Empowering Unpaid Carers

Be Empowered is a course for caregivers, and their networks, to address the challenges of juggling unpaid care responsibilities with the demands of the rest of their lives and employment. Across 10 modules, learners are given tips and tools on building resilience, understanding their rights, communicating their needs and more. Every day, people leave jobs they love to give care support to relatives, partners, parents and community members. Loss of financial autonomy, self-esteem and confidence can follow, making the personal cost of caring too high. Achieving balance between work, unpaid care and self-care is worth striving for, and Be Empowered has been designed to support that goal. Be Empowered provides holistic support by addressing all aspects of the impact of caring on the caregiver, their networks, and their paid employment. The Be Empowered Modules Building Resilience - How to Bounce Back and Keep Caring. Learn about techniques that can be drawn upon in acute crises and day-to-day. Identify how to build on fundamental resilience, build new coping mechanisms and ultimately manage the ongoing pressures of caring responsibilities. Carer Guilt & Compassion Fatigue Compassion fatigue develops over time, and can be hard to recognise, acknowledge and accept. Feelings of loss, frustration and even grief are normal but can cause guilt. This module focuses on adapting to changes in lifestyle, the loss of emotional support, role reversal and other common effects, making reflection possible without self-criticism and judgement. The aim is to develop skills to manage those feelings, reducing the risk of overwhelm. Communication with Services - Talking to the Professionals: (1) We look at planning conversations for maximum impact. Effective communication is a complex series of decisions, actions and behaviours. Being heard and understood when stressed and overstretched is a real challenge. This module enables the learner to understand different types of communication and how to use appropriate styles and tools to achieve better outcomes. Communication with Services - Talking to the Professionals (2) This second module on dealing with influential gatekeepers goes further to look at communication barriers and how to talk to professionals as objectively as possible to achieve realistic goals. The session also explores how to raise concerns effectively. Looking after Yourself This module directly addresses the barriers to self-care that are the every day reality of care giving. To move beyond these barriers, a practical approach is taken to the topic with the goal of making incremental positive changes. Planning Hospital Care and Discharge This module looks at planning hospital and healthcare to promote the Carer being meaningfully involved whether as a patient themselves or as a visitor to the supported person. Includes practical guidance on who may be involved in discharge and important options to discuss with the hospital team prior to returning home. Setting your Boundaries - How to say No Boundary setting and achieving clarity of roles promote accountability and understanding, but can be tricky to achieve for a number of reasons. The module looks at ways to reach consensus on who is responsible for what, why and when. With the goal of maintaining healthy boundaries, all parties should feel an appropriate sense of safety and control. Using Technology and Services to Sustain Support Explore the different types of services and technology that may be available to support both carer/s and the cared for person/people. Your Rights as a Caregiver We look at how to access support and advice based on the Laws and Policies that enable Carers to feel heard and connected. This session looks at The Care Act from the perspective of the carer. For Managers and Caregivers - What you Need to Know and How You Can Help. This module provides information based on the Laws and Policies that can effectively support employees with unpaid care responsibilities. Covering key sections of the The Care Act and the relevance of it to employers, the benefits of employing and supporting caregivers, and the legal rights that support carers in employment. Common misperceptions about unpaid care are also addressed. Whether currently managing an unpaid carer or not, this module is an eye-opening and valuable addition to any people skills toolkit. Quality and Relevance are assured when choosing Be Empowered. The content was developed in response to Carer Survey results at national and local authority levels, through evaluation of carer support projects and appraisal of the online support programme developed during the pandemic. All topics were selected using this evidence based approach, which revealed this list of needs. Each module has been developed collaboratively with input from Carers themselves, health and social care professionals, and staff from the PeoplePlus supported Gloucestershire Carers Hub.