Carers Story

Mrs J came to our head office in a very emotional and upset state. She was really struggling with her current caring responsibilities and was desperate for help.

Mrs J is a carer for her mum who was in hospital at the time she came to see us.

Mrs J explained her current situation to one of our Care Support Workers, one of the main concerns she raised was the impact of her caring responsibilities on her emotional wellbeing.

Discussions took place about the importance of Mrs J taking care of her own needs and putting realistic boundaries in place to protect and promote her own wellbeing and enabling her to be able to continue caring.

A Carers Assessment was completed for Mrs J, as a result of the assessment the following occurred:-

- Mrs J was signposted to Ready call ‘home from hospital service’ for support when her mum returns from hospital

- Mrs J was signposted to local talking therapies (Talking Mental Health Derbyshire and Trent Psychological Therapies Service) to address her own emotional well-being

- Mrs J was also provided with other useful information including: Derbyshire County Council’s Guide to Adult Care, Time Swap Service and Handy Van network

- We also identified that Mrs J would be eligible for a Personal budget which was requested to enable Mrs J to purchase yoga sessions for stress relief and anxiety reduction.

Mrs J sent a text message to our Care Support Worker once her mum had come out of hospital. She informed us that a reablement package was put in place on her mum’s discharge from hospital.

Mrs J was awarded a personal budget for the Yoga sessions. A key safe and personal alarm was installed.

Mrs J is now feeling positive and more able to cope, and is putting realistic boundaries in place to protect and promote her own emotional wellbeing and to enable her to continue in her caring role.

Mrs J said that having someone who understood really helped and it gave her the strength to cope and continue.