Charity can help make unpaid carers’ role easier
Arran and Robin Goudy help their dad plant native trees which they have grown from seed. These will be sold on Craignish Green Day as part of the school’s tree scheme: buy a tree and the children will plant it for you.
A carers charity is reaching out to the missing 80 per cent of carers in North Argyll that it could be helping.
There are an estimated 3,200 carers across Oban, Lorn and the Isles but North Argyll Carers Centre says only about 20 per cent are registered with them.
This Carers Week, the charity wants to get word out about the work it does to support unpaid carers and see if there is anything they can do to make the caring role a little easier or help them take a bit of time out for themselves.
An unpaid carer is anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, frailty, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot manage without their support.
North Argyll Carers Centre manager Judith Hawcroft says there are lots of reasons why unpaid carers do not access the support they need.
‘Many people do not want to identify themselves as unpaid carers. Often people feel that looking after someone they care about when they need it is a natural part of life. They do not feel they need to be recognised for this or deserve to have help for themselves.
‘Unpaid carers will put the person they care for before themselves and often do not take breaks and get the rest, medical attention and support they need. This can lead to them feeling exhausted, isolated and stressed and becoming unwell. The demands of the caring role can increase so steadily that these feelings can creep up on someone and they can suddenly find they are at breaking point without realising how physically and mentally tired they have become.’
Judith says the mission at North Argyll Carers Centre is not about financial support, it is about looking at the whole person and finding ways that each individual they work with can be helped to carry on caring in the way they feel able. Some people are afraid that if they accept the label of ‘unpaid carer’ they will be expected to do everything for the person they care for and will be overwhelmed by that expectation. As well as providing a listening ear, North Argyll Carers Centre runs groups, clubs, hobby activities, day trips, residential retreats, advice, information and informal advocacy for carers from the age of eight upwards.
‘It would be wonderful if during carers week and over the months to come we can make contact with the many carers out there who we don’t yet know. The support someone receives is tailored to their needs and can be as light touch as an occasional phone call to check in, if that is all that is required.
‘Being connected with us means that if anything changes for a carer or the person they care for, the team at North Argyll Carers Centre can step in quickly to put the help in place to prevent that becoming a crisis,’ said Judith.
To get support from North Argyll Centre, contact 01631 564422.
Carers