Category Archives: Events

Carer Stories, Carers in the media, Events, Young Carers

Young Carers Awareness Day Focused on Mental Health

Each year, national carers charity Carers Trust organises Young Carers Awareness Day, this year taking place on January 31st. The purpose of the day is to raise public awareness of the challenges faced by young people because of their caring role, and to campaign for greater support for young carers and their needs.

Young carers are more likely to suffer from poor mental health than their peers — so this year’s awareness day will focus on mental health.  Earlier this month we talked to one of the young adult carers we work with, Sue, who talked about her experience caring for her dad and the difference support from the Centre has made.

Sue said: “Friends don’t always understand that I can’t always go out, so I get called boring. I was happy to finally find support to help me feel less alone. The Carers’ Centre has helped my life change for the better.”

Here at the Carers’ Centre Young Carers Service we are responding to this need. We will be focusing more on young people’s mental health in 2019, by launching our new Positive Penguin group (starting this month for primary age young carers) as well as continuing the iCare peer support group, starting back later on in March.  These groups aim to offer a safe space for children and young people to discuss the pressures of caring, challenges they’re facing and to make friends with other young people who are in similar situations.

Continue reading Young Carers Awareness Day Focused on Mental Health →

Events, Fundraising, Health & Wellbeing

Fundraiser Stories: Bath & the Half give mental health boost to young runner

RUH Administrator Jess Sowton, 25, is running the Bath Half this year in aid of the Carers’ Centre. This is Jess’s second half marathon and she hopes to get close to a two hour run this time around. There’s still time to join Team Carers in this year’s Bath Half — sign up here!

Originally from Hampshire, Jess moved to Bath last year after struggling with her mental health and deciding to step out of her comfort zone.

“I realised that I wasn’t happy with where I was in life — I didn’t really know what I wanted from the future, my mental health was suffering, and I knew I wasn’t challenging myself and felt unsatisfied with everything,” says Jess.

Recent research (the Guardian) shows that more than one in four women aged 16-24 now report symptoms of common mental health conditions like depression and anxiety – a rise from 21% when the study was last carried out in 2007.

Jess felt an improvement in herself after the move.

“I moved out of my flat, left my job, and moved to a new city — enter Bath! I got myself a job and things just fell into place. It was a challenge in terms of pushing myself into so many new environments.

“I am lucky to have family and friends to support me, but by making myself face the fact that I needed to change my situation has made me so much more confident. I want to keep challenging myself to seek the best that I can get out of life.”

As well as uprooting her life, Jess found that exercise really helped her lift her mood and feel fitter and healthier.

Continue reading Fundraiser Stories: Bath & the Half give mental health boost to young runner →

Events, Information & Advice

Carers Rights Day 2018

Next Friday, the 30th of November, is Carers Rights Day. This is a national awareness day to help make carers aware of their rights and entitlements – for things like benefits, flexibility from employers, supported housing and lots more.

It’s a special day for the Carers’ Centre as well as we are hosting our AGM and our first Caring Community Awards. These awards will recognise and celebrate people, places and organisations in our community that are taking carer awareness seriously and making carers’ lives easier. Thanks to our amazing sponsors Bluebird Care, Curo, Gerrard Financial Consulting, Minuteman Press and Mogers Drewett who have made the event possible.

We’re looking forward to sharing these stories on Carers’ Rights Day to make sure that we help foster a more carer-friendly community. This is one of our key organisational goals. If you’d like to come along to the awards let us know by RSVP-ing here (all the details at the link).

If you’re a carer and would like more information on your rights and entitlements, check out this useful guide by Carers’ UK – it tells you all about your rights in work, the importance of taking a break, and lots more practical information and advice.  (The linked guide is for carers in England, but you can find more resources and guides for Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland here)

Here’s a sample from the guide:

 

There’s lots more useful information like this at the link provided. If you have a more specific question about your caring role or about local services, you can call us on 0800 0388 885 and speak to Sue, our information and advice officer. Sue has a wealth of information to help local carers in Bath and North East Somerset.

Visit our website  for more information about our work or to sign up as a carer with us. 

Centre News, Events, Fundraising

Sponsored Walk Set to Raise £2,000+ for Carers

We held our second sponsored walk last month on Saturday, April 21, to raise awareness of unpaid carers and the challenges they face.

Forty walkers (and a few dogs!) participated in the six mile walking route to raise money for carers looking after sick, elderly or disabled loved ones in Bath and North East Somerset. The group raised or pledged over £2,000 for the charity.

The group walked (some in fancy dress!) from Bath Carers’ Centre to Saltford’s Bird in Hand pub and back again, totaling just over six miles.

One of the walkers involved said: “It was a privilege to take part.”

Local solicitors Mogers Drewett were the main sponsor for the event, with support from Co-Op Mount Road and Co-Op Marksbury.

