Welcome to the September update of my joint Southwark & Lambeth mental health carer forum for 2021. This is just a brief update since I have been rather busy at work, but for those who couldn’t always attend the forum, I often try and blog any updates if I can.
The speakers for september are as follows.
Rohati Chapman Executive Director of Programmes and Impact for Carers Trust
Lambeth Carers hub new mental health carers lead.
- Peer group updates
Usually the carer forum makes time for speaker engagement, but this time we decided to check up on how we are coping through the pandemic in a peer supportive manner. There were updates from the attendees on the pressures of providing care regarding challenging access through health and social care.
Rohati Chapman presents
After the peer group catch up, Rohati entered the zoom meeting and presented on her role as one of the executives at the National carer organisation “Carers Trust”
It was great for Carers Trust to engage with unpaid mental health carers from Southwark and Lambeth. Since Carers UK sometimes attend our carer forums, where they are due to attend for November at my South West London carers forum. Rohati in her new role drive the Carers Trust’s programmes this includes Triangle of care, she also has a big impact for Carer’s Trusts Network Partners as in carer centres and carers.
Rohati mentioned she had been wanting to make it to one of Matthew’s carer forums and she is happy to attend the Southwark & Lambeth forum since it is in her area and rather local. She was happy to take any any questions and also happy to give us a bit of an overview of what Carers Trust are doing. Rohati did mention it is unfortunate that both Southwark carers and Carers Lambeth Hub are not a network partner, nearest carer’s partner actually is Wandsworth carers centre, which on a good note is covered under my SW london carers forum. Rohati menioned the other carers trust partners are Carers Lewisham and Bromley Wells.
Rohati was interested in what support are you getting? as in what is good and what’s not. This is where she will take back info to her colleagues in the network development team.
There was a very long discussion about the challenges of mental health carers, plus what is working and what could be useful. I pointed out that mental health carers tend to lack peer support and advocacy when it comes to mental health services. These type of support can even be a challenge to service users or patients, but we cannot forget that carers and families often need advice if carers are intimiated by processes and procedures from health and social care. Another thing that was raised was referrials to carer peer groups as referring straight to a carer centre does not always cut it. There was talk regarding social prescribers and GP surgeries needing to up their game in identifying carers and referring them to peer groups so that way carers can look after each other. Members of the forum are aware that GPs are under pressure and they are also aware that primary care networks are developing, but too often social prescribers focus on older adults and there needs to be a push to identify mental health carers.
Other suggestions were mental health officers at GP surguries to speak to families and carers and GPs and accute hospitals to link as much as possible to the local mental health trust.
Rohati finished up by mentioning network partners have increased access to funding and with those funds it can help develop support for local unpaid carers.
To find out more about Carers Trust see the link below.
Update from Carers Hub Lambeth
A brief update is that Karen Ibrahim is now the mental health support lead at Carers Hub Lambeth, this means that mental health carers continue to have a dedicated carer support from Lambeth. Karen talked more about her role and how the Lambeth mental health carer peer group will help support carers in that borough. As I often attend the carer peer group over at Moasic Clubhouse, I look forward to development of the carer network.
A Caring Mind 