I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of the individuals, teams and of course, amazing carers who supported this year's local Carers Week campaign.
There was great energy and atmosphere amongst staff and the wider public at events and activities throughout the week and we have been able to have conversations with many local people who did not recognise they were in a caring role or were unaware of the support available to them. This is exactly why the campaign week is in place, to reach carers in the community.
The South Tees Carers Film created with carers in Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland has received a lot of praise for how fantastic the stars of the show were in creating greater awareness of what caring for family members and friends locally looks like. During Carers Week the film has been viewed 407 times which is fantastic! Thank you so much to everybody who has watched and shared the film and to Michael, Rebecca, Jade, Isabella, Elizabeth, Joshua, Tracy, Angela, Megan and Lily for making it possible and opening up about their experiences, I (and many others) have been blown away by your eloquence, honesty, selflessness and bravery. We will continue to showcase the film outside of Carers Week and hope to make more in the future recognising the diversity of carers and care in our area.
If you haven't had the opportunity to watch the film you can do so here:
In the run up to Carers Week I have worked closely with Susan Lee, Primary Care Link Worker at Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind. We have met with healthcare professionals including the Urgent Care Treatment staff at Redcar Primary Care, Teesside Hospice, The Trinity Centre, Pharmacists and GP Surgery care navigators and receptionsts across the South Tees to promote the new We Care You Care carers guide and the GP Carers Registration Form. We are continuing this work throughout the year to ensure as many professionals are encouraging local carers to inform their GP of their caring role through our handy form and raise the profile of carers rights and local carers provision. If you want to know anymore about this please contact us at hello@wecareyoucare.info
I am also working with a group of young carers through The Junction Foundation to co-design a young carers guide, we have had our first session already and every single person contributed and had fantastic design and contents ideas to reach other local young carers. Watch this space as the project develops.
What a fantastically busy time to propel us in to the summer months, I can't wait to see what else we can collectively achieve.
