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Celebrate carers week with us

5th to 11th June is national Carers Week and we are inviting all carers to celebrate with us on Thursday 8th June.

From 11am to 3pm we will be hosting a range of free taster sessions and a free buffet lunch at our Carers Hub at The Waldron Centre, 3 Amersham Vale, New Cross, London SE14 6LD. (Please note, this is not our Carers Hub in Forest Hill.)

There will be something for everyone at the taster sessions, which will include

  • massage & reflexology
  • creative writing workshop
  • laughter yoga
  • the franklin technique
  • arts & crafts
  • digital skills sessions
  • drumming workshop
  • music by Chloe from Give a Song
  • Buffet lunch

Places are limited so please book your place by calling us on 020 8699 8686 or emailing us at info@carerslewisham.org.uk.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Read more about Carers Week on the national website.

By |2023-05-30T11:35:58+00:0030 May 2023|Latest News|0 Comments

Carers tell their stories

We know that being a carer requires a huge amount of strength and resilience.  In March we met with a number of carers to hear about their caring experiences.  We hope that their stories will help others understand what it is like to be a carer, how we can support them, and reassure those who are new to caring that they are not alone.

A huge thank you to Tess, Safaa, Barbara, Nick and Valerie who all gave up their time to talk to us!

Tess filling out a form after our interview

Safaa and Paul

Barbara with our director Sue

 

By |2023-04-04T15:58:11+00:004 April 2023|Latest News|0 Comments

Christms Market brings festive cheer

On 18th November, 12 carers joined us on a trip to the Christmas Market on the South Bank.  Starting at the Royal Festival Hall, carers wandered between the food stalls, lights, gift kiosks and other attractions soaking up the atmosphere.

We had some lovely feedback that carers really enjoyd the opportunity to spend time together and the experience of doing something different, with several people saying they had not been to Central London for a long time and enjoyed the day out.

Our favourite quote was from Kelly, who told us ‘Thanks for a lovely afternoon last week.  I had such a great time and I couldn’t stop smiling all day.  It was so nice to meet some lovely people as I never get out of the house usually. I really appreciated it and definitely needed it, I’m looking forward to attending more in the future.’

We’re already planning more trips, but in the meantime, why not come along to one of our Christmas lunches on 12th and 13th of December? Email viktoria@carerslewisham.org.uk to find out more.

 

By |2022-12-01T08:29:09+00:001 December 2022|Latest News|0 Comments

Help us win £1,000

We are calling on supporters to nominate Carers Lewisham to win a £1,000 festive financial boost as part of Benefact Group’s annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign.

It’s quick, easy and free to do and nominations are open from now until 15th December.

Winners are drawn at random and the more times Carers Lewisham is nominated, the more chance we have of being selected.

Mark Hews, Group CEO of Ecclesiastical, said: “Benefact Group is the fourth largest corporate donor in the UK and has an ambition to be the biggest. Owned by a charity, all of its available profits go to good causes, and the more the group grows, the more the group can give.  Our Movement for Good Awards has helped thousands of charities across the UK and we’re asking people to nominate a cause they care about.”

Click here to nominate Carers Lewisham.

By |2022-11-18T08:47:09+00:0017 November 2022|Latest News|0 Comments

Working for Carers shortlisted for an award

We’re excited that Working for Carers, our project to support carers into employment, has been shortlisted for an ERSA award.  The project, which is a partnership between Carers Trust, Camden Carers Service, Harrow Carers and Redbridge Carers Support Service, has been shortlisted for Community Partnership of the Year.

Elizabeth Taylor, CEO of ERSA, said ‘To have made the shortlist is a particular honour and represents the heroes – many of them unsung heroes – of our sector. Reading the entries has been a humbling and inspiring experience.’

Winners will be announced at the end of November, so watch this space!

By |2022-11-18T08:43:55+00:0017 November 2022|Latest News|0 Comments

New support for bereaved carers

Carers Lewisham have started in person Bereavement Group sessions on Mondays from 10am-12pm at our Carers Centre in Waldram Place. The service is for anyone who is bereaved – it doesn’t matter whether the bereavement was recent or took place some years ago.

The sessions aim to provide a safe and welcoming space for people who are struggling with their bereavement and grief.  We keep group size small, so that everyone feels able to share experiences, benefit from mutual support and learn new ways to cope.  The sessions are facilitated by volunteers from St Christopher’s Hospice and members of the Carers Lewisham team, all of whom have received bereavement training.

Come along to the Carers Hub, Waldram Place, Forest Hill SE23 2LB.  No need to book but if you would like further information contact Paul on paul@carerslewisham.org.uk.

