Category Archives: Carer Events

Review and updates on carer events I attend

Carers Lewisham AGM 2014 Review

Welcome back to another of my blog posts. If you do not know already, I tend to blog about caring, especially caring for those suffering mental ill health, if I am not blogging about caring, then I review events on psychiatry, psychology or sociology, if not reviewing events, I help on mental health promotion and also review the odd audio lecture.

However this particular blog post is about the Carer’s Lewisham Annual General Meeting. This AGM took place on the 7th of November 2014 over at the Methodist Hall church in Albion Way.

The Carers Lewisham AGM was about the recent developments Carers Lewisham have been up to, plus a chance to hear from 5 carers talking about their journeys as carers and how Carers Lewisham has helped them.

Before I continue, what exactly is Carers Lewisham? What do they do? Here is one of their videos about Philip the young carers advocate.

Now continuing about what Carers Lewisham does. Taken from their site. Carers Lewisham supports Carers in the London Borough of Lewisham from aged 5 upwards. They provide a range of services including advice, information, emotional support, breaks, opportunities to meet other carers, time out from caring activities such as relaxation days and well being sessions; coping strategies, specialist support for parent carers, carers of people with dementia, carers of people with mental health problems, older carers and carers who are caring for someone who is nearing the end of their life.

So you see Carers Lewisham does a lot for carers and as a carer myself, all this help is appreciated, considering that us carers are often unappreciated at times. I was so pleased with all the support Carers Lewisham has given me over the years, I was more than happy to be one of the 5 carers to do a talk at their AGM.

I will not go into too much over the Carers Lewisham AGM, but what tends to happen there? Well basically we get the minutes from the previous year’s AGM. We then got to ask questions on any matter’s arising. Members are provided with the previous years Annual Report and Audited Accounts from the previous year and we get to hear any other business.

It has been a difficult year due many cuts in services and I am sure a lot of other charities are facing similar difficulties, so Carers Lewisham was no exception. I know they have been working very hard on behalf of carers like myself who also face a tough time almost trying to survive.

However from the past year, Carers Lewisham have still been very busy and have done several outstanding Achievements. They have gained the ‘Center of Excellence Award’ from Carers Trust. Carers Lewisham have also developed their social media communications and their Ebay shop is going strong. Plus they have supported hundred’s more carers and saved carers thousands of pounds of legal fees by helping them with Power of Attorney’ forms.

Carers Lewisham have done all this and more. You might have noticed I often blog about other carer centers, but being since I am from the London Borough of Lewisham, I ll always have Carers Lewisham close to my heart.

After the AGM was finished, the guests and members at the Methodist Hall Church got to hear from 5 carers stories about their journey. I felt so privileged to tell my story and journey, I felt the day was quite special to me, even though deep down my heart aches with sorrow for who I look after.

Every carer who spoke at the AGM about their journey struggled to hold back their emotions, all the 5 carers let the audience know how much their caring role has affected them and how Carers Lewisham has sort to get them through a difficult and challenging role.

Another carer story told was from Kevin Wheelan who told the audience about who he is looking after and how difficult the journey was for himself. Kevin has been active with many organisations and groups. I could say that Kevin is a great spokesperson for carers.

Overall I felt the AGM went rather well and it was with sad regret to hear the CEO of Carers Lewisham Diana Jones is to leave the charity after some months. The reason why? She is compelled to care for her close relatives.

I have known Diana many years and from what I have seen and will remember of her is that smile and putting carers close to her heart.

Here is a video below with some hints and tips from Diana.

Going back to my story, I said the usual things about my journey, but if I have not thanked all the staff at carers Lewisham then I do apologize, I have special thanks for Jey Siva who has helped me through the most difficult periods of my life.

Jey has attended meetings with me and advocated on my behalf, even outside her working hours. You could say both Jey and myself have walk the journey together.

