North West Conference 2012 Carer's Workshop.

[Jo_BLFHelpline]

Good Morning Everyone

I hope you are all well today - the weather seems to be changing now and winter seems to be settling in.

Along with Katie Peters (project officer for Carer's) we ran a carer's workshop at the North West Breathe Easy Conference in in Manchester.

We wanted to see how the BLF can help to support carer's, offer specific information on carers rights. benefits etc and highlight the support services the BLF has.

Approximately 20 or so people attended so clearly there is a need there for support and information. One area we both found interesting was how the majority of attendees referred to themselves not as carer's but as 'looking after someone'. Saying that you are a carer can open up the door to support such as carer assessments and benefits eg Carer's Allowance, and information specifically for carer's such as having an annual flu jab if the health and welfare of the person being cared for is at risk if the carer becomes ill.

I wonder if people consider the word 'carer' as a negative one, where as as one person said 'we look after each other as part of our relationship, it's what we do'.

Please let us know what you think.

Cheers

Jo

[Jo_BLFHelpline British Lung Foundation]

Hi

During the workshop yesterday we put post it notes on the table - we thought people may prefer to write down any feelings they had.

At the end of the workshop we found one of theses notes - the note was emotional saying that ' they felt like they were living on a knife edge' and they 'felt desperate'.

If anyone is feeling like this or has similar feelings we are here to offer help, support, advice and very importantly to listen - we have time for you to chat! Please use us it is what we are here for.

Best Wishes

Jo