Kate Norris from Mogers Drewett, who also took part as a walker, said:

“We were so pleased to be involved in the walk, both as a participant and sponsor of such a fantastic event to highlight the great work that the Carers’ Centre does and the lifeline support it provides both to its members and their families.

We see the extremely positive effects and impact the Centre has on our clients and are keen to do what we can to support that. ”

The Carers’ Centre provides support to approximately 4,000 carers from the BaNES area, helping them to manage their caring role by offering information, advice, counselling, befriending and respite opportunities.

We also support young carers from as young as 5, who will often help with extra duties if they have an ill or disabled sibling or parent.

Centre News, Events, Volunteering, Young Carers

Celebrating Carers 2017: Success!

AGM blogFriday, 13th of October was the day of our annual general meeting and Celebrating Carers awards ceremony. Despite the unlucky date, the evening was a great success and was much enjoyed by all attendees.

We are so fortunate to have our wonderful host, Ali Vowles, return to us again this year to really make the evening special. She is such a fantastic presenter and this year was no different, even when some of the script pages went wandering off! As always we are incredibly grateful for her support, so thank you Ali.

The evening was an opportunity to recognise some very special people who have supported the Carers’ Centre, carers in our community or indeed carers themselves who have achieved so much.

Our first winner was one you would have read about before; young carer Becca who looks after her mum. Since being featured on Comic Relief, Becca has used her platform to educate and inspire her peers and adults alike, putting together a presentation and role-play for her school to explain what it’s like to be a young carer.  It was fantastic to reward Becca for her efforts and hopefully inspire her to continue to educate her community for years to come.  Continue reading Celebrating Carers 2017: Success! →

Carer Stories, Events, Young Carers

Celebrating Carers 2016 – the results!

Celebrating2016_logoOur annual awards ceremony was held in October and once again the event was hosted by the fantastic Ali Vowles of the BBC. It was a chance to recognise our unsung heroes: carers, volunteers, and partners and to look back over what we’ve achieved this year.

The evening was made possible by the generosity of Sirona Care & Health and by our other wonderful sponsors; Bath College, Curo, Gerrard Financial Consulting, Gradwell Communications, Minuteman Press Bath and Way Ahead Care. Continue reading Celebrating Carers 2016 – the results! →

Centre News, Events

Carers: the backbone of our communities

pcs8906cropped1-239x248Carers are part of the backbone of our communities and the annual awards night held by the Carers’ Centre is a fabulous opportunity to applaud their selflessness, says Sirona chief executive Janet Rowse.

Sirona Care & Health, which provides specialist community health and adult social care across Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and surrounding area, is the title sponsor of the Celebrating Carers event.

Janet said: “Our staff work day in day out supporting individuals and families but they do not do it alone. They are supported by carers, volunteers and other partners and all of these people working together really makes a difference to the lives of others. Continue reading Carers: the backbone of our communities →

Centre News, Events

Why Celebrate Carers?

Celebrating2016_logoEach year we hold an awards ceremony called Celebrating Carers. We’re delighted that Sirona Care and Health have agreed to sponsor this year’s awards, helping us to make it bigger and better than ever. But why Celebrate Carers?

The answer is very simple: carers are the unsung heroes in our communities. Tirelessly, day after day, they play a vital role in supporting the people they care for. Often, they have to juggle this with managing their own lives – going to work (or school for young carers); looking after other family members; doing daily tasks in their own house. It’s a role that can be tiring, stressful and lonely. And it’s role which doesn’t end at 5 o’clock, like most jobs. There is rarely, if ever, a holiday. It’s a 24/7 responsibility having someone relying on you to help with their care.

Group Shot

So Celebrating Carers is just that – our chance to celebrate all that carers are, and do. Although we have 12 different award categories, including awards for those who support carers, we hope the ceremony raises awareness of all carers, making us all more mindful of the challenges they face, and how we can all come together to become a more carer friendly community.

Celebrating Carers 2016 will be held on 14th October at Fry’s Club in Keynsham, 5-7pm. For more information, to nominate for one of the awards, or to request a ticket, click here.

Breaks, Carer Stories, Events, Young Carers

The YAC Bowling Night

FOR BLOGLast month, the YC team treated some Young Adult Carers aged 17-24 (YACs) to a night of bowling at the Longwell Green complex in Bristol. Luckily, there were just enough of us to squeeze into our minibus, which was donated to us by The Wheels Project a year ago. Steve (the Young Carers Officer) was our driver for the evening and ensured the journey there was almost as fun as the actual event!

At Longwell Green, we enjoyed a drink and a quick sit down before heading off to the lanes. We started bowling and within ten minutes Cherie had established that she was the strike queen getting two strikes in her first two turns. Steve and Joe were in fierce competition; as the only two males there they felt they had something to prove!

Continue reading The YAC Bowling Night →