Who knows what the future may bring on our caring journeys, but one thing will always remain is that I will never forget the great support Carers Lewisham has provided for myself.

Here’s to the great memories and adventures to come.

Carers and the importance of Recovery Colleges

Welcome to another one of my carers blog posts. My name is Matthew Mckenzie and I am a carer for someone suffering mental health difficulties. I feel its important for carers to speak out more, so that way we won’t risk being alienated, isolated and disregarded. We carers and families give so much to society, but as yet we still plod along trying to cope with caring.

One thing I noticed about being a carer for so many years is the problem of being thrown into providing care without any idea what I am doing. I questioned myself on the following over the years.

– Am I providing care correctly?
– Wondering if I am sure if things go downhill it was partly my fault
– What is my caree thinking about how I am trying to support them?
– How am I looking after my own care needs?
– What support should I be getting?
– What happens if I get stressed in trying to talk to my caree?
– How should I react if my caree gets upset with me?

I feel that if you are a carer reading this, then all these questions must have come across your mind at some point in your journey. I am not stating that caring is the toughest job in the world, but at times a carer can be out on a limb, a carer can sometimes end up relying on guess work. This is not often the best situation to be in and I feel more support should be offered to carers in understanding their role and providing adequate care without neglecting themselves.

Well over the years I have learnt quite a few things from carers support groups that I have attended in the past and that I still do attend, one of the things I had learnt at these groups were courses that can help carers.

Some of the information about courses carers can attend came from the group leader, sometimes other carers passed on such information via word of mouth. Eventually I plucked up the courage and decided to enroll on a day course on understanding mental health from a carers perspective. I never looked back and the course had helped me immensely.

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Fast forward to 3 years in the present and I found myself attending more courses regarding carers of those suffering mental health issues or those with lived experiences. These courses ranged from a couple of hours to evening classes spanning 2 months. Maybe one day I ll blog about how I found how helpful those courses were.

Eventually I found out about recovery colleges, at first I thought such colleges were only for those suffering mental health problems. I checked out the course list from the “Central and North West London” recovery college site and found out some of the courses were useful for carers, but the problem was that I was not from that area, so I felt a little disheartened, however if you do use Central and North West London services then please check out their recovery college site at http://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/recovery-college/

So then since I am over in South London, what could I do to educate myself and help in my own recovery as a carer? Eventually I found out from “South London and Maudsley” that they have their own recovery college. It was not long before I was browsing through their prospectus which can be found here http://www.slamrecoverycollege.co.uk/courses.html

I eventually found several courses that was interesting for my field, but one course stood out more for me than the other courses off that prospectus. This course was called “Carers Communicating for Change”. The workshop states the following.

“This workshop focuses on the importance of communication within the caring role.

Sharing experiences and increased knowledge of mental health issues can help to reduce anxiety for both the carer and person experiencing mental health difficulties.”

Without a moments notice, I booked myself for this course and you know what was even better? This course was free. I could not believe it! Although quite a few courses are free for carers and some of them might not be free, but its usually good to start with the courses that are free; mainly because I feel carers struggle with finances almost every day.

On the 14th of July 2014, I managed to attend the course, although I arrived a little late due to a train cancellation. The course was held over at the Maudsley Learning Centre, which is a lovely building centered on health and wellbeing events, courses, seminars and community get togethers. You can check out the Maudsley Learning site here http://www.maudsleylearning.com/

Continuing about my experiences on the course, I arrived to hear the course leader talking about how carers need to watch out for the pitfalls when they are communicating with others, especially with who their care for that being the “caree”. I then thought to myself “Hey! this sounds right up my street”, and I began to sat down and listen.

The course co-lecturer was showing slides of different animals off the screen. Each animal resembled different characteristics of communicative behavior.

