York Carers Centre News

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1 York Carers Centre or York Carers Centre News Spring 2015 Issue 70 Dancing Days Ceilidh In December York Carers Centre held a Ceilidh at The Folk Hall, New Earswick. This fun-filled evening of Scottish dancing was a great success with 65 people attending. Lots of fabulous raffle prizes were donated by local businesses, and we raised 280 for York Carers Centre. Watch this space for our next Ceilidh event! York Carers Centre charity dinner The Trustees of York Carers Centre are hosting a 3 course dinner and ball at the Park Inn, York, on Saturday 6th June at 7.30pm. It will be a great night out and will raise money to support carers in York. Tickets are 30 available from or phone York Carers Centre on Small grants fund Find out more on page 6 Thinking ahead A carer s plans page 8 Carers cafés Places to go on page 9 1

2 Carers Rights Day In November York Carers Centre supported national Carers Rights Day with several events across the city. Talk at York Saint John University A member of the York Carers Centre staff and two carers delivered a talk to a group of over 100 Occupational Therapy (OT) students at York St John University. Occupational therapists help people of all ages to improve their ability to perform tasks in daily living and working environments. Through this they regularly come across carers, so we hope to raise their awareness of the issues carers face. Many of the students said that the most valuable part of the talk was hearing the real life experiences of carers, which helped them understand the issues. It had a significant impact and one person said; I really enjoyed and valued the lecture with carers this afternoon. I found it extremely informative, engaging and insightful and I would just like to pass on my thanks. If you would like to be involved in future talks, please contact York Carers Centre. We will be able to offer support and training and you can be involved as much or as little as you like. Breakfast for students at York College The Young Adult Carer service hold a monthly drop in at York College, where carers who are students or staff at the College can pop in and speak to our support workers to register or receive advice. On Thursday 27 th November we hosted a free breakfast for carers in the Ashfield Restaurant, alongside the student support service. It was a great morning, where carers from different areas of Yorkshire met over bacon sandwiches and coffee. New referrals were taken, carers exchanged details, people took information about our services and we were able to link out of area carers to their local carer support agency. It was a great event and definitely the best breakfast of the week for the carers who attended! 2

3 Donations During autumn and winter we received donations totalling 1585 from local groups, churches and individuals. A huge thank you to all who donated. These donations make a real difference to the lives of carers by helping towards the cost of carer events and activities. All donations are most welcome and always appreciated. For more information on how to donate please visit our website Yorkshire Building Society customers voted York Carers Centre as one of their charities of the year for Deputy Manager Julie Crosby (middle) is presented with a cheque for 100 by Sir Hugh Bailey MP. Keep up to date with York Carers Centre Follow us on Twitter on Care Act update The new Care Act and Children s and Families Act are coming in April York Carers Centre staff are attending various meetings and training sessions in order to understand how the changes might affect carers. Look out for more details and updates on these changes on our website and in our summer newsletter. 3

4 Winter roundup We have been busy over winter with events such as a pub lunch in Bishopthorpe, wine tasting and an extremely busy ghost walk. We also visited the Community Cinema in South Bank which was brilliant; a lovely setting with tea-lights on the tables, a bar and a really diverse audience, we will be sure to do this again. Please see for information on future film showings, and feel able to attend on your own or with friends and family as they really are very welcoming. New Earswick group for carers We ran a pilot group for carers in the New Earswick, Haxby and Huntington areas of York which ran for 8 weeks. This was well attended and so popular that we carried it on for an extra 3 weeks. The Christmas lunch for regular attenders saw 21 people coming along. Please see the calendar of events for future meetings and activities as we have secured funding for the group to continue into Carers Mental Health Group This group continues to go from strength to strength. We enjoyed a lovely Christmas social which was a joint event with York Mind s peer support group. York Mind hosted the event and put on a fabulous spread. It is extremely valuable and important to hear stories from a range of carers and experiences, and this is a great opportunity to do so. Please see the calendar of events for forthcoming topics, and do get in touch if you need some support to enable you to attend. Carers Mental Health Group Christmas social 4

5 Substance misuse update Carers sharing support and Christmas cheer at the Substance Misuse Carers Christmas drop in. Echo was a visitor from Taiwan who came to the UK and spent time at York Carers Centre during Carers Week in June She later shadowed Sam Ferguson, Substance Misuse Carer Coordinator, who gave Echo lots of information to take back regarding supporting families affected by addiction. Echo has since made information available to the people of Taiwan. In December Echo sent us this Dear Sam, HDA Mission made a little window show about York Carers Centre. We use it to introduce a different angle of addiction issues to Taiwanese people. I hope that it will inspire people here and know that there are many things we can do too. Love from Taiwan For more information about the substance misuse service please contact Sam on or enquiries@yorkcarerscentre.co.uk 5

