Careers
If you would like to write for our careers section email the editor at [email protected] or @NScareersEd
The Carers Trust is seeking volunteers from different backgrounds to mentor the charities and services it supports. Petra Kendall-Raynor reports
CARING FOR CARERS quality and then director of nursing at Four Seasons Health Care. Ms Watkins says: ‘Volunteering with the Carers Trust was very interesting. I got involved in their pilot mentoring scheme and supported the chief executive of a carers’ charity in Pontypridd.
One of the UK’s largest charities for carers is calling on healthcare professionals to become volunteer mentors in a bid to improve services. There are seven million carers in the UK and the Carers Trust was formed in 2012 through the merger of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care. The charity says it works to improve support, services and recognition for anyone caring for a family member or friend. Along with its partners – including 124 independent carer centres, 73 Crossroads Care schemes and 107 young carers’ services – the charity provides information, advice, education, training and employment opportunities for carers.
Feedback
Enlisting support
The trust now wants to recruit more volunteers from different backgrounds, including health care, to mentor the network of charities and services it supports. It has already enlisted the help of leaders in industry, pharmaceuticals, nursing, social care and the public sector for its advance mentoring programme and says their contribution is worth £800,000 a year.
Mentor Irene Watkins: ‘Carers need support before they burn out’
Attributes needed for mentors Experience working with health service decision makers. Ability to bring external perspective by sharing experiences of success and failure. Ability to facilitate decision making by suggesting alternative ideas. Can find ways to convince carers to accept support.
Volunteer mentors go through a selection process, and successful candidates are then matched with services in their area and need to commit to eight to ten days a year. The charity says mentors help local networks of charities and other services to develop fundraising and management strategies, and also help the Carers Trust itself to prioritise its development resources. Irene Watkins, who has worked in nursing, the voluntary sector and management, became one of the first mentors with Carers Trust two years ago. She has set up a carers’ centre for Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan to support and advise unpaid carers, and has worked for the past eight years as head of
‘Mentoring is about helping the charity to take a different perspective on its vision and structure. For example, if a chief executive has an idea, I would ask how the trustees would react and how it would support carers, how the change can make a difference. ‘One of the issues with carers is that many do not perceive that they need support. It is important to make it clear to carers that they need support before they burn out and find it hard to carry on.’ She adds: ‘It has been a wonderful experience and has allowed me to find out what is happening on the ground to make a difference to carers. The fact that mentors come from such a wide range of roles is also excellent. ‘It allows nurses to be involved with a local organisation that needs help and who understand the pressures of their work. ‘It also gives the organisation a view of the support nurses can give to carers’ NS Petra Kendall-Raynor is a freelance journalist RESOURCES Carers Trust www.carers.org
NURSING january :: vol uses 29 no 22 :: permission. 2015 63 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 13, 2015. For personal use only. 28 No other without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
If you would like to write for our careers section email the editor at [email protected] or @NScareersEd
The Carers Trust is seeking volunteers from different backgrounds to mentor the charities and services it supports. Petra Kendall-Raynor reports
CARING FOR CARERS quality and then director of nursing at Four Seasons Health Care. Ms Watkins says: ‘Volunteering with the Carers Trust was very interesting. I got involved in their pilot mentoring scheme and supported the chief executive of a carers’ charity in Pontypridd.
One of the UK’s largest charities for carers is calling on healthcare professionals to become volunteer mentors in a bid to improve services. There are seven million carers in the UK and the Carers Trust was formed in 2012 through the merger of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care. The charity says it works to improve support, services and recognition for anyone caring for a family member or friend. Along with its partners – including 124 independent carer centres, 73 Crossroads Care schemes and 107 young carers’ services – the charity provides information, advice, education, training and employment opportunities for carers.
Feedback
Enlisting support
The trust now wants to recruit more volunteers from different backgrounds, including health care, to mentor the network of charities and services it supports. It has already enlisted the help of leaders in industry, pharmaceuticals, nursing, social care and the public sector for its advance mentoring programme and says their contribution is worth £800,000 a year.
Mentor Irene Watkins: ‘Carers need support before they burn out’
Attributes needed for mentors Experience working with health service decision makers. Ability to bring external perspective by sharing experiences of success and failure. Ability to facilitate decision making by suggesting alternative ideas. Can find ways to convince carers to accept support.
Volunteer mentors go through a selection process, and successful candidates are then matched with services in their area and need to commit to eight to ten days a year. The charity says mentors help local networks of charities and other services to develop fundraising and management strategies, and also help the Carers Trust itself to prioritise its development resources. Irene Watkins, who has worked in nursing, the voluntary sector and management, became one of the first mentors with Carers Trust two years ago. She has set up a carers’ centre for Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan to support and advise unpaid carers, and has worked for the past eight years as head of
‘Mentoring is about helping the charity to take a different perspective on its vision and structure. For example, if a chief executive has an idea, I would ask how the trustees would react and how it would support carers, how the change can make a difference. ‘One of the issues with carers is that many do not perceive that they need support. It is important to make it clear to carers that they need support before they burn out and find it hard to carry on.’ She adds: ‘It has been a wonderful experience and has allowed me to find out what is happening on the ground to make a difference to carers. The fact that mentors come from such a wide range of roles is also excellent. ‘It allows nurses to be involved with a local organisation that needs help and who understand the pressures of their work. ‘It also gives the organisation a view of the support nurses can give to carers’ NS Petra Kendall-Raynor is a freelance journalist RESOURCES Carers Trust www.carers.org
NURSING january :: vol uses 29 no 22 :: permission. 2015 63 DownloadedSTANDARD from RCNi.com by ${individualUser.displayName} on Nov 13, 2015. For personal use only. 28 No other without Copyright © 2015 RCNi Ltd. All rights reserved.
