Critical Support to Carers During a Cost-of-Living

Hello fellow carers, another blog from carer activist Matthew McKenzie. A lot of my groups focus on those caring for someone with mental ill health or caring for someone going through the stages of cancer. As you probably know, caring for someone should be a role that we look towards. This does come with challenges, but most carers can even expect to go through tough times. These challenges could mean adapting to a role that could be isolating, difficult to understand and emotionally as well as physically taxing.

Being an unpaid carer means you doing what you do because you love and care for the persons health and wellbeing. It is unfortunate that the cost of living has made the unpaid caring role an increasing challenge. With reports from National carer organisations like Carers Trust and Carers UK, the cost of living has pushed carers towards a more vulnerable position. Struggling financially to make ends meet could be the last straw that breaks the back of many carers.

We all know the sad desperate story. We want a society that emphasis the importance of caring for one another. It should not be left to someone else. Health and social care are under resourced and are under increased pressure, this means the role of the carer is a crucial cog in the wheel. The NHS cannot expect to care for us all and we will have to face the fact that carers will have to be supported as a vital part of the health and social care system.

Awareness of the carer role is not enough as more discussion, debate and finally action should be taken up at the highest level. A lot of the awareness is down to education. As in educating others that they should not have to cope in caring for a difficult role. There needs to be education and research on what could make life easier for carers. Policies will need careful consideration to serve the ever increasing society of carers.

Fortunately we have a high quality platform looking to provide a debate on this issue.

Public Policy Exchange produces and delivers high quality conferences and interactive seminars which provide an invaluable interface for policy discussion, debate and networking.

Their speakers are unrivalled in calibre, ranging from Government Ministers and Senior Whitehall Officials to leading Local Authority figures and Voluntary Sector representatives.

For August the 17th they have an exciting event titled “Informal Carers:
Providing Critical Support to Carers During a Cost-of-Living Crisis and Beyond”.

There will be the following speakers, where some are from my carers network

Key Speakers

Wendy Chamberlain MP, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Work and Pensions & Sponsor of the Carer’s Leave Bill, now the Carer’s Leave Act 2023
Krista Sharp, Chief Executive of MYTIME Young Carers
Professor Michele Peters, Associate Professor at the Health Services Research Unit, University of Oxford (Event Chair)
Dr Sally Wilson, Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies (IES)
Dr Siobhan O’Dwyer, Associate Professor in Adult Social Care at the University of Birmingham
Richard Meade, Director of Carers Scotland and Northern Ireland
Zarina Camal, Carer
Faith Smith, Carer

With such a high range of speakers, it is a shame I cannot be present to hear thoughts and views that affect the caring role. So I am hoping those in attendance feedback to our carer network. I am glad that those who are to present at the webinar speak highly of the caring role.

If you want to hear more about this important debate affecting unpaid carers. See the link below.

https://publicpolicyexchange.co.uk/event.php?eventUID=NH17-PPE

Carers across the nation look to those who can hear our call. Carers want and policies that can support them and make a caring society.

July Monthly Carer & Health News Updates 2023

Latest carer and mental health news for July by carer activist and author Matthew McKenzie

July 2023 Carer and Mental Health news <- read more news items here

For the July edition on unpaid caring and mental health we have

Carer Videos

Carer Support Transitioning to managing on your own – Gloucestershire Carers Hub

A Creative Carers story-Anne – Carers Oxfordshire

Northamptonshire Carers – Episode 5 – Dementia

Latest Carer News

Caring for carers – Blog on NHS and Carers

Should you be doing more to support employees balancing carer responsibilities?

Letter from Minister of State for Social Care – Gov

Unpaid carers: ‘I had to choose to care for my husband or my sister‘

Caring for the Caregivers: The Critical Link Between Parent and Teen Mental Health – Harvard University

Triangle of Care accreditation shows we value carers – Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

National Organisation updates

Current Lived Experience Advisor Roles – Carers Trust

State of Caring Survey 2023 – Carers UK

Give feedback on care – CQC

Carer Research Papers

Online Education and Cognitive Behavior Therapy Improve Dementia Caregivers’ Mental Health: A Randomized Trial.

The impact of having a carer on adult health and social care utilisation across five settings of care: A matched cohort study

Diversity ethnic Mental health news updates

NELFT launches Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework

Carers UK good practice briefing for supporting Black, Asian and minority ethnic carers

Exploring the relationship between mental health and dialect use among Chinese older adults

South Asian Heritage Month – Birmingham and Solihull NHS FT

VR training for informal carers of those with psychosis

Welcome to another blog post by Matthew McKenzie promoting research from psychiatry and psychology.

