Carer Awareness

Carer Awareness
Supporting Carers on the
frontline
Who are
Carers
Supporting
Carers
Young
Carers

Who are carers
This training presentation will help you in your work when you may come
across or need to support people who are looking after a loved one. You
may be a social worker, a hospital or community nurse, an occupational
therapist, a GP, a domiciliary or residential care worker or a community
volunteer.
Whatever your role, if you are working with people who are ill, older or
disabled, then you will be working with the people who support themwhether
that is a family member, friend or neighbour. They can need your
help too, and this training presentation will help you understand what they
need and how you and Sefton Carers Centre can support them more
effectively.

Learning Objectives
• Identify Carers
• Define what it is to be a carer
• Describe some facts about carers

Who is a carer
Consider the people you encounter in your daily
life? Are any of them carers? Do they provide
unpaid care to a friend, neighbour, or family
member who couldn’t manage alone?
Is this person in need of help due to frailty, age,
physical illness, mental health condition, or
addiction?
If you encounter anyone who answers yes to
either, or both, of the questions above, it is
extremely likely that they will be classed as a
carer.
While being a carer doesn’t define you, it may
mean that they have important legal rights
including the right to certain types of financial
support, practical help, assistance technology and
rights in the workplace.
In this exercise type a list of people you know
who you think should be identified as carers.

Who Do
Carers Care
For?
5%
Young Adult
40%
Parents
26%
Spouse/Partner
4%
Grandparents
7%
Other Relative
9%
Friend or
Neighbour
8%
Disabled Child

What do
carers do
Seeing someone for a meal or
a chat
Help with household
chores like cleaning,
shopping, gardening
Help with banking
& payments
Help with moving
around e.g.
getting in and out
of bed
Telephoning to find out how
someone is
Arranging & coordinating
care and
support
Help with applying
for benefits
Help with
washing &
dressing
The table to the right contains
four lists of typical carer
activities. Click and drag the
titles from the bottom of the
screen into the table to
identify which categories of
support each listings belong
too.
Finding befriending services
Keeping in touch remotely, for
e.g. Skype
Supporting leisure
activities
Going to doctors or
hospital appointments
Sorting out
payment for care
Finding out about
or applying for
power of attorney
Administering or
checking that
someone has
taken their
medication
Providing
specialist care e.g.
peg feeding or
catheter changing

How does Caring Affect Someone's Life
People want to support their loved ones and caring can
be a great source of satisfaction. It can strengthen
relationships and help people develop new skills and
manage challenging situations. But evidence shows that
when caring is full on and without support carers can
struggle to get a good nights sleep, to stay healthy, to
maintain relationships with friends and family, to hold
down a job and have a life outside of the caring role

What are the
Factors That Make a
Difference to Caring
You might need to find out about someone's
situation to identify their needs for support.
Here are some examples of factors that can
make a difference and some questions you
maybe could ask.
The relationship to the person cared for: this
will have an emotional and practical impact
on the carer
• Who is the carer looking after?
• A parent?
• A disabled child?
• A spouse or partner?
• An in- law?

What are the Factors That
Make a Difference to
Caring?
The nature of the condition , disability or illness;
there is a world of difference between caring for
someone with dementia and someone with a spinal
injury; or someone who has had a stroke and
someone with schizophrenia
• What Is the illness or condition of the cared for?
• Is it long term and/or degenerative?
• Is it short term and/or acute?
• Is it a mental health problem?
• Does it involve physical care?

What are the Factors That
Make a Difference to Caring?
Whether the carer is alone or sharing
care; this can determine the level of care
provided or how able the carer is to cope.
Is there only one person providing care?
Are they sharing the care with other
family members, friends or neighbours?
Does the carer have additional help from
care and support services?

What are the Factors That Make a Difference to Caring?
What else is going on in the carers family life: one in six middle
aged carers is also juggling other family responsibilities or
caring for more than one person, often called “sandwich
caring”
Is the carer single or married?
Do they have other children or grandchildren?
Are they caring for more than one person?

What are the Factors That Make a Difference to Caring?
What else is going on in a Carers working life; over three million
people in England & Wales work and care, and may need
support from their employers or from external agencies to
manage both.
Does the carer work full time?
Is their employer supportive
Have they had to change their job or working hours
Are they self- employed
Do they need flexible care and support services

What are the Factors That Make a Difference to Caring?
Someone's character, finding a way through the maze of health
and care support services can be daunting, and many carers
end up having to fight for support they need both for the
person they care for and themselves.
Is the carer confident and assured?
Are they shy not so good at speaking up for themselves or
confident in asking for help?
Are they intimidated by professionals?
Are they comfortable asking questions?

What are the Factors That Make a Difference to Caring?
Where the carer is from; cultural or social background can have
an effect on what is expected of someone.
Does the carer have family around them?
Does the rest of the family expect them to care?
Will there be disapproval from other families or their
community if they do not take on the caring role?
Will they be expected to give up work to continue in the caring
role?

What are the Factors That Make a Difference to Caring?
Where the carer lives; support services differ around the
country, and caring at the end of the motorway bring its own
challenges.
Does the carer live with the person they care for?
If not, how far away does the carer-for live?
Are they in the same town or do they live in another part of the
country?
Are there any other family members who live closer who could
help out?

Facts About
Carers
How many carers are there in the
UK
6,826,752

Sefton Young Carers
What are young carers?
There are about 700,000 young carers in the UK. Being a young carer
often means looking after a family member who is ill or helping them
by looking after the other members of the family while they can’t.
Young carers often do more chores than other children would. On top
of providing emotional support to the person they are caring for they
may also have to learn how to nurse them or look after their personal
needs like bathing and dressing.
It can be hard work being a young carer. Sometimes other children
don’t understand your responsibilities and you have less free time than
others.
Many young cope well with caring, especially if you have support from
other family members and it’s important to look after yourself. You
have the right to be looked after too and there are lots of places and
people you can go to get help.

