A message from unpaid carers

“ We want someone to say: I hear what you are saying.”

It can be difficult to identify yourself as a carer. We want it to be recognised that what we do is amazing, and we should be proud!

Being a carer can be hard, time consuming and life changing. It can be lonely and difficult. It is usually not a role we signed up for. We give so much but it can give a lot back too when we see the person we are supporting living the best life they can. It is easy to lose your sense of self when you are putting someone else first. We can feel like we are on call even if we try to set boundaries. We keep going day in and day out because the people we care for need our support. We can do this out of love, loyalty, values, responsibility or because it feels there is no-one else and they are reliant on us. We are adept at taking each day as it comes.

We should be valued. We have a lot of experience of using and speaking with services. We are often the connection between services. We want to share our knowledge and we want our voices to be heard. Peer support can make a difference, it can help if we have this and speak with other carers. We need support too.

“When you call up, you want to feel more like you are getting a hug than a push back.”

This action plan is the start. It was co-produced with as many carers in Camden as we could speak with.

We want more carers to recognise that they are carers. We want more carers to know that they are not alone. We want to thrive as a community supporting each other. We want every carer to understand what support they are entitled to. When we reach out to a service our experience should be a good one. After all, we save services a lot of time and money doing what we do.

Welcome to our Carers Action Plan!