Carers Week: How you can make caring visible and valued

The award is given by Caring Together, a network partner of Carers Trust, who provide services and support for carers and their families across the eastern counties, including Norfolk. It aims to encourage and highlight businesses with good practices to support their staff who are balancing both a career and caring responsibilities.

This year’s Carers Week is being held from 7-13 June. Caring Together are asking you to take a moment to help ensure those people looking after a family member or friend are visible and valued.

The charity’s chief executive Miriam Martin said, “Every year Carers Week gives a fantastic opportunity for people to become more aware of carers and the incredible role that they play.

“This year’s theme of ‘make caring visible and valued’ resonates strongly with our work and what carers tell us is important to them – people understanding and valuing their role.

“It can be hard being a carer and we can all play a part to make caring visible and valued. This may be for the first time understanding someone looking after a family member or friend is a carer and something of what that involves, making a donation to help our work with carers, or taking a moment to see one of our Carer Friendly Tick Award holders talk about how they and others can identify and support carers. We are very pleased our Carer Friendly Tick Award holders are taking such an active role in talking about how and why they make caring visible and valued.

“Carers Week is a good time for people to become more aware of what we and others do year-round to help and support carers, and how we support other organisations to become carer friendly.”

Activities Caring Together have been planned for the week include:

• A Carer Friendly Tick Award workshop on ‘making your organisation carer friendly’ for people from organisations already working towards the Carer Friendly Tick Award.
• Activities for young carers including trips and a session with Caring Together chief executive Miriam Martin (with some events held early to fall during half term).
• A conference for carers and hospital professionals hosted by Norfolk and Waveney Hospitals.
• A parent carer event in Norfolk where the findings on what they have said about how they are coping and the support they need will be discussed, as well as a chance to identify what needs to happen next.
• A session for carers to help them have better sleep patterns and to improve their general health and wellbeing.
• News stories, videos and social media posts highlighting the role of carers and how people are already making them visible and valued.

More than 50 organisations who are employers, as well as education, health or community organisations, hold Caring Together’s Carer Friendly Tick Award in recognition of their work to identify and support carers.

You can find out more about Carers Week at caringtogether.org/carersweek