A carer is "a person who provides unpaid, practical or emotional support to someone with a disability, addiction or illness. The person may be a relative, partner, friend or neighbour. A carer may be of any age and may be a young person providing assistance to a parent or another person. A carer may live with the person they care for or provide support from a distance."
This is a broad definition and reflects the individual and variable nature of caring roles. This is particularly important and relevant when caring for people with mental health, alcohol or drug problems, where support may not always be visible and may vary on a day-to-day basis.
We also need to take account of our diverse community. Carers can be family, partner in a heterosexual, or same sex relationship, a friend or neighbour. They can be of any age, disability, any religion or social, cultural or ethnic group.
There are Carer Champions on most wards and community teams across GMMH who are the links for carer information. The Carer Champions attend training days to equip them with information to share with their team and carers.
The Trust employs dedicated Carer Support Workers across a number of our services to support carers both practically and emotionally and run carer awareness training for staff. We also have a Trust-wide Carers' Lead.
For more information, please email serviceusersandcarers@gmmh.nhs.uk.
