GMW supports carers online during Carers Week 2016 #AskGMWCarers
Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMW) is supporting National Carers Week (6-12 June 2016) by organising a range of events across the Trusts footprint and hosting a live tweet chat, with the Trusts Carer Lead, Tracy Collard.
The events and live tweet chat will help support carers in the work they do and create awareness of how important it is.
We define a carer as:
“A person who provides unpaid practical or emotional support to someone with a disability, addiction or illness. The person may be a relative, partner, friend or neighbour. A carer may be of any age and may be a young person providing assistance to a parent or another person. A carer may live with the person they care for or provide support from a distance.”
This is a broad definition and reflects the individual and variable nature of caring roles.
This year, Carers Week is continuing to focus on building Carer Friendly Communities which supports carers to look after their loved ones well, while recognising that they are individuals with their own needs. The week’s events also aims to encourage communities and organisations to become more carer friendly.
To mark Carers Week 2016, GMW will be hosting and promoting a range of events across the Trust in partnership with CCG’s, Councils and other NHS Trusts around Bolton, Salford and Trafford, as well as running free courses for carers regarding their health and wellbeing.
GMW’s Carer Champions will be on hand at all events to offer information and support to carers. Events throughout the week will include, carer support events, afternoon teas, taster acupuncture sessions and pamper afternoons for local carers across the Trust’s footprint.
Tracy Collard, Carer Lead for GMW will be leading the live tweets on behalf of GMW (@GMW_NHS) on Thursday 9 June 10am -12pm , to answer questions people have on caring. Use the hashtag #AskGMWCarers to ask any questions.
Tracy said, “This week gives us an opportunity to show carers how much we, as a Trust, value them; these events allow us to give back to our carers, who give total commitment to those they care for, often at the cost of their own health.
“We encourage all our carers to come along to one of the many events the Trust is holding. For those that can’t make it to an event, you can join the conversation online tweet your questions to @GMW_NHS or email us carers@gmmh.nhs.uk or call 0161 703 1362.”
GMW run a number of free courses specifically aimed at carers of someone with mental health and/or substance misuse problems. The courses aim to give people a better understanding of the challenges they may face as a carer and provide them with advice and support to find new ways to tackle them.
The Trust’s “Health and Wellbeing for Carers” course provides carers with new skills and practical advice to help people cope with caring and aims to make carers aware of the support available so they don’t forget to look after their own health and wellbeing.
This free course is for carers of someone with a mental health and/or substance misuse problem and will be held on 20 September 2016 (Prestwich).
All the courses are run by the Trust’s Recovery Academy, which provides a range of free educational courses and resources for people with mental health and substance misuse problems, their families and carers as well as health and social care professionals.
To book your place or to find out more about the upcoming courses on offer, go to www.gmmh.nhs.uk/recovery . Alternatively you can email recoveryacademy@gmmh.nhs.uk or Tel: 0161 358 1771.
A calendar of events across Greater Manchester and Lancashire for Carers Week 2016 is available here: Events Carers Week 2016.pdf [pdf] 285KB . Events include information stalls, afternoon tea celebrations and more.
To find out more about the Trust’s services for carers visit: http://www.gmmh.nhs.uk/carer-information .