 

By |2022-09-15T09:58:48+00:0015 September 2022|Latest News|0 Comments

Carers Lewisham celebrates Lewisham London Borough of Culture

On 28th of July, our entire building was buzzing as nearly 50 carers and professionals joined us to celebrate Lewisham’s status as London Borough of Culture.  Throughout the day we hosted a series of workshops and activities, from creative writing, to tie dye and henna tattoos.  We enjoyed poetry readings and music, with one of our carers, Pauline playing guitar and singing.  There were information sessions, including a visit from London Fire Brigade to talk about fire safety and how the fire brigade can support people with home safety visits and replacing fire alarms.  The yoga laughter session, led by Jaycee, was a huge success; and Laura, who runs regular aromatherapy sessions for us as part of our wellbeing programme, ran taster sessions helping everyone to relax.  There was also some stiff competition on the day, with the culture cup cake competition attracting some very impressive and delicious entries.  And we were lucky enough to have Jadon, one of our young adult carers who is just embarking on a career in photography, to capture some lovely pictures on the day.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make the day such a success!

The henna tattoos were popular with everyone who came.
Young girl with hand painted with henna Lady with hand painted with henna

It was brilliant to hear so many voices at the poetry reading session.

The creative writing workshop was a great intro to our upcoming Creative Writing programme.

By |2022-08-26T15:14:53+00:0024 August 2022|Latest News, Uncategorized|0 Comments

A lovely send-off for our longest standing member of staff

At the end of July, Cathy Collymore, Carers Lewisham’s longest-standing member of staff, retired after over 20 years supporting local people.  As a central part of our information and advice team, Cathy brought tremendous wisdom and knowledge to the role.  So we were delighted that so many people that Cathy has worked with and supported over the years came to say farewell and celebrate her retirement with us.  Cathy has been a hugely valued and much-loved member of staff, and although we will all miss her, we wish her all the very best for a long and happy retirement.

By |2022-08-26T15:22:15+00:0024 August 2022|Latest News|0 Comments

Carers Lewisham celebrates making carers visible, valued and supported

This week Carers Lewisham held a series of events in celebration of national Carers Week, with its theme of making caring visible, valued and supported.

On Wednesday, our stand in Sainsbury’s Forest Hill not only helped us raise awareness of the role of unpaid carers, but was also a great opportunity to meet new people with caring responsibilities who weren’t aware of the support we can offer.  Meeting so many people in person has hopefully given them confidence to get in touch with us in future.

On Thursday, over 30 people attended our celebration event with a series of sessions led by carers, each showcasing their amazing talents.  Activities included a poetry reading about carers by Christine; a series of live music sessions with Pauline – including an emotional song she had written herself about caring for her mother; and dress-making skills with Barbara, with the finished results modelled by our Employment Advisor Sonia.

We also played ‘human bingo’ which got carers talking to each other and finding out facts about one another.  As well as lunch, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the cake made by Hilda specially for the occasion.  The absolute highlight of the event was Jaycee (on Twitter as @thesoulnurse) who stunned everyone with her incredible spoken word poetry about the ups and downs of caring, and what a privilege it is to give back to her mum what her mum has given to her.  Jaycee also led a laughter yoga workshop which everyone found a huge stress reliever.

Our final event on Friday was a series of informative presentations, including one from the Green Doctor, a charity that offers free and impartial energy advice to help Londoners, stay warm, save money and live greener, including highlighting free resources people can access to help reduce energy bills.  Something that is much needed as energy prices continue to rise.  Attendees also heard from Tristan Brice, Associate Director, Community Support and Care, Lewisham Integrated Commissioning Team about the Council’s current consultation on its new Carers Implementation Plan and how this will affect future services – something that engendered a lively discussion.  Representatives from South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM) also took part in discussions and were on hand with information when needed.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s Carers Week so much fun, including Sainsbury’s store manager Sandra and the staff who supported us, all our speakers at our event on Friday, and – most importantly – all our amazing carers who led groups and activities on Thursday and, of course, all those who took part.

By |2022-06-11T10:52:48+00:0011 June 2022|Latest News|0 Comments

Young carers set the agenda

At the end of May, 6 young people attended our Young Carers Reference Group to talk about being visible, valuable and supported – reflecting the themes of this year’s national Carers’ Week and Lewisham Council’s current consultation on its new Carers Implementation Plan.

At the meeting young carers told us about the range of activities they do, from giving medication to taking their siblings to school. There were lots of similarities with the types of tasks they identified adults as doing, showing the level of responsibility some young carers are taking.  Importantly they also identified some of the things that would make them feel better about being a carer.  These included homework, study clubs, a tutor or mentor and general support from schools.  They also identified support in the form of money, vouchers and some kind of discount card as potentially valuable.  Young carers also wanted time to have a break from caring responsibilities, including trips and residentials – with lots of ideas for future activities for our young carers services.  At the meeting, young carers also talked about how their role gets recognised, providing valuable insights into how we can identify other young people who need support in future.

We would like to thank everyone who gave up their time to attend and for sharing their experience and insights with us.

By |2022-06-10T14:08:18+00:008 June 2022|Latest News|0 Comments
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