"Huge" personal toll on carers - DPS News 2/11/11. Many people may already know carers carry a huge personal toll and now new data proves this. The ABS data shows 19% of primary carers in the nation reportedly have a "strained relationship" with the person in their care. Read more......
A Carer’s Story
It’s painful to witness the decline of a wonderful, caring, sensitive, talented, healthy and well liked youth succumb to the effects of a mental problem, largely as a result of a single devastating loss fuelled by alcohol and cannabis as a form of self medication in order to cope with that loss.
Countless visits to counsellors and specialists ensued, various medications, serious behavioural problems, a resultant strain on the entire family with serious outcomes. We found ourselves in new and difficult territory, whether we liked it or not—we were Carers!
Weeks flowed into months which in turn became years. The constancy, unpredictability, worry, uncertainty, stress and necessity of being available 24/7 took its toll. It became clear that although we loved and continue to love our, by now young adult , unconditionally, it was time to consider alternative quality supported accommodation.
After comprehensive research, visits and inspections, to our disappointment, we found that there was little, if any quality supported accommodation available. We found that the mentally ill for the most part were treated as second class citizens. There is a stigma attached to mental illness that should not exist. It’s an illness needing treatment, medication and understanding.
Clearly, we believe that carers need respite badly and those unfortunate enough to experience any form of mental illness need to be cared for in quality supported accommodation with caring, trained staff, counsellors and specialist practitioners on hand, while their carers have a much needed break in order to re-group and regain their strength to continue their journey of being loving and supporting Carers.
Printed with the approval of a genuine Carer who wishes to remain un-named