6 Small grants fund for carers groups Funding is now available for carers groups if you know of anyone who would like to apply for some funding to run small groups for carers please pass on this information. Expressions of interest invited for: One off grants of up to 700 to run group session/s for carers. Applications for more than one amount of 700 will be accepted groups will need to demonstrate how each separate amount of 700 specifically aims to benefit carers. A separate application form is required for each sum of up to 700. Applications from organisations already running groups for carers need to demonstrate that the funding will be used to provide additional sessions and/or add value to existing initiatives. Deadlines for applications are 13 March and 30 April Please contact Sharron Smith on or sharron.smith@yorkcarerscentre.co.uk for an application form and further details. Visit our website for the latest news and events The Clifton Art Group is an informal monthly gathering for carers. We meet on the fourth Monday of every month, from 1.30 to 3.30pm. Join our art group for carers We meet at the Burton Stone Community Centre and it is completely free. Sessions are usually run by art tutors who are very social and friendly. Refreshments and materials are provided. On the 23rd February we will be doing clay modelling and on the 23rd March it is fabric printing. Alternatively, you can bring your own art projects and maybe get advice from the tutor. For more information contact Sarah Illing at York Carers Centre or

7 Young carers update We are now supporting over 150 young carers, more than ever before! Young Carers have been very busy over the past couple of months. In December we went ice skating and had a Christmas party for over 70 young carers and their families. In January we joined up with young adult and adult carers for a whole centre trip to the Pantomime at York Theatre Royal. It was lovely to see carers of all ages enjoy a lovely evening together. Over the past few weeks we have been working with York City Football Club and practicing our football skills and in the coming weeks we will be holding some drama workshops with York Theatre Royal. It is great to be able to work with other community groups to provide fun activities for our young carers. For more information on the Young Carers Service please contact Liz on Young adult carers update Happy new year! Young adult carers had a great time at their Christmas dinner at Cosmos in York. We have devised an online survey for young adult carers to complete to tell us what they think of our service which will help us apply for future funding. Young adult carers completing the survey could win a 20 voucher! The survey can be found here There is a support group for young adult carers that meets the first Tuesday of the month at Castlegate 5.30 to 7.30pm. This is a relaxed and informal group that gives carers a chance to offload and receive support from peers, or just have a catch up with a cuppa! For more information on the young adult carers service contact Hayley on

8 Thinking ahead A new planning and support group for family carers Written by Pauline Rogers Are you a family carer parent, brother, sister, relative or friend? Do you worry about how the person you care for will be able to cope when you re not around anymore or you can no longer manage your caring role? Do you want to make plans for the future, but feel you can t do it on your own? I am an older parent carer. My daughter is aged 50 and has autism and learning disabilities. I worry constantly about how she will cope when I m no longer around to support her and act as her advocate and champion. I ve recognised that I need some support to help me put plans in place for my own peace of mind and to ensure her future happiness and security. The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities has produced a guide called Thinking Ahead for families with an adult with learning disabilities who would like ideas to help them think about and plan for the future. The guide offers families ideas for taking small steps in planning with your relative for times ahead. The guide will also be useful to families if their relative has already left home but they still want to put plans in place to make sure their future life is as good as possible. After talking with York Carers Centre and care managers with York City Council, and recognising that many family carers are in the same situation, we are working towards setting up a family carers group to help people plan for the future. If you are interested in planning for the future with your relative, with a supportive group of people around you this group is for you. We are having an initial meeting for any carers interested and we want to hear your views about what you think your needs are and how you would like the group to run. This meeting will be held on March 24 th from 12noon to 2.00pm, venue to be confirmed, and a light lunch will be provided. We will also be holding a workshop for this group of carers about emergency planning. This will be facilitated by The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities and take place on 22nd April to 2.30pm venue to be confirmed. If you would like more information on either group please contact Sharron at York Carers Centre on

