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Consent to share - a video for Southern Health Staff

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R14.03 SHFT Confidentiality Information sharing CARERS leaflet A5 PRF3

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The Triangle of Care, ToC, Triangle of Care

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The Triangle of Care is a therapeutic alliance between carers, service users and health professionals. Find out more and become a member.

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Why have a carer's assessment?

Getting a carer's assessment could be the first step to gaining vital support. It's your chance to discuss the help you need as a carer. Find out how it could make life easier for you and the person you care for.

In Scotland, this is usually referred to as an adult carer support plan and in Wales, it is often called a carer's needs assessment. For ease of reference, we will use the term 'carer's assessment'.

See below for answers to common questions

Don't be put off by the word 'assessment' - it's certainly not a test of your abilities as a carer. It's a chance to let your local council or trust know how your caring responsibilities affect you physically and emotionally. They will use the assessment to find out what support you need, whether you're willing or able to carry on caring, what you want to achieve in your daily life and whether you qualify for help.

Most assessments are carried out face to face, although some local councils or trusts offer the option to have the assessment online or over the phone. It should be done at a time and place that is convenient for you.

Some local care centres will also carry out carers' assessments - it's worth checking with your local carers organisation.

If you're over 18 and provide regular unpaid care for someone, you're entitled to a carer's assessment. It doesn't matter how much or what sort of care you provide. For more details, see our 'Assessments' factsheets (
England, NI, Scotland and Wales).

A carer's assessment is different from a needs assessment, which is for the person you are caring for. You can have them both done at the same time if you want. You're entitled to a carer's assessment whether or not the person you care for has had a needs assessment.

If you're under 18

If you're younger than 18, you can benefit from some extra support and have certain legal rights to help you.

You can request support from your local authority or local Health and Social Care Trust (in Northern Ireland).

We have more guidance on this page ' Support for young carers' and you can also contact Carers Trust who have specialist support services for younger carers in partnership with local charities. Find out more on their online page for younger carers.

Contact adult social services at your local council or trust (in Northern Ireland). If the person you care for lives in another area, contact their local council or trust instead (except in Wales, where you should still contact your own local council).

If you're a carer for your child, contact the children with disabilities department.

The assessment will last at least an hour. You can ask to have someone with you such as the person you care for, a friend or relative.

Collect all the relevant information you'll need: Things to think about beforehand

your NHS number

your GP's name, address and phone number details

your email address

contact details of anyone coming to the assessment with you

details of the person you care for including their name, address, date of birth and NHS number.

Make a list of the different ways you are providing support, such as offering emotional support, managing finances, helping someone with practical activities such as shopping, ensuring someone is safe from harm, or helping with personal needs such as using the bathroom.

Consider how caring affects your life. Does it leave enough time for you? Does it affect your emotional wellbeing - for example, do you often feel drained or lonely? Does it affect you physically - for example, do you lose sleep or get back ache from lifting someone regularly? Has it affected your work, social life or education?

If the person you care for will be present at the assessment, will you be able to speak freely about any difficulties you have?

The assessor will discuss how caring affects your life, including your physical, mental and emotional needs. They should cover:

your role as a carer

how you feel about caring

whether you're able or willing to carry on as a carer

your health

other caring responsibilities

what you enjoy doing in your free time

planning for emergencies.

Be honest and realistic about your caring role. If you put on a brave face or play down any difficulties, you could miss out on help and support.

Your local council or trust will work out whether your needs are eligible for support. If so, they will create a support plan for you. They might provide you with care and support directly, or provide it to the person you care for.

If you're not eligible for support, they must still give you information and advice on where you can go for help.

There are lots of different types of support you could be entitled to, including:

practical help with housework or gardening jobs

training to help you with your caring role, for example in moving and handling the person you care for

equipment or alterations to your home

emotional support such as counselling

breaks from caring, such as respite care for the person you care for

advice about benefits

support to improve your wellbeing, such as access to exercise classes, social activities or adult education.

Will I have to pay?
Councils are advised not to charge carers for support provided to them, but some will give you a financial assessment to work out what you can afford to pay. They should never charge for care and support provided for the person you care for. See our factsheet for more information about this ( England, NI, Scotland and Wales).

If you disagree with the decision following your assessment, there are ways to challenge it. See our guidance on making complaints
here.

