Learning Disability Week, in common with many awareness raising events this year, focuses on post-pandemic reconnection. People with learning disabilities and those who support them continue to process the difficulties of the last two years and reacquaint themselves with society.
Tracey thought her fiancé was struggling with his father’s death but realised later he was experiencing psychosis. She describes how caring for him has brought them even closer together. Marking Carers Week, this wonderful blog, brought to us by Rethink Mental Illness, reminds us that, while unpaid carers are doing an amazing job supporting loved ones, they need support and understanding too.
Carers Week has always been about increasing visibility and support for those who give their time, energy and commitment to care for family, friends and loved ones. Which is why, as we emerge from the privations of the pandemic, this year’s theme of making carers more ‘visible, valued and supported’ has never been more relevant.
Being an unpaid carer during a global pandemic takes its toll, as does its aftermath. The impact is not just physical and emotional, it’s financial too. From speaking with her networks of unpaid carers, Fatima Khan-Shah knows these issues are front and centre of their minds during this year’s Carers Week.
One of the reasons, if not the main inspiration, Deborah Sturdy accepted the post of Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care had been her desire to honour, support and encourage this country's amazing care profession through some very challenging times. Read her latest blog, marking a day of reflection and remembrance for social care.
If the last two years have taught us anything, it’s the fundamental truth that collective action, free of self-interest, prejudice or judgement, can achieve amazing things. International Women’s Day has chosen ‘break the bias’ as this year’s theme. I believe we can all draw strength from its ideal in these worrying times.
Family, friends, and external carers are integral to care home residents’ wellbeing and safety. The relationships they have with their loved ones underpin who they are and remain just as important, if not more so, when people move into a residential service.
Friends, family and colleagues are all great sources of information. Sometimes, this comes from chance encounters, when you’re walking the dog or dropping off the kids. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, hearing about what other people did in that situation can help. Social care is no different and a new website sets out to demonstrate exactly that...
"Every year, when Carers UK holds Carers Rights Day, it’s an opportunity to raise awareness. People don’t see themselves as unpaid carers but as partners, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, and close friends first. Yet, providing unpaid care to someone who has a health condition, who is older or who has a disability, can have a profound impact on their health, wellbeing, paid work and relationships." Carers UK CEO Helen Walker explains more...
Involving people with lived experience will be an essential element of social care reform, as will the wise counsel of the many organisations supporting them. Jackie O'Sullivan, Mencap’s Executive Director of Communications, Advocacy and Activism, reflects on a positive meeting with Department of Health and Social Care colleagues, as sector engagement gets fully underway.