I remember some of them animals shown as :-

Ostrich
Rhinoceros
Kangeroo
Dolphin

I am sure there were a few more animals, but those are the ones that stuck in my mind, but why animals? Well for a start we can easily recognize animal behavior and if I go through those I have mentioned, you can slightly understand how useful the examples were

Ostrich – Tends to bury themselves in the sand ignoring caring issues
Rhinoceros – Does not negotiate and always takes “charge” with directing questions, causes others to fear them.
Kangaroo – Protects the caree and does not allow self recovery or motivation
Dolphin – The perfect balance, supportive and understanding.

I will not go on too much about the course because I might end up spoiling it for others who may attend the course some day, however one of the key benefits of this course is that it allowed carers to speak about their experiences. The good point of this is that I learnt from other carers experiences and there were several times where I spoke about my own caring experiences. This is where I felt that I could relate to other carers, where I do not feel isolated every so often in the community or in society.

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Another thing I liked about the course where the exercises where we could experience the difference between directed questions and open questions. I still need to work on how to ask open questions, but they are very important in communication skills. I felt the 2 hour course was a great asset for my caring role and hope they continue to run such a course for the next semester.

Recovery colleges seem to be starting up around many mental health trusts, so if you are a service user, carer or even staff member, it is worth checking out such colleges. My reasons for attending these colleges are :-

– They can aide in recovery as a tool
– You can learn about the course and also learn about yourself
– They are a great networking opportunity
– They are usually free
– Courses are geared to your situation

I am sure there are a lot more things I have missed out off this list, but you get the picture. I hope to attend more courses soon even if they are not held at recovery colleges, perhaps I ll feedback on my blog how those courses turned out.

My blog on Carers Hub Lambeth Forum July 2014

Welcome to another carer blog post from Matthew Mckenzie a carer for someone with mental health difficulties. Now although this blog aims to express my thoughts on the world of caring, I often like to go to events and learn more about mental health or how carers can empower themselves.

It has been a while since I have been to a carers forum, in fact to be honest I mainly attend mental health forums especially ones over in Croydon, which are run by the HearUs Reach Out Croydon organisation. At the back of my mind, I am thinking to myself it would be great to find out where there are carer forums, although HearUs is also aimed at carers as well.

I also wanted to see what other boroughs were doing for carers and luckily through the social media, Carers Hub Lambeth were advertising many of their meetings and forums, which I desperately wanted to attend.

Carers Hub Lambeth were also happy for me to blog about the forum, so more information can reach other carers out in the borough of Lambeth especially on those who do not know about the forum or the services Carers Hub Lambeth can provide for them.

As you might already know, there are around 6.5 million carers in the UK, there are also around thousands of carers the Lambeth hub have on their database and there are more hidden carers struggling out there. It is critical more carers out there get the information and support they need to carry out their role or give carers greater freedom within their roles.

One of the best ways to empower carers is through a forum, especially one aimed at carers. On Thursday 10th July at 336 Brixton Road, SW9 7AA.

We heard from Lianna Etkind, Campaigns Officer from TRANSPORT FOR ALL giving an update on options for carers and the people carers care for on transport. We then heard from David Strong from the Disability Advice Service Lambeth on the Lambeth Carers Awards – Carers were consulted on what do we want from this annual event in order to celebrate carers.

The Hub Manager of Carers Hub Lambeth “Julie Mallett” gave a great introduction to the carers forum. Julie is a carer herself and has a large wealth of knowledge and dedication to carer services.

Julie talked about the latest Carers Hub Lambeth Newsletter and the recent Carers charity walk that was done at the end of may 2014, which raised around £300 for much needed breaks and outings for other carers struggling for time out.

One of the updates Julie mentioned was the “Social Care hub steering group” meeting, the co-production of Lambeth services with Carers & Service Users taking place in April and the next newsletter to be sent out in September.

There was also updates from the last Carers Hub Lambeth forum, where carers requested the Lambeth Hub concentrate in training workshops for carers, produce more information on carers rights and many other things.