Even if your council or trust claim they can't give you financial or practical support at the moment, they must still provide you with guidance and information to look after your health, welfare and overall wellbeing and to prevent you from developing support needs in the future.

If the person you are looking after is an adult and appears to have a need for support, they should be offered a needs authority by the adult social services team.

They can have an assessment no matter what their financial situation or level of need is. You can also be involved as their carer if they are happy with this option. See our 'Having a needs assessment' guidance for more information.

Our tips sheet may be helpful as a starting point if you are unsure where to start with regard to arranging a carer's assessment.

Got a question about caring?

Every day we hear from people who need help with looking after a friend or family member

Become a member for free

Joining Carers UK is free and takes just a few minutes.

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Getting a carer's assessment could be the first step to gaining vital support. It's your chance to discuss the help you need as a carer. Find out how it could make life easier for you and the person you care for.

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All the worksheets and information you need to put into practice what you've learned in our Self Care for Carers Class.

Thank you for joining us for our Self-Care for Carers class. We hope you found it helpful. This is a new class, so we'd be grateful for your feedback. If there's any way you feel we could improve it, or anything you think worked particularly well, please let us know.

What we learned

The 5 Ways to Wellbeing

We looked at the 5 Ways to Wellbeing, a set of simple ways to look after our mental wellbeing, just like getting our 5 portions of fruit & veg to look after our physical wellbeing.

These are:

Keep learning: Improving our knowledge and skills can boost our confidence and give a sense of achievement.

Connect: Our relationships, whether they're close friendships or just feeling part of a wider community, boost our resilience and help us know that we're not alone.

Take notice: Being aware of the present moment helps us to appreciate our experiences.

Give: Generosity gives us a boost too, and can give us a sense of purpose. And don't forget to be as kind to yourself as you are to others.

Be active: Movement boosts our energy levels and motivation, whether it's a marathon, a walk or a spot of gardening.

If you'd like some ideas for activities to try, take a look at our tips in How to do the 5 Ways to Wellbeing from home.

How our thoughts, feelings and actions are linked

We introduced the "5 Areas" model from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). This shows the links between what we think, how we feel both emotionally and physically, and what we do.

Although we can't just change how we feel, we can use these links to understand our wellbeing a little better and find small changes in what we do that could help us feel better.

Just like our physical health, we all have good days and bad days, and we explored some of the things that help with our mental health and have more good days.

Balancing our Time

We introduced a technique from CBT for balancing our time in the most helpful way for our wellbeing.

When it's not always possible to change your schedule, this technique can help you find ways to make the schedule you do have work best for you.

How it works:

Step 1: Keep a diary of what you're currently doing
This might change week to week, but try to get a feel for the kind of activities you're doing, and where they tend to fit in your week.

Step 2: Balancing activities
See which category each of your activities fit into. This will be personal to you, as different people will see the same activity in different ways.

Necessary: Important things that have consequences if we don't do them. Doing them can help us feel secure.

Routine: Day to day things that keep things ticking over. Doing them can help us feel on top of things and comfortable.

Fun: Things we enjoy doing. Doing them can help us relieve stress and feel contented.

What kind of balance do you have over the week? Are they spread evenly? Are all your fun activities on one day, and all your routine activities on another?

Step 3: Set achievable and realistic goals
Think about some goals you could set to find a better balance. Even if you can't change the activities you do, could you schedule them so that the different kinds are spread out more evenly over the week?

Remembering "SMART" may help:

Specific: Be clear about exactly what you want to achieve.

Measurable: How will you know you've achieved it?

Achievable: Is this possible for you, with your skills and circumstances?

Realistic: Do you have everything you need? Are there things that might get in the way?

Timed: When will you do this? How long for?

Step 4: Plan for overcoming barriers.
Have a think about what might get in the way of your goals, and give some thought to how you might overcome those barriers.
Our top tips are:

Plan ways to reward your progress, to help yourself keep going

Put up a picture that reminds you of your goal, to help stay motivated

Start small - if it's hard to get started, the first step is too big!

Be kind to yourself - always ask, what would I say to a friend in this situation?

Make a plan B - if this doesn't work out, what might you do instead?

Further Resources

Tips for better sleep

If you have trouble sleeping, you might find it helpful to watch the Recovery College's video on understanding sleep.

