It’s been a busy time for our staff since the last issue of Carers Connected, with both the Suffolk Show and Carers Week taking place. We are not sure these counts as official units of measurement but during the period we gave away over 1200 branded pens and 1500 leaflets to the visitors of our information stands.
Events like these give us the opportunity to meet people face to face, to raise awareness of caring, and talk about what we do to support family carers. We regularly find that people don’t see themselves as family carers, it’s just what they do. But by not recognising themselves as a family carer it can affect the support they receive and are entitled to.
The conversations we have gave us a chance to help people see that caring isn’t ‘just what families do’, it’s more than that. We are also able to raise awareness of the challenges of being a family carer with non-family carers, and offer family carers a chance to relax..
At the Suffolk Show on 31st May and 1st June we were lucky enough to have a prime spot in the military zone, next to the apache helicopters. Our new gazebo was on show, at its first outing along with our camper which ensured we attracted almost as much attention as the apaches. Both days of the show were a great success in terms of engaging people, with 437 people taking part in our competition.
Kate, Military families project lead said “Attending events like The Suffolk Show allow us to reach large numbers of people who may not recognise themselves as family carers. Being within the military zone put us in a prime position to find family carers that are serving, or have served and help them get the support they need. We really enjoyed meeting everybody over the 2 days”
We would like to thank our Serving Suffolk Families volunteer Clare and her husband for the ground work that resulted in us being offered a place at the show, and Major Alan Morrison for allocating us what Colin, our support program facilitator, described as the best spot in the military zone.
During Carers Week our staff attended over 25 events at supermarkets, leisure centres, hospitals and more, with the below giving some brief highlights.
On Tuesday 6th June we attended ‘Sharing Ways of Caring’, the biggest event of the week where we were both inside, and outside the Buttermarket in Ipswich. Over 30 organisations were in attendance to offer advice and support to family carers, both new and old.
During the day we met many people but 2 conversations particularly stood out to us.
Dan, Family Carer Adviser for Mental Health and Substance Misuse Projects, said, “I spoke with a young carer and her mother for a good 30mins. I was so impressed by the young carers knowledge, I felt she had the potential to work in advocacy.”
The other, although not carer related, is a great example of teamwork and how using our knowledge we can work to find solutions
After returning from a break Dan walked back to the camper van to see two of his colleagues talking to a young man who recognised him instantly. Dan commented “It took me a bit of time for the penny to drop but I realised I had first met this lad over 15 years ago when I worked at the hospital. He explained he had just been made homeless so I took him for a coffee and a chat. Using my knowledge from my role at Suffolk Family Carers I was able to register him homeless on Street Link and got him a few of the essentials he needed. I have since found out that, over that weekend he found some temporary accommodation. I’m pleased for him as he’s quite a vulnerable young man. This shows just how these events can impact people’s lives”.
On Wednesday 7th our Neurodevelopmental differences team hosted a workshop for children under 12 years who have a sibling with Autism or ADHD. This was attended by a group of 10 children of varying ages, but all sharing something in common, and hosted by Katie, ND Family Adviser, and Alex, Young Carer Adviser.
Katie said, “During the session we looked at what neurodevelopmental differences are, what ADHD and Autism is, and how people’s brains are wired differently. We talked about being different and what the world would look like if we were all the same – boring was the response from most. We also looked at why their siblings have meltdowns and become overstimulated, what happens to the brain when this happens and what techniques might help to calm down. Lastly we looked at what the young carers can do to stay safe and look after their own wellbeing.”
On Friday 9th June the second, smaller ‘Sharing Ways of Caring’ event was held at “the Hut” in Felixstowe. This was made up of two art workshop for carers over 55 and their families and hosted by Inside Out Community Project. This popular event was also attended by Bev and Alli from our SAGES Mental Health Project who got to take part in the workshop. During the session they were able to chat with family carers about their roles and Bev explained, “I think the conversations we had were good as we could give relevant information and/or direct people to additional support they needed at this time in their caring role.”
Both ‘Sharing Ways of Caring’ events, in Ipswich and Felixstowe, were organised by NSFT Carer leads Neil Broadway and Julie Williams. A special thanks goes to them for the fantastic job they did pulling them together. We would also like to thank Lofty Heights for their generous sponsorship of the carers packs given away during the events
