There are never enough hours in the day. This week's blog reflects on watching a second daughter head off to university, the relentless energy it takes to build a business, and what progress actually looks like when your body, your family and your to-do list are all competing for the same moment.

This September marks a full year since we started a co-design project focused on strengthening the voice, view and access of the person at the centre of their own care and support. Next week, that work goes live. But one of the things I've learned over the past year is that co-design is about much more than the thing you eventually build.

Six years ago, I went to Rathlin Island and came home with the beginning of an idea. This month I went back - and reflected on three lessons I've learned as a caring founder building a technology company from lived experience.

Karen McCormick, inCharge Founder and CEO, reflects on the parts of startup life that rarely make it onto social media - the difficult trade-offs, the uncertainty, and why purpose and commercial thinking aren't competing priorities. They're partners.

Building an app is the easy part. Building something people trust with the realities of everyday life is something else entirely. Here’s what it really takes.

For those following Georgia's journey, earlier this year she fractured her ankle in three places after a fall, requiring emergency surgery. Recovery was progressing, until her body began struggling to accept the metalwork from that surgery. Here's what happened recently.

Three things stopped me in my tracks this weekend on a trip to Boyle, County Roscommon: Collective pride, love in motion, and Matilda, in the red party dress. Let me explain.

This week, watching Moville Festival come to life, I was reminded of something technology can never replace: community. A new committee, old traditions, and a shared ambition to bring people together. It got me thinking about how inCharge was built, and why community development, not technology, has always been the starting point.

inCharge, the personalised care technology company founded by Karen McCormick, has expanded its product offering with the successful launch of a new provider-focused platform for Spraoi agus Spórt.

Everywhere I go, I hear the same conversations. Social care needs to change. We need more personalised support. We need better outcomes. We need to embrace technology. We need to do things differently. The urgency is real. The challenges are well understood. The desire for change is widespread. And yet, despite all of that, what many of us experience isn’t resistance. It’s inertia.

Our Super Users are exactly that: super important to us. They are the founding families of the inCharge community, the people who believed in what we were building long before it was polished, perfect, or even fully functioning. I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of our Super Users in person including Meabh and her parents in beautiful Culdaff, at Hoist Away.

I recently took part in the Inclusion Ireland Family Connect Conversation online, talking about “emerging adulthood” and the move from school age into adult services. I gave an honest reflection and I hope one that many families relate to, whether disability is part of their lives or not.

Because messaging apps are just for chat. inCharge is built for care. Most families coordinating care are juggling multiple tools – messaging apps, spreadsheets, notebooks. It works until it doesn't. inCharge is different. It brings clarity, continuity, and person-centred care together in one place.

We've had so many people asking how recovery is going – Georgia's fractured ankle, and my new hip. Four weeks on, Georgia's running. I'm on one crutch. We're finding our rhythm again. By chance, we were both recently scheduled for outpatient appointments on the same day. Here’s what we found.

I found myself back in the orthopaedic ward – but this time as the patient, not Georgia's mum. What I've learned is that founders and carers have more in common than we realise. Both become very practiced at carrying on until life insists we pause. For now, learning to accept care rather than organise it is the lesson.

I just caught up with Sarah Kelliher, UX designer with Xwerx and our design partner on inCharge, to take a first look at the newly enhanced personal profile in the app. Not only has that process been a translation of my research, lived and learned experiences, Sarah has carefully, thoughtfully and creatively translated people’s insights into intuitive and accessible designs.

Friday started like any other day. Then Georgia took a tumble, and everything shifted. What happened next – the ambulance ride, the hospital, the fractures, the surgery ahead – taught me something about emergency services, about our community, and about why the tools families use to share information matter more than we realise.

In 2020, during lockdown, my family and I took a trip to Rathlin Island. We went to sail – something accessible for all of us, where everyone belongs. During a solitary walk along the shore, with nothing but the sound of the sea and my thoughts, an idea was born.

This is the story of how inCharge started.

inCharge partnered with Gobby, a lived-experience research tool, to gather real insights from the people who make self-directed supports actually work: family members, paid supporters, and wider support teams. Here’s what we found.

January is normally a slow month for me. Over the years of working with inCharge, I've learned to accept that and lean into it - catching up on things I didn't get to, planning ahead, taking stock. But wow, this month has been completely different. Local authorities are reaching out. Co-design sessions are bringing the person's view to life. There's a definite appetite for doing things differently.