The Recovery College teach a wide range of courses to help you understand your mental wellbeing, continue your recovery and stay well. Now that you've attended Self Care for Carers, you can access Recovery College courses for free until 2 years after your last treatment with us.

And Solent Mind's Sleep Toolkit offers a range of resources for better sleep.

Relaxation Skills

To learn simple techniques for relaxation, watch the guided relaxation videos on our Relaxation Skills page, or join us at one of our Breathing Space classes.

Managing Worries and Recognising Unhelpful Thoughts

If you found the CBT techniques you learned in this self-care for carers class helpful, you may enjoy our range of wellbeing videos. They share more CBT techniques in short bitesized snippets, to help with a range of situations, such as managing worry, and recognising those unhelpful thoughts that can affect our mood.

Or join our Managing Moods course to equip yourself with a full toolkit of CBT skills!

Other helpful organisations

Our colleagues at Southern Health are gathering a list of useful contacts for carers that you may find helpful.

And our helpful links page includes a range of other resources and organisations that could be helpful for your wellbeing.

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All the worksheets and information you need to put into practice what you've learned in our Self Care for Carers Class. Thank you for joining us for our Self-Care for Carers class. We hope you found it helpful. This is a new class, so we'd be grateful for your feedback.

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When A Loved One Refuses Treatment (LEAP Approach)

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LEAP Institute - Educating the public about anosognosia

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Books on the LEAP Method of Communication​ - LEAP Institute

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Books on the LEAP method of communication written by Dr. Amador, renowned clinical psychologist, published clinical researcher, and forensic expert.

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Are you a relative or friend who is worried about someone and their mental health? Do you want to know more about mental health or about psychosis?

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We hope you find the REACT toolkit useful. Here are summaries of the modules that you can print to share with others to show what kind of information is in the toolkit modules. Module 1 – What is Psychosis Module 2 – What is Bipolar Disorder Module 3 – Managing Positive Symptoms Module 4 – Read More “Printable module summaries”

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This page can help you if you are worried that a friend, relative or loved one needs help for their mental health.

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Helping someone with a mental health problem

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If your friend or family member experiences a mental health problem, we have advice on how you can support them. We also have tips on looking after yourself.

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Course overview

Psychosis conditions, including schizophrenia, are treatable mental health problems that can affect anyone although very few people talk about the conditions and their impact on families. Millions of people across the globe find themselves thrust unexpectedly into a role providing support and care when a relative develops psychosis. Carers can play a major role in supporting their relative's progress and recovery.

This four-week course will explore some of the key issues and questions relevant to a carer who is supporting a relative with psychosis such as:

Why is schizophrenia described as psychosis?

How can we best understand psychosis and its key symptoms such as hearing voices?

What are the links between cannabis use and developing psychosis?

Can psychosis affect physical health?

How do medications in psychosis work and what effects can they have?

In what ways are siblings of people with psychosis affected?

How can psychosis affect a carer's health and their relationships?

This free online course will provide opportunities to share your views and experiences with carers from around the world. It will also include opportunities to consider how the recent Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic affects caregiving experiences and relationships.

You can find out more in Dr Juliana Onwumere's post for the FutureLearn blog: " How online educational approaches can support the families of people with psychosis."

What does this course cover?

By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

Describe the key symptoms and causes of psychosis, the role of psychological and pharmacological treatments, and the meaning and process of recovery

Identify common physical health problems in psychosis and obstacles to implementing healthier lifestyle options

Describe the impact that psychosis can have on individuals in a caregiving role and strategies to support improved wellbeing

Discuss techniques for reducing communication difficulties in caregiving relationships

Who will I learn with?

Who is this for?

This course is open to anyone with an interest in psychosis and caregiving issues.

You may be interested in taking the course because:

1. you know someone with psychosis, perhaps your child, partner, sibling, parent or friend and are providing support

2. you are a professional working in a service or other mental healthcare organisation, with an interest in psychosis and families

3. you have an interest in mental health problems.

No previous knowledge of psychosis or experience of caring is required to take the course although some medical terminology is used. There are optional, additional materials for those who want to explore the topics discussed beyond the core material, some of which are academic papers.

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Caring for People with Psychosis and Schizophrenia

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Psychosis conditions, including schizophrenia, are treatable mental health problems that can affect anyone although very few people talk about the conditions and their impact on families. Millions of people across the globe find themselves thrust unexpectedly into a role providing support and care when a relative develops psychosis.