For those of you that don’t know, November is national family caregivers’ month. Here at Catalyst we want to pay tribute to caregivers across the UK and shine a light on all their hard work. We wanted to write this blog to show our admiration for the 5.8 million people that dedicate their time, unpaid, to caring for a relative across the UK (Government Office for Science, 2020).
So firstly, we thought we should cover what family caregivers actually are. Family caregivers are people that provide both paid and unpaid care for members of their families that have illnesses or conditions that prevent them from independently carrying out their daily activities.
Life expectancies are increasing, and medical treatments are advancing year on year, this has led to more of us having to care for loved ones at home. Family caregivers play a vital role in supporting their relatives and we wanted to recognise the role that quite often goes unmentioned.
We also want to encourage any family care givers that are struggling, to reach out, there are support groups available and you don’t have to do everything on your own. We understand that the responsibilities come with caregiving can seem overwhelming at times and so we also want to stress the importance of setting aside time for yourselves and taking advantage of the services offered by your community.
Thank you reading and we hope this has encouraged you to show your admiration for each and every caregiver you know this month. Take a look over our previous blogs if you haven’t already and subscribe for more weekly content!
For help and advice on family caregiving we have linked some useful articles -