There is new research taking place at the institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. They are working on a new way of Virtual training for unpaid mental health carers.

People with lived experiences of mental health problems, such as psychosis, can have a range of experiences that might include worrying or unusual beliefs about other people, themselves and events. These experiences can sometimes influence their styles of communication with other people, including close friends and relatives. Families and friends (sometimes collectively described as carers) are an important source of support to people living with psychosis. This caring role can be challenging, especially when communication might feel confusing and difficult. As such, carers understandably often want their own help on how best to provide support particularly in terms of identifying helpful communication styles.

In the study the IOPPN will look at whether it is possible to use a new virtual reality (VR) training programme designed specifically for carers of people with lived experiences of psychosis. By carrying out a smaller study, the research will want to see if a larger study would work in the future. The training will aim to guide a carer’s development and use of helpful communication styles with their relative with psychosis.

For more details see poster below.

If interested please contact

Laurence Rogers (Trainee Clinical Psychologist; Laurence.p.rogers@kcl.ac.uk)
Department of Psychology, King’s College London
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
De Crespigny Park
Denmark Hill
London SE5 8A

Caring for a loved one with cancer research

Caring for a loved one with cancer? The university of East London study offers 4 free (online) hours of coaching in exchange for a 1 hour interview.

The study aims to support carers of cancer patients through coaching conversations, and is part of a Master’s dissertation investigating the wellbeing effects of coaching. The research has been ethically approved by University of east london’s Psychology Ethics Committee.

You’ll be asked to participate for around 5 ½ hours of your time, and the sessions can be slotted around your availability. The coaching is confidential.

To book a 30 minute consultation to see if this is right for you, contact Jo at u2097099@uel.ac.uk

Carers UK – State of Caring Survey

Welcome to another carer blogpost by carer activist and chair of Carers Uk ethnic advisory group. I have been meaning to blog about the new State of Caring survey, but before I do. I want to give a little introduction to Carers UK. If you are new to the caring role as in caring for someone unpaid like a family member or friend, then Carers UK can help with advice and information.

Carers UK is a national membership charity for carers, Carers UK is both a supportive community and a movement for change. Still, with over 5 to 6 million carers in the UK, it is hard to know the challenges carers face. This is why Carers UK launches its “State of Caring” survey to hear what carers face.

I suspect I can hear groans and moans from carers thinking “Oh no! Not another survey!”. However hold for just a moment. The UK has been hit with a cost of living crisis, recovering from a pandemic it was not fully prepared for. This in turn has led to an impact on the most vulnerable where carers are isolated and services are struggling. Despite health and social care resources facing challenges, there have been new problems affecting carers, but without carers feeding back then it is difficult for Carers UK to lobby.

Some people tend to think they are not carers and that is fine. I know some out there feel they are just doing their duty caring for someone affected by long term illness. Some people provide care out of love and concern. These reasons are all important, but is it fair that people have to struggle when there is help out there? Especially being identified as a carer and having that extra useful carer awareness.

Providing unpaid care can be a most isolating and private affair, but should it be so private that no one knows when that carer of the person being cared for is suffering needlessly?

I ask carers especially those from minority groups to take just a few minutes to fill in the “State of Caring” Survey. The more information provided, the more carers do not have to cope alone. You might feel you will not get anything out of it, but letting those who make important decisions regarding the nation should be aware that carers need that extra support.

You can access the State of Caring survey in the link below

https://www.carersuk.org/policy-and-research/state-of-caring-survey/

Bringing the Lambeth community together for health and wellbeing.

Welcome back to another blog by carer activist Matthew McKenzie. I run many groups aimed at those caring for someone unpaid. They could be caring for someone suffering mental illness or caring for someone affected by cancer. One of the groups I run is the Joint Southwark & Lambeth mental health carers forum.

So I was delighted to attend a fun filled community event over in Lambeth.

The weather was perfect for the health event. The event focused on the Lambeth community and beyond. It was a way to bring the community together.

We all have something in common, just as we all have importance in health and wellbeing. So it was a fun afternoon where everyone could come together and learn what the borough of Lambeth if providing for the community.

The event was called “Thriving Vassall and Coldharbour Health Day”. It took place over at Wyck Gardens on the 21 July 2023 from 3pm to 7pm.

When I attended the wellbeing festival, the first thing I noticed was how everyone was enjoying themselves. There was no fussing or fighting, people were relaxing, enjoying the music, learning about health and eating the food provided.

I met up and chatted with Karen Hooper who is a carer and does so much to promote community links in Lambeth.

