Suffolk Family Carers offer a variety workshops designed to provide Family Carers with the information and skills to maintain their own wellbeing, while supporting the people they care for. More details can be found at www.suffolkfamilycarers.org/workshops.
Our workshops are offered in both a face to face and online format. To participate in our online sessions you’ll need a tablet, laptop or PC with a camera and MS-Teams (which can be downloaded FREE from your app store).
We aim to make all sessions as interactive as possible with group discussions, sometimes pair exercises and maybe a bit of gentle movement or singing. Sometimes we eat special treats together! To create the friendliest environment we aim to keep our sessions small, with up to 9 attending an online session and 16 at face to face events.
At the start of each session our facilitators explain the session content and may share slides or perhaps some video content. Throughout the workshop they will reference the ‘handouts’, provided on the day for face to face events or emailed to you for online sessions (paper copies can be supplied on request)
All participants in these sessions are family carers and we encourage you to share your own advice or tips throughout the sessions but everything is voluntary – you don’t have to do ANYTHING that feels uncomfortable. You can sit, listen, take in the information and have a short break from your caring role with others who will have some understanding of what you’re dealing with.
Our facilitators are empathic and supportive. We’ve had laughter, tears, people expressing sadness, joy, anger, overwhelm and fear amongst other emotions. The sessions are always very supportive and provide a sense of community and connection. They can be a first step to reaching out to your community and reducing the isolation that Family Caring can bring. Whatever your emotion you will find you are not alone.
The workshops are a great way to create supportive contacts. Although we aren’t allowed to share your contact details with the group you are free to keep in touch, people often do.
All our face to face sessions take place at venues that are wheelchair accessible, and we try to make sure they are on public transport routes. There are toilets available and we provide hot & cold drinks (and sometimes biscuits or cake!). We also provide pen and paper so you can take notes. Unfortunately we cannot offer the same at our online sessions, but you are free to bring your own refreshments!!
At all of our session we try to stick to a few ground rules. These help ensure your workshop flows smoothly.
- These session are in high demand. If you have booked a place and find yourself unable to attend we ask that you cancel your booking, or let us know.
- The sessions are for Family Carers and we are not able to provide substitute care at the venues. If you need help with substitute care you can get advice about this from our Hub on 01473 5835477.
- It’s important to remember that these sessions are for the whole participant group and cannot focus on individuals. If you need specific help for your specific caring situation facilitators will always signpost or refer you for one-to-one support.
- For online sessions we ask that you have your camera at all times. This helps participants to feel comfortable sharing their experience with each other. It helps your facilitator check how participants are responding and offer support as needed. It’s also lovely to see the friendly faces of others who have some idea what you’re dealing with!
If you don’t feel that a group sessions is right for you we are developing a series of video workshops that will be accessible from our website. These will contain the material for our Caring With Confidence trilogy of workshops: Caring & Coping, Caring Day to Day and Caring & Communicating. They are ‘coming soon’, so keep an eye on our website.
We look forward to seeing you at one of workshops or programmes either online or in person!
All of our workshops are funded by the Local Authority, by Health Services or by local or national grant-making bodies. If you have any questions about our Workshops please call our team on 01473 835477 or contact us via our website.
