorienting. A country he never speculated about until he had to live there.
The full conversation with Sarah Macdonald is out now on Club Sandwich. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube.
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