Dear Carers, 

Mid-winter brings positive and long awaited news for carers. We were delighted to receive a commitment for funding under the ACT Carers Strategy from the ACT Government early this month. The four-year funding package will advance the objectives of the Strategy, such as better community recognition and support for carers.  I look forward to working with carers, government and sectors of the community to make sure this ACT Carers Strategy funding has lasting and meaningful positive impacts. 

In other great news for carers, we welcome a second coach to the Carers ACT team this month. This means we will soon have increased capacity to offer this service to carers.   Coaching is distinct from counselling and other mental health supports as it offers carers an avenue to explore their own goals and self-directed strategies for balancing caring and other aspects of life.  Carers often have to set aside our own needs because the needs of another must take priority, but coaching can be a valuable process for re-balancing your priorities in all aspects of your life and maintaining your caring role in a sustainable and healthy way. If you are interested in finding out more about carer coaching, please reach out to your care planner or the carer gateway on 1800 422 737. 

A few interesting publications are out this month that I’d like to highlight; 

• Our own Mental Health Carers Voice team have released the 2022 ACT Mental Health Carers Survey Report which can be found here: 2022-MHCV-Survey-Report.pdf.  Our gratitude to all carers who participated in the survey. 
• Our colleagues at Advocacy for Inclusion publish a quarterly online magazine, The Canberra Disability Review, and the latest Winter Edition has just come out. The focus of this issue is inclusion in emergency and disaster planning and management. It’s a timely topic given our recent experiences of fire, flood, and the ongoing pandemic.   The Winter 2022 Edition can be found at: www.advocacyforinclusion.org/cdr/ 

A final highlight of this newsletter is our continuing social activities. Adjusting to the new normal of life with COVID and balancing ever-changing risk with the need to combat social isolation continues to present challenges, but it is wonderful to see carers and care recipients gathering on a more regular basis.   Please read on to hear about our NAIDOC celebration with young carers, some recent retreat highlights and yarns at the cottages. 

Stay warm and safe carers,
 

Lisa Kelly
CEO