Counselling for carers
Generally speaking, however willingly a person takes on a caring role they usually find themselves having to give up certain things — paid work or hobbies, time with friends or time alone. Carers can easily become socially isolated, plus the relationship with the cared-for person can alter in unexpected ways — ways which can be difficult to handle.
Further changes have to be faced when the caring situation comes to an end — how do you adjust to yet another role? How do you pick up where you left off before you became a carer?
Time to Talk
Opportunities to talk about feelings of anxiety and frustration don’t often happen. Time to Talk offers the chance to talk things over with a counsellor who understands the difficulties and problems with which carers have to live. Counselling is not about giving advice, nor is it a magic wand that waves away troubles — if only it were that easy! It is about providing a safe space and an understanding ear to help explore ways of working through the difficult feelings that can arise in a carers’ life.
Camden Carers Centre has expanded and improved the counselling service. We now have four counsellors, all in their final year of training, in addition to the existing counsellor, Evelyn Blumenthal. The counsellors will be supervised regularly by Evelyn. We can now offer a more flexible service which will cover Mondays to Fridays and will also be able to see carers one evening a week.
If you are interested in Time to Talk and would like to know more, please ring Deborah at the CCC office on 020 7428 8950 or speak to your Carer Support Worker.
Photo by Neil Meddemmen
Funded by Camden Council.
