What is carers week?
Carer’s week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid and paid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK. It also helps people who don’t think of themselves as having caring responsibilities to identify as carers and access much-needed support.
This year more than ever, carers are facing many challenges due to the pandemic. Many carers are taking on even more caring responsibilities for their loved ones or clients who need support.
What are the campaign’s aims?
The Annual Campaign for carer’s week aims to highlight the lack of breaks that carers’ have been able to take this past year and how this has affected their mental wellbeing and their social life outside care. To address this situation, Carers UK are calling on the government to immediately increase funding for carers’ breaks by an additional £1.2 billion so that all carers providing significant hours of care can take a break.
To raise awareness of their campaign, Carers UK are asking people to write to their local MP ahead of Carers week. When doing so, they want people to tell them about their experience of caring and how long it has been since they last had a meaningful break.
What does it mean to be a Carer?
Despite Carers week being a meaningful campaign for more support for carers, it is also a time to celebrate what it means to be a carer and how an act of care can change an individual’s life.
It is no secret that working as a carer is one of the most overwhelming and sometimes, difficult job in the world. Dealing with someone who can have mood swings and lash out can be a struggle of our carer’s job but they are still adamant that the pros outweigh the cons in their line of work.
“Caring for someone is the most rewarding job in the world.” is what all of staff have to say on their day-to-day job. You have the chance to give an individual back their self-worth, dignity and independence whilst improving your people skills. The job makes you grow as a person so much, in every way positive.
As a Carer, you are not only providing an individual with care but with company, support, love and friendship. If the individual you care for no longer has family and friends around them, you can become their number one companion and develop a strong relationship with them. This can improve their mental health so much. A carer’s job goes way above just physical assistance and care.
What should you take from this blog?
To summarise what Carer’s week is all about, we just need to remember that carers need celebrating for everything they do and that they are entitled to more breaks in their hardworking role. We need to keep raising awareness and campaigning for a better treatment of carers. We can all help this carer’s week.
How can you help?
You can help the Carer’s UK campaign through fundraising, donating and volunteering. On the Carer’s UK website, there is options for all of these. There are multiple sporting activities you can take part in including running, cycling and skydiving events. There is also quiz nights being held to raise funds for the campaign. You can even volunteer by raising awareness as an online awareness raiser, online community host and insight volunteer. For more information on how you can donate and raise awareness, I will leave a link below.
https://www.carersuk.org/news-and-campaigns/campaigns/carers-week