Carers Together is a new volunteering project providing face-to-face support to over 70 carers in the Birmingham area, and tailored online support to over 300 carers across the country. The project aims to increase confidence in carers, help them to cope with the emotional challenges and stressing of caring, and increase awareness of available welfare and health services.
In a survey for Carers UK, over 70% of carers surveyed said that they experienced mental health problems, including depressing, and more than half of the 4,000 carers said that caring had a negative impact on their relationships with their friends, family and partner.
Heléna Herklots, chief executive of Carers UK, said: “Our research shows carers really value having someone to help talk through the difficult challenges they face. Carers Together combines Carers UK’s expertise on supporting carers with Timebank’s know-how on volunteering to test new ways of providing online and face-to-face support for family members with caring responsibilities.”
Helen Walker, chief executive of TimeBank, said: “TimeBank is a UK leader in the field of mentoring and we know from our experience over the last 12 years what a powerful impact it can have – on volunteers as well as beneficiaries. Carers do so much for others, saving the country billions. But they often feel isolated and sometimes struggle to cope. This great new project is all about caring for them.”
The collaboration between TimeBank and Carers UK was funded by the Big Lottery Fund, which provided £256,273 to support this project.
For more information about the project, and to get involved, visit the Carers Together website.
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