Launching 'Health and Wellbeing for Carers' course ahead of Carers’ Rights Day
Across the UK 6.5 million - 1 in 8 people - are caring for a loved one who is older, disabled, terminally or seriously ill. As the population ages, the number of carers is rising fast. Without the right support and advice, this can take its toll leaving carers stressed and exhausted.
This Carers’ Rights Day (28th November 2014), Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMW) is drawing attention to their specialist courses for people who care for someone with a mental health and/or substance misuse problem.
The Trust’s “Health and Wellbeing for Carers” course aims to give carers a better understanding of the problems they may face in their caring role and helps them to find new ways to tackle them. There’s practical advice to help people cope with caring, and support available so carers don’t forget to look after their own health and wellbeing.
The free course is for half a day and is held on the 26 November 2014, 8 December 2014, 21 January 2015, 25 February 2015 and 26 March 2015 in venues across Greater Manchester.
The course will help carers to learn new skills or improve their existing knowledge in order to make life as a carer much easier. Carers will discover how caring affects their life and how to balance their commitments better as well as how to communicate more effectively with the person they care for.
“Health and Wellbeing for Carers” has been developed in partnership with a number of the Trust’s carers to make the course specific for people who care for people with mental health and/or substance misuse problems.
Gill Green, Director of Nursing and Operations at Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Carers undertake an invaluable service, providing unpaid care for family or friends. We’d like every carer to get the help they need so they can look after their loved ones as well as looking after their own physical and mental health.
“If you care for a loved one or someone relies on your help, please book onto one of our carers courses, or get in touch to see how we can help.”
All the courses are run by the Trust’s Recovery Academy, which provides a range of free educational courses and resources for people with mental health and substance misuse problems, their families and carers as well as health and social care professionals.
To book your place or to find out more about our upcoming courses, log on to www.gmmh.nhs.uk/recovery. Alternatively you can email recoveryacademy@gmmh.nhs.uk or telephone 0161 772 3782.
A carer is defined as someone who provides unpaid support to a relative, partner, child or friend due to illness, disability, frailty, a mental health condition or substance misuse problems. Many people are carers without realising it.
ENDS
- Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust provides district mental health services in Bolton, Salford and Trafford. It also provides inpatient alcohol and drug recovery services in Prestwich as well as community alcohol and drug services in Trafford, Salford, Cumbria, Blackburn with Darwen, Wigan and Leigh and Central Lancashire.
- Across the UK 6.5 million - 1 in 8 people - are caring for a loved one who is older, disabled, terminally or seriously ill. As the population ages, the number of carers is rising fast.
- The North West has one of the highest numbers of carers in England with 781,972 people providing unpaid care (Office for National Statistics, 2011 Census data, Provision of Unpaid Care in England and Wales, 2011). In the North West, the number of carers has increased by 8% over the last ten years.
- In Greater Manchester there are a reported 280,299 carers, Lancashire has 133,213 and Cambria has 56,495. According to the 2011 Census, 51.8% of carers providing unpaid care in the North West are in employment. 'Provision of unpaid care' covers looking after, giving help or support to family members, friends, neighbours or others because of long-term physical or mental ill-health/disability, or problems related to old age. http://www.carersuk.org/for-professionals/policy/policy-library/2011-census-figures-england-and-wales
- Carers Rights Day is organised each year by Carers UK to bring organisations across the UK together to help carers in their local community know their rights and find out how to get the help and support they are entitled to. The theme for Carers Rights Day 2014 is Looking after someone? Know your rights.
For media enquiries, contact the press office on 0161 772 4313 or email katie.dolan@gmmh.nhs.uk.
