Top 10 things unpaid carers struggle with

Welcome back to another carer blog post by Matthew McKenzie carer activist and author in London.

I thought to try promote carer causes and focus on things that I reckon carers struggle with. As usual when I am talking about carers, I am talking about caring for someone in the family or as a friend.

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Whether a person is caring out in the community or visiting the person they care for in hospital, there are challenges people need to take note of.

Here is a list down below

  1. Isolation – Caregivers can often feel cut off from the outside world, especially if caring, hard to understand
  2. Emotionl strain – Taking care of a loved one and being responsible for their health can be very stressful. depression, guilt, sleep loss.
  3. Financial situation – This struggle can cause all sorts of stress, the financial burden felt by caregivers should not be overlooked.
  4. How Caring can impact on opportunities – if your caring, then you are not earning or developing other skill bases. Still caring can develop it’s own skill base.
  5. identification as a carer – people do not always see themselves as a carer, but can lose out on support
  6. Getting access to support – respite, advocacy, emotional support, planning for the future
  7. Strains on Relationships – caring can be a joyful experience, but also stressful, lack of time for friends or family
  8. Being involved in care – confidentiality, jargon in NHS, relationship breakdowns, sometimes being missed in identification. These things can cause the carer to be uninvolved.
  9. Advocating for the cared for – need to deal with GPs, social workers, pharmacists, care agencies, receptionists and so on.
  10. Not being able to Focus on themselves – most of the previous things mentioned focus on the struggles carers face when caring, but too much focus can cause the carer to loose sight of their own well being. It is important to take time out, sleep, talk to a friend. Not easy if caring in crisis.

If you want a more detailed explanation I have also made a video below.