Carers Trust Wales awarded £169,835 to NEWCIS, All Wales Forum, The Outdoor Partnership and Age Connects Torfaen to support unpaid carers in Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Newport through a short break.
All four organisations are currently already delivering short breaks activities through the Short Breaks Scheme and this re-allocation of funding is allowing them to support more carers in south east Wales.
Kate Cubbage, Director Carers Trust Wales, comments, “It was a very worrying time for unpaid carers in south east Wales, following the closure of the main carers' organisation who were delivering Short Breaks in that region. I’m really pleased that we were able to offer some support through quickly reallocating Short Breaks funding to these four organisations. They have all been able to use their knowledge and experience in running Short Breaks projects to benefit more carers in south Wales.”
The Outdoor Partnership, who recently achieved the Investors in Carers Bronze Award, has supported 1,175 young carers to try all kinds of exciting activities, like climbing and hill walking, bush craft, caving, canoeing, mountain biking, surfing and rafting. Their extra funding is helping them to run two additional outdoor activity residential experiences for young unpaid carers from the Caerphilly region, during the October and February half term breaks. As recently highlighted by the BBC, the school holidays can be a very isolating time for young carers, so the timing is important.
The first group of young carers has already enjoyed a variety of outdoor skill sessions in the Eryri National Park and hiked to the summit of Yr Wyddfa, the highest mountain in Wales!
Tracey Evans, CEO, The Outdoor Partnership, tells us, “These residential experiences improve young carers immediate quality of life, by providing exciting respite opportunities to connect with other young people in a similar situation. More importantly, they help their long-term quality of life, by giving them the skills to participate in outdoor activities to improve their health and wellbeing throughout their life.”
NEWCIS, a predominantly north east Wales charity, has been able to extend its reach to support an extra 500 carers in south Wales to enjoy a short break.
Their project, ‘Time for Me’, supports those carers who have not previously accessed a short break, with a particular focus on carers who live in rural locations and are isolated or disconnected from their own communities and support networks. It allows carers to take a bespoke break which matches their needs, maybe for just a few hours, perhaps going to the cinema, or out for a meal, or a longer three-day break away at a holiday home or spa of their choice.
Claire Sullivan from NEWCIS explains, “‘Time for me’ allows carers to have their break with other family members or on their own and helps to sustain them in their caring role. Carers are given the choice, flexibility and opportunities to look after their own mental and physical wellbeing to improve resilience and reduce burn out.”
NEWCIS feedback from carers who have already benefited:
“This can make a huge impact to how carers view wider support services. Our involvement with the scheme in north Wales shows accessing it makes carers more likely to engage in wrap-around support offers, which helps them in the longer term”, Claire explains.
NEWCIS is currently working alongside Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Newport local authorities delivering their award-winning Bridging the Gap scheme to offer respite to carers across these local authority areas. Thanks to these established links with the three local authorities and unpaid carers in south east Wales, they have been able to deliver the additional breaks through the Short Breaks Scheme at pace.
All Wales Forum of Parents and Carers of People with Learning Disabilities (AWF) have been able to increase the reach of their current Short Breaks Project, Seibiant. This project has focused on delivering flexible, person-centred breaks in Wales, giving options for carers in terms of their breaks and also helping support businesses in Wales.
Josh Law, Project & Partnerships Manager at AWF expands, “Our Seibiant project has been very successful. In the first year of delivery, we supported 40 carers across Wales to take a break. We facilitated the delivery of 22 breaks, 15 overnight breaks, 5 days out and 2 group trips.
Josh concludes,
Due to its success and extremely high demand, the current Seibiant project had many carers on a waiting list. The extra funding has allowed us to support more carers from Caerphilly to benefit from a person-centered break in Wales.
Age Connects Torfaen has used its extra funding to run some pamper sessions specially designed for female Muslim carers. Eleven female carers from a Black Minority Ethnic carers group in Newport were treated to a pamper morning, where a range of treatments was offered, including hair washes and trims, hand massages, facials and head massages.
Emma Wootten, Age Connects Torfaen, says: “It was a highly rewarding experience that I felt really made an impact on them. The session reminded them that they must take time for themselves before they can provide others with quality time and care.”