I then spoke to stall holders at Age UK Lambeth, Disability UK Lambeth, Kooth stall, SHARP Gallery and more.

The Wellbeing Festival provided fun for all the family. Workshops and activities to help attendees stay fit and healthy. It was great to see a focus on young people’s mental health from the Kooth stall.

We also had stalls from South London & Maudsley regarding mental wellbeing services.

Involvement and providing feedback on health services is so important. So it was great to see Lambeth Healthwatch giving advice and information at their stall.

I noticed there was Jewellery Making and Face painting for children attending as it is great for young people to get creative. There was also a bouncy castle.

There were other Stall holders including Lambeth Childhood, Active Lambeth, Primary Care Network engagement (especially from the social perscribers). We also had stall information from Moasaic Club House, Certitude, Loughborough Farm, Buzwakk Recording Studio, Big Kid Foundation, Repowering London and Lambeth Libraries.

We also had some great singing performances on the day.

With so much bringing the community together, I enjoyed my visit to the Health and Wellbeing day, everyone was friendly and many wanted to chat about their services to help the community.

A big thank you to the main organisers Anthea, at Thriving Vassall & Coldhabour (Fiveways), Surjit from Ecosystem Coldharbour and Kamika from Chips and to everyone who came to the event.

Triangle of care – Learning about what is out there

This blog post is from carer activist and author Matthew McKenzie. I am involved in many things and often campaign and raise awareness of those caring for someone with mental illness or cancer. One of groups I run focuses on Carers Trust Triange of Care membership updates.

It is important families, friends who are unpaid carers who care for someone using mental health services be kept in the loop. It is even more important that carers be involved in shaping triangle of care at their local mental health service. All too often carers can be seen as a hidden resource, perhaps seen as someone behind the scenes quietly getting on with it.

Carers should not be hidden, it is important to know what your organisation is doing to improve the lives of unpaid mental health carers.

Our next triangle of care community meeting will be on July 31st. See poster below.

Realising the transformative potential of AHPs

Welcome back to another blog post by carer activist Matthew McKenzie. Quick question. Do you know about Allied Health Professions?

Well, allied Health professionals work to provide the community with the best support and health benefits using their skills and expertise.

Allied Health professionals work in many different settings and they do not always have to be based in hospitals. There are around 14 all doing their best to serve the community.

Art therapists
Dramatherapists
Music therapists
Podiatrists
Dietitians
Occupational therapists
Operating department practitioners
Orthoptists
Osteopaths
Paramedics
Physiotherapists
Prosthetists and orthotists
Radiographers
Speech and language therapists

Still, serving the community is not enough. It is about including the community and putting people first. This is done through co-production, leadership, innovation and bringing out the best in the AHP community. The health of the community is a challenge if the health of the environment suffers, so it is important to prepare for a greener future and cleaner future.

The Allied Health Professions have set their strategy for england, which you can view below.

Click to access allied-health-professions-strategy-for-england-ahps-deliver.pdf

There also is a new video to promote why AHPs should continuously improve their contribution to high-quality health and care services.

As a carer activist, I know full well that high quality care can have a positive impact. We all have a part to play, just as we all want healthier lives. Users of health services want their views taken into account and this can lead to a better strategy.

Thanks for reading.

Empowering my carer experience to help in training

As you might already know from my previous blogs. I am now a carer ambassador for Cygnet group. Cygnet is a leading provider of mental health, autism and learning disability services. As a carer I often use my knowledge and experience to provide insight and training over the years.

Some professionals might frown as to why service users and carers might wish to help train staff, but the voice of lived experience should not be ignored. There are many reasons why professionals should include users of services in training staff.

We should note that carers also use services as they seek carer support groups, information about services and sometimes counselling.

We use their services, although professionals are experts for a reason, they spend years training for their profession. They know far more about their field than I would acknowledge, but there is a big difference. Professionals provide a service and we use that service, if those services second guess what we require then this leaves room for errors. To make matters challenging, services do change from time to time and it is so important carers and service users feedback on their experiences.
We all need to work together. In the time of ever deminishing resources, it is a waste of time that patient, professional and carer battle each other to be heard. In the long run, we all wish for health and wellbeing for all of us. Working together means learning from each other.
Professionals can and will make mistakes, so include the voice of lived experience can show professionals are willing to learn from mistakes. These mistakes can come from second guessing what users might require, being pressured in their role or just not paying attention.

There are many more reasons why lived experience should be empowered to help train professionals. So when Cygnet group offered a chance to film my thoughts about carer experience, I jumped at the chance.