Looking after my wellbeing as a carer

I’m a carer for a young adult with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a mental health diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Why is looking after your mental wellbeing important to you?

Caring is challenging and draining and has impacted on my relationships and income, among other things.

Most are living in poverty due to not being able to work. We don’t have many people to talk to because of our caring role.

So to make sure we can continue to care, we have to try and look after ourselves, which is not always easy.

What do you do to protect and improve your mental wellbeing?

I find a few minutes for me each day, short bursts to take a tea break or to do some colouring in. This help me to regulate my own emotions.

I draw on peer support from other carers. I’m a trustee for the Swansea Parent Carer Forum. We listen to our members and take these views to strategic meetings within the local authority, Regional Partnership Board, Welsh government and also the UK government. We also put on workshops to help parent carers.

I volunteer my time and views to help influence how carers are supported. I had a positive experience of being listened to and my needs met by the local authority helping me access direct payments to help me in my caring role. This motivated me to want to help others have better experiences of accessing support.

I’m passionate about helping to improve the system for future carers and those they care for; it’s also something I do for me beyond my caring responsibilities.

It really helps my wellbeing when I see the system changing or thinking outside of the box due to my spending some time sharing my views.

Anything else you’d like to share? This might be a quote or advice you’d like to give to others.

Try contacting your local area co-ordinator in your local council for help finding out what’s available locally – finding a group of carers that understood my experience has been so helpful for my wellbeing.

There are also lots of Facebook groups relating to specific conditions which can be helpful sources of support.