After a quick update from the last Carers Hub Lambeth forum, Lianna Etkind, Campaigns Officer from TRANSPORT FOR ALL gave us carers some information about what “Transport for All” is about.

“Transport for All” believes in a fully accessible, reliable and affordable transport network for disabled and older Londoners. They provide specialised advice, information, advocacy and training to both service users and providers of accessible transport in the capital.

Transport for All are based at 336 Brixton road, but feel free to view their website http://www.transportforall.org.uk/

Lianna Etkind told us about Transport For All latest campaign movements, but she also wanted to here from us carers the following questions.

1. If us carers had the resources and money, what would we do to change transport in London.
2. What as carers do we WANT from Transport

We discussed this as carers in each of our 7 groups and feedback to Lianna.

I wanted cheaper travel for carers who cannot earn money so easily because they are busy caring for someone, the cost of travelling is increasing and effecting carers finances harder than ever. I also wanted to know if carers cannot get access to cheaper travel, then what benefits can carers take advantage of?

Other groups fed back on the following

– How can they get access to the Blue Badge pass
– How social workers should help people applying
– Cheaper travel
– Accessing transport without too much physical obstacles.

Lianna then took the time to talk about the following at the forum.

* Step free stations shown off the maps
* The difference between the what and blue wheelchair symbols on maps.
* The meaning of Ramps on the maps and their uses
* Uses of the “Taxi Card” and things to watch out for
* How to complain and also when to compliment about journeys
* Dial-a-ride booking
* The different types of freedom passes
* How “Transport for All” has done on their recent campaigns. Quite a lot of their campaigns have been done via the para-Olympics, plus their inquiry to the new Crossrail service.

After the advice session from Lianna, we then got to watch a film about how cycling can help in physical health and well-being. The film was from a group called “Wheels for Well-being”. Their site is http://www.wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk/

Wheels for Wellbeing is a charity supporting people of all ages in south London to enjoy the benefits of cycling, regardless of any physical or mental barriers they may experience.

Since 2007 they have supported thousands of people to cycle in London.

Abigail Tripp who is the Community Engagement Officer for “Wheels for wellbeing” told us carers about how “Wheels for Wellbeing” advise and consult those who attend their sessions. We also had some good questions from the attendees at the group on if the bikes could fold and why they had to move from Brockwell Park.

One of the carers actually had been on their sessions and commented how they enjoyed the cycling benefits.

Next up was the Lambeth Carers Award. We had David Strong from the Disability Advice Service Lambeth present the following about the awards

* What the “Lambeth Carers Awards” are all about
* How we need carers ideas on how the awards should be presented
* The different opinions other carers have mentioned about the awards

Next we have another group session on discussing and feeding back our views about the Lambeth Carers Awards. Most carers tended to want the awards to be spread out and to allow recognition among more carers.

We all then had a large free lunch treated to us by Carers Hub Lambeth.

Then to burn off the food, some of the carers took part in the “Chair Zumba” provided by Annia Krystyna from the “Zumba Gold” whose site is http://www.zumba.gold.com

I decided to speak to Cecelia Tsang, the Carers Hub Advice Case Work who is from “Age UK Lambeth“. I spoke to her about what things carers wanted help with the most and she mentioned it is usually about housing, benefits, charity access, advice and complaints.

Next I went for a massage session to help relieve any stress or tension since as a carer myself, I have been going through a difficult period.

My last thoughts about the forum is that I hope more spring up around the other boroughs in London and I am sure to attend a few more.

I can only hope and wish carers take advantage of these forums, so they know what is going on, how they can contribute or benefit from the forums and be part of the community, which not only helps carers provide care, but extend the philosophy that caring communities bring us all together.

So no carer is left isolated.

A Caring Mind

A blog for carers of mental health and cancer

Category Archives: Carer Events

Carers Lewisham AGM 2014 Review

Carers and the importance of Recovery Colleges

My blog on Carers Hub Lambeth Forum July 2014