Supporting Carers Week 2021

This week is Carers Week, a week dedicated to recognising the contribution unpaid carers make, the challenges they often face, and highlighting the support available. We work closely with unpaid carers every day – Caroline from the Durham team explains more.

At BelleVie we work with many family members who are unpaid carers of the people we support. Because of how we work, we take the time to get to know the whole family, and while we are there to support the person in need of care, it’s also important to us that we support the unpaid carers too.

When an unpaid carer is living with the person

We can support by offering a respite for the unpaid carer. For example, this could mean helping the person in need of support to get showered and dressed in the morning, which then allows the carer to attend to their own needs at the beginning of the day. We can also carry out household tasks to allow the family member to preserve their energy and spend more time doing meaningful activities with their loved one.

When an unpaid carer does not live with the person

We understand that not living with the person you care for can be worrying, which is why we go above and beyond to reassure family members. We use the Birdie app to record a care log, where family members can log in and read updates of how the visit went. This is also a place to share photos of the activities we’ve been up to that day.

Find out more about Carers Week and how you can support unpaid carers by visiting the Carers Week website.