s Mental Health Awareness week comes to a close, with its theme of #kindness. I wanted to reflect on the experiences that staff here at Suffolk Family Carers and the families that we support have shared with us.
The idea of giving someone a break, and ‘not judging’ them somehow feels linked with kindness and humility and this got me thinking a bit further about the concept of taking a break and how during this time, getting a break with emotional or physical space for yourself is even more challenging for family carers.
During the week, you have shared some lovely examples of kindness with us. Things that have really made your day, and given you the support you needed to power through that day.
Interestingly we have also had a few enquiries from family members, asking for suggestions on how they could show isolating or shielding relatives they were in their thoughts. Other family carers have said- my family want to do something nice for me, but I don’t know what to suggest- what do you think?
Well taking our inspiration from you- we thought we would share some top tips directly from other family carers;
“If people offer help, don’t be afraid to accept. Your acceptance of help may even ‘help’ the person offering. With physical distancing you may need to be more creative but it is still doable!”” I wanted to let mum and dad know I was thinking of them, even though we can’t be together. I also wanted to give Dad a break from cooking- so I arranged to have an afternoon tea delivered as a special treat!”
“My sister and her daughters are struggling a bit at the moment. I wanted to encourage them to have a bit of ‘self care’ time- so I left a little package on the doorstep of nail varnish and little stickers- apparently it’s given them something to do, as well as set up a little mini ‘spa’ the girls can play in- which takes the pressure off mum for a while- along with some ‘interesting’ nails!”
“My grandchildren sent me the loveliest present the other day- it was a little face but it had like stretchy arms on they had made- they were sending me a cuddle!”
“My neighbour is great, every morning about 10- she takes a cuppa in the garden and chats to my husband over the fence. This gives me a short break to brush my hair and ‘do’ my face- as that’s important to me. She would normally come and sit with him- while I run my errands but right now- this still gives me that little break.”
“I was running out of ideas of how to fill my time, as the person I care for can be left for short periods. Then I saw on our local Facebook page- lots of people giving away- plants, seeds- that sort of thing. So on my daily walk, I picked a few things up and now I am starting my own collection- I am really enjoying it and I am even thinking about doing some of those
This reflection is written by Sarah Potter, Suffolk Family Carers service manager for Mental Health and Wellbeing including Substance Misuse.