9 Carers café at Spurriergate Why not come along and join us at the carers café? This is a really good opportunity to meet other carers and also to chat to a member of staff from York Carers Centre. These will be held on the following dates: Wednesday 4 th March 2015 Wednesday 1 st April 2015 Wednesday 6 th May 2015 A member of staff from the Adult, Education and Children s Team from City of York Council will also be joining us on 4 th March so will be available to give further information about the support offered by the team. The Carers Café is held at the Spurriergate Centre, York, YO1 9QR from to 11.30am. Can you help? We are always looking for volunteers to join our dedicated team. Volunteers are involved in a range of activities and opportunities including; planning, organising and attending events and outings for carers of all ages, office administration and help with the newsletter. For an informal chat please contact us on or enquiries@yorkcarerscentre.co.uk Forget-me-not café The Forget-me-not café is a Dementia Friendly café set up for older people in the community by Lidgett Grove Methodist Church. It is open to all older people and the volunteers have received Dementia Awareness training in order for it to be a safe and welcoming place for people with sensory impairment. The café is a place where we hope those caring for people with Dementia will also want to come. It runs on the second Thursday of each month, 2.30 to 3.30 pm, the next one is on Thursday 12th March. It runs at Lidgett Grove Methodist Church, Wheatlands Grove, Acomb, York, YO26 5NH. 9

10 The Ripple Effect We have had some positive feedback from carers who attended the Mindfulness activities hosted during Many people have commented on how it has helped them deal better with even the simple things in day to day life, and been really helpful in lots of different ways. Because of this we are providing more opportunities this year. To start this off we have asked Christine Bailey to run a session called How to Calm Down and Think Straight on Saturday 18 th April, 10am to 2pm (venue to be confirmed). This session is part of a series called The Ripple Effect, so look out for more dates later in the year. The course aims to help you to successfully regulate your emotional state, and to change your mood, perception, and the meaning you attribute to your life events. If you find yourself feeling scattered, emotionally or physically, or constantly worrying and concerned about things, this will be a great session for you. We will also be running a session on developing assertiveness on Saturday 30 th May (time and venue to be confirmed). If you re interested in either of these, please contact York Carers Centre for more information on Carer awareness Did you know we have a very useful online training website to help raise awareness of carers? At you can complete two courses; one about adult carer awareness and one about young carer awareness. We intend to include further training on young adult carers later in the year. Each course is designed to help you increase your knowledge about carers, their rights and some of the challenges they encounter. It includes opinions and contributions from carers and professionals. The course will give you information about what you personally can do to support carers and where to go for specialist support. 10

11 Pilates anyone? Pilates is a great form of exercise for both men and women, ideal for all levels of fitness. Later this year we will be delivering some free sessions exclusively for carers. They will be taking place one evening a week over 6 weeks. Pilates is an activity that focuses on stretching and strengthening the whole body to improve balance, muscle-strength, breathing and posture, and there is some evidence that it can provide pain relief for lower back pain. It incorporates elements of yoga, martial arts and Western forms of exercise, and is said to help with relieving stress and tension ideal for anyone with a busy life. The great thing about the exercise is that you go at your own pace, and do as much as you can, so you don t have to be fit to take it up. Also, it is suitable for any age, so even if you are in your 80s and have never tried it before, it is open to you! For more information on the classes call the office on or enquiries@yorkcarerscentre.co.uk Please let us know if your details change. Call us on or enquiries@yorkcarerscentre.co.uk York Carers Centre speaks out Part of the role of York Carers Centre is to be an advocate for carers rights in York. We work in partnership with other agencies and professionals to raise awareness of the issues carers face. As well as giving presentations we provide training to GPs and their staff to help identify and support carers. There are currently many changes happening across the Local Authority and health services, and York Carers Centre are involved to make sure carers are a priority and their voices are heard. 11

12 Money matters From 1 st October 2014 individuals receiving Continuing Health Care can request and receive a Personal Health Budget. From April 2015 Personal Health Budgets may be an option for some people with long term physical and mental health conditions, around 8 million people. Personal Health Budgets are an amount of money allocated to pay for a person s health and well being needs, agreed by the individual and the local NHS team. This will give individuals choice and control of how their care is organised and managed and provide an individual personalised package. For more information go to Documents/understanding-phb-2013.pdf. If you are interested in a Personal Health Budget and you are eligible for NHS Continuing Health Care (CHC) please contact the CHC team on or SCRCCG.Continuing-care@nhs.net Please ring us on if you need Contact us between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Thursday us: enquiries@yorkcarerscentre.co.uk Visit our website: Follow us on Twitter: We are based near Micklegate in York at 17 Priory Street, York, YO1 6ET registered charity number registered company number York Carers Centre is an independent charity that helps unpaid carers in York find the support they need. We are a network partner of Carers Trust. 12