Sefton Young Carers Team
Ruth, Eve & Scott Sefton Young Carers Team

What if You
Are you a
Young Carer
If you are aged between 5 and 17 years
of age and looking after someone in your
family who couldn’t manage without
you, then you are one of the 4,000 or
more young carers that we estimate live
in Sefton.
Help is available
If you would like to talk to someone you
can contact a member of Sefton Young
Carers team on 0151 288 6060

Supporting Carers
Sefton Carers Centre provides free advice and guidance, emotional and practical
support, training and a range of holistic therapies for unpaid carers living in
Sefton.
In order to access all of our services for free you will need to register with us. By
providing us with your details you will receive information and support which is
tailored to your individual needs.
ANYONE could be a carer, a 15-year-old girl looking after a parent with a long
term health condition, a 40-year-old man caring for his partner who has terminal
cancer or an 80-year-old woman looking after her husband who has Alzheimer's
disease.
We link into a variety of services, both statutory and voluntary. With our network
partners we aim to ensure that the information and advice we provide is current
and purposeful, to help keep carers caring in Sefton.
As part of our Carer Support Team we have a dedicated Carer Support Officer
who can provide advice to carers by telephone - 0151 288 6060 or at the centre,
27-37 South Road, Waterloo, L22 5PE.

Supporting Carers-Carers Needs Assessment
Carer’s Assessment looks at the different ways that your caring
role affects your life. We look at how you can carry on doing
the things that are important to you and enable you to feel that
you still have quality of life.
The assessment covers the impact of your caring role, how you
feeling about caring, your physical, mental and emotional
health and how caring may affect your ability to access, work,
leisure, education, wider family and relationships. As a carer
your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing is at the heart
of this assessment, demonstrating the impact & need for
services.
If you decline an assessment we will still be able to access
information and advice, including what in-house services we
can offer as well as any other support and help from local
organisations that may benefit you in your caring role.

Sefton Carers Centre realise that carers and those who they
care for are often at a disadvantage financially.
Welfare
Benefits
Advice
Carers may have to reduce or give up work to fulfil the caring
role and those who are cared for also may have had to give up
work, or be reliant on benefits, and may well have additional
household expenses as a result of their disabilities.
We provide information and help to understand benefit
rules/law and identify possible entitlement, as well as help with
applications for relevant benefits and support with appeals
against unsatisfactory decisions.
To access this service for free we require you to register with
the organisation and an appointment can then be arranged via
reception on 0151 288 6060

At Sefton Carers Centre we recognise that the impact of
your caring role may affect your mental and physical wellbeing.
Holistic
Therapies
We offer a number of free services to help promote rest
and relaxation - including Hand and Arm Massage,
Reflexology, Reiki, Guided Meditation and Facial.
All of our therapists are fully qualified and maintain a high
professional standard of care. In order to access all of our
services for free you will need to register with us. By
providing us with your details you will receive information
and support which is tailored to your individual needs.

Our Listening Ear project is run by trained volunteers many of whom have
been carers themselves.
Listening Ear
The project provides informal and confidential support to unpaid carers
who are suffering bereavement, loss, anxiety, depression and isolation or
just need someone to offload and talk too.
At Sefton Carers Centre we offer a free and confidential service to help you
deal with the day to day stresses of your caring role.
In order to access all of our services for free you will need to register with
us. By providing us with your details you will receive information and
support which is tailored to your individual needs. We will make
appointments to call you so that you don’t have to worry about phone bills

Carers
Emergency
Card
The free Carers Emergency Card gives peace of mind by
providing access to emergency assistance 24 hours a day.
The Carers Emergency Card is a pocket sized card that can be
carried as a source of identification in the event of an accident
or illness. The registration and telephone numbers on the card
are linked to a database held by Sefton Careline at Sefton Arc
(Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council’s Control Centre) where
help can be co-ordinated to assist the cared for person while
the carer is receiving attention.
To be eligible for a free emergency card the carer or the person
who is being cared for must reside in Sefton and be registered
with Sefton Carers Centre - call 0151 288 6060 to register.

Counselling
Sefton Carers Centre provides a free
Person- centred Counselling service to
unpaid Carers, delivered by qualified or
partially qualified volunteers.
If there are any issues that you feel you
need to discuss then talking to a counsellor
might be a positive way to enhance your
emotional wellbeing.
Person Centred Counsellors work to help
clients lead full lives of self-understanding
and reduce defensiveness, guilt, and
insecurity.
As well as helping to have more positive
and comfortable relationships with others,
and an increased capacity to experience
and express their feelings.

If you care for a child or young person
who is under 18 and has a physical
disability, learning disability or
emotional/behavioral condition, either
diagnosed or undiagnosed, then Sefton
Carers Centre can provide free support.
We currently offer the following services
to all parent carers living in Sefton:
The Carers Support Team currently
facilitates groups for parent carers at
Netherton Family Wellbeing Centre
(Thursdays) and at The Life Rooms
(Wednesdays) in Southport (term time
only).
These groups are a great way to get
support, information, and hear about
other people's experiences - guidance
can be given around assessment
pathways and access to services through
comprehensive signposting.
Parent Carer Support
The purpose of these support groups is to
improve the health and wellbeing of
parent carers as well as provide
information and advice from other
organisations that work with parent
carers and their children in Sefton.