Tag Archives: services

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 →

Breaks, Health & Wellbeing, Information & Advice

2 Ways to Improve Your Wellbeing this Autumn

by Lindsey Clay 

Update 18th September 2018: 

Due to demand we will now be offering an evening yoga and mindfulness 6 week  course, venues and dates the same but with a 6.00pm—7.30 pm time slot.

We are coming to the end of our lovely sunny weather and heading into the beautiful and colourful autumn season. Changes may be happening in our own lives, be it children going back to school, changes in jobs or changes in our own health and wellbeing or that of those we love.

Here at the Carer’s Centre we are always working to help improve the wellbeing of carers within our community through our services. Read on to find out what we’ve got going on…

1. Try our new course of gentle yoga and relaxation

A new 6 week  gentle yoga course on Monday afternoons 1:30pm to 3pm is starting on the 8th October at our Centre in Bath. This is a trial project, so depending on interest from carers we may be able to offer this in other locations around BaNES.

Yoga mats provided (which you can then take home at the end of the course if you wish to help you continue your practice at home).

The course will be lead by Jules Allen who has written a little note about herself below.

I am a Yoga, Relaxation and Mindfulness Teacher, and I work with various organisations across Bath and Bristol. I specialise in teaching yoga, relaxation and mindfulness to people who may be beginners, people who may have health and mobility issues as well as people who have regular wellbeing practices.

Take time to rest and a moment to breathe, stretch & move, meet new people and make new friends as well as everyday ideas, tools and tips for bringing more well-being into their lives.

Having been a young carer, an adult carer and also living with Rheumatoid Arthritis I practice various yoga and relaxation exercises every day and really have valued the overall effect that yoga, relaxation and mindfulness has had for me and with the people I have worked with.

Continue reading 2 Ways to Improve Your Wellbeing this Autumn →

Centre News, Fundraising, Staff

A Day in the Life of…The Marketing & Communications Officer

Emma Tucker(This post was written by our Marketing and Communications Officer, Emma. This is the first in a series of “Day in the Life Of” blogs so watch this space for more!!)

A normal day for me usually starts off with me answering emails! As part of my communications role I manage our general enquiries inbox which will be things like referrals from professionals, questions and requests from carers and information about local or national campaigns to do with health and social care. Once these are answered I will go onto any number of tasks I have planned for that day…

Something I do often is speaking to carers who have used our services and asking them how we’ve made a difference in their life. Telling the stories of what we do is the biggest part of my role; be it via our quarterly magazine, which I design and produce, on our social media channels or website, through local newspapers or radio stations, or putting together case studies for funders to explain how we help our community (and why we should get more funding!)

It’s also my job to make sure that families who need our support are aware of our services. I do this by producing lots of materials that explain our services – like leaflets and posters. Some of these I will design myself or I will work with an external graphic designer. Once a month I will put together an email update that goes out to our carers, along with professionals and organisations we work with.

If I have any hours left in my day I will work on developing our fundraising programmes, like coming up with ways volunteers can get involved or how we can say thank you to people who support us. This also means supporting any events that we run like craft fayres or concerts and being available to help out at these on the day.

– Emma

Centre News, Events

Twelve weeks on: An update on the RUH Carer Hub

Some Carers Hub cakes made for our launch in September
Some Carers Hub cakes made for our launch in September

Twelve weeks ago, we officially opened the Carer Hub at the RUH in Bath. The Hub is located in the atrium of the hospital and is manned by trained volunteers every weekday. The Hub is a great way to meet new carers and inform people about what we offer at BANES Carer’s Centre.

Many people who enter the RUH leave with a devastating diagnosis that will change their lives forever – but what of the loved ones who accompanied them? There is so much support for people receiving bad news, but often their family members can feel lost, confused or lonely. They may enter the RUH carefree and leave as a carer, unsure of what to do next.

The Carer Hub is there to help.

Volunteers at the Carer Hub can talk to people becoming carers for the first time about what support is on offer for them in BANES. They can also signpost people to external organisations and provide a network of support for a carer who may feel lost and alone. Additionally, the Hub demonstrates the RUH’s commitment to helping carers and making sure they feel supported.

The Hub has faced some challenges – mainly that people assume it is just another seating area rather than a designated space for carers! However, the Hub is becoming increasingly popular with carers using the hospital, as it is a permanent place for carers to visit us if they need to. Volunteers have also said they’ve had many powerful and poignant interactions with carers. This is a great encouragement and we hope the success of the Carer Hub increases even more in 2016.