Jewish Care’s Family Carers Service
One in seven of us at any time will take on the responsibility of caring for a close relative because their illness or disability makes them less independent than they once were. Being part of a community group there is often the belief that we find it easy to look after our own, but family history and dynamics can often add to the stresses of being a family carer.
As part of Jewish Care’s Community Support Service, we are a team of 8 staff members and 6 volunteers and are able to provide support to family carers in South London through regular telephone contact whereby we can give carers the time they deserve to let us know what’s going on in their caring role and how they feel about it and also provide information, practical advice, advocacy and signposting to other services or organisations if need be.
Each member of the team has specialist knowledge around a group of illnesses and disabilities and are available to provide carers with in-depth knowledge of dealing with the illness, learning about services and coping strategies, as well as giving carers the opportunity to think about focusing on themselves – something that those in a caring situation find very hard to do.
As well as supporting carers of people with dementia and physical disabilities, we can offer specialist support to carers where someone has an enduring mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder, or where they are affected by another person’s addictive behaviour - whether they be addicted to a substance or behaviour such as gambling or spending Many illnesses can be devastating on the whole family and over the years we have helped people rebuild their lives and find support within the community that has helped them to feel less cut off from their peers.
When formal caring stops, we continue to offer support. Losing one’s caring role can very often feel like a bereavement in itself – one minute you may be providing 24 hour care, 7 days a week, and the next the person you care for may have gone into care and all those relationships you have built with the home care team, the day centre, the district nurse and GP, come to an end and you are left wondering what your role is now.
Our own ‘family’ of carers means that today we have over 2500 carers who receive regular information and advice from the service by receiving our newsletter which we produce twice a year. Our family continues to grow and we keep on talking to carers in the community to ensure that the service is there to meet their growing and changing needs.
To read our brochure on this service click here.
PHONE THE JEWISH CARE HELPLINE CALLED “JEWISH CARE DIRECT” ON 020 8922 2222
AND EXPLAIN THAT YOU WISH TO BE REFERRED TO THE FAMILY CARER SERVICE