No two carers are the same or are the needs of any one person receiving care the same. Carers come from all different walks of life and the nature of care they provide looks incredibly different. Some individuals may have cared for a loved one for most of their life, whereas for others it could be for a short and potentially challenging period.
Launched as Carers Week (9-15 June) comes to an end, the latest episode of ‘Care to Chat?’ podcast reveals some of the experiences of Northern Ireland’s unpaid carers through sharing stories and insights. The podcast, titled ‘Conversations about caring – Liam’s story’, explores the challenges unpaid carers face on a daily basis from lots of different perspectives.
Following on from the launch of the ‘Social Care – Making a difference’ campaign launch, the latest episode features an authentic conversation piecing together the experience of carers and social care.
This discussion features those who receive care, family carers and care experts and aims to shine a light on the experiences of those providing care and discusses how people in the community can be better supported, while both social care practitioners and carers are supported to care safely and with confidence.
We welcome Gerard McWilliams, from the Social Care Council’s Participation Partnership, Liam Dorrian from Positive Futures and a carer for this family, Áine Magee, Stratagem NI (formerly of Carers NI) and Agnes Lunny, Chief Executive, Positive Futures. They sit down with our host Dr Wendy Austin MBE, to talk about the role, challenges and experiences of Northern Ireland’s 220,000 unpaid carers, according to 2021 Census, as part of social care.
They explore the incredible diversity of carers across Northern Ireland. Carers come from all walks of life, and though their carer role and challenges may differ, they share a common theme of resilience, dedication, and compassion.
As part of the episode Liam Dorrian shared his first experiences of becoming a carer.
“If you believe in fate I joined a learning disability organisation fifteen years ago and fifteen years ago we discovered our children had a learning disability – so the two things happened at around the same time…I suppose in terms of being a carer the one thing is – nobody tells you you’re a carer. There’s no point or threshold you cross from being a parent, to being a carer.”
He added: “At some point you transition. What we found difficult is that we didn’t have a reference point. We had three children. We didn’t know that what we were doing as parents was different from what other parents were doing – and knowing that you need help, knowing you need support is the first threshold you have to cross.”
This podcast complements the theme of this year’s Carers Week, which is ‘Caring About Equality’ highlighting the inequalities faced by unpaid carers, including a greater risk of poverty, social isolation, poor mental and physical health. Far too often, carers of all-ages miss out on opportunities in their education, careers, or personal lives, just because of their caring role.
The Social Care Council releases a new episode every fortnight, discussing current topics about social care and social work regulation in Northern Ireland. Download, subscribe and listen to the latest Social Care Council ‘Care to chat?’ podcast episode today here, or by searching ‘Care to chat’ in your podcast player.
Episode 3: A conversation about caring – (41 minutes)
For more information:
As the Care to chat podcasts are designed with the social care and social work workforce in mind, we would like to invite suggestions of topics that our listeners would be interested to hear covered. If you have questions, suggestions or feedback about the podcast, email: comms@niscc.hscni.net.