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Southend-on-Sea

It’s estimated there are over 15,000 people in Southend-on-Sea providing care for a relative or friend. We believe every one of those people deserves the support necessary to thrive in their role.

How we help

Supporting you to bring a family member or friend home from a hospital stay.

Learn more

We run a variety of groups and workshops designed to help you to look after your physical and mental health. These may include exercise sessions, social activities, mindset workshops and more.

These sessions are delivered online and out in the community.

This is a four-week programme developed with and for carers. Each week we focus on a different theme, all of which are designed to help carers find ways to improve their lives. As well as providing information and advice, we also encourage carers to share and learn from each other’s experiences. The sessions are:

  1. The caring role: an introduction to the support available from Carers First, carers rights, carers assessments and other help available locally
  2. Looking after you: taking care of your mental and physical health, building resilience, and finding time for yourself
  3. Finances and legal issues: an introduction to welfare benefits and grants for carers, as well as Wills and Power of Attorney
  4. Practical support: this final session will focus on either First Aid or manual handling

Caring Confidently is delivered either online or out in the community.

For more information please visit our Caring Confidently information page.

We provide information and support to help you access education and training, increasing your opportunity of finding work or continued learning. 

We run workshops and one to one support to help you gain confidence and skills to look for work, gain employment or volunteer opportunities, as well supporting carers looking to start or continue in education. 

These sessions are delivered online and out in the community.

We provide direct grants to carers enabling carers to have greater choice, control and flexibility around the type of breaks they need. Carers will need to complete a short application process to access this support.

We can arrange a transport service for carers to attend essential health and wellbeing appointments. Carers will need to complete a short application process to access this support. 

You may also find it helpful to use Care Choices to support you to access carer breaks, grants and other financial support. As well as their 'Search Finder' on their website, Care Choices publish regional care services directories, offering a comprehensive guide to care, featuring detailed listings of all registered care providers. Click on the directory for your local area on their website. You can then download a PDF, view as an e-book, or order a printed copy for free.

 

We run workshops, day trips, walks, sports and carer-led meetups to help you connect with other carers. This is an opportunity to share experiences and learn from each other in an informal environment. 

These groups are delivered online and in the community.

Carers First are offering a new virtual wellbeing programme, including a 4 week wellbeing course, a balance in life workshop, a 4 week NLP and EFT course, and breathwork training. Find out more here

Our Carers First Facebook Community group is a peer to peer group providing the opportunity to meet other carers and access peer support as opposed to a platform for direct support from Carers First.

Carers First are administrating and moderating the group (along with some wonderful volunteers) and will join in if appropriate but this cannot be guaranteed in a timely manner as they will only be popping on and off during working hours.

If you need direct support from Carers First, please contact our Helpline by email at hello@carersfirst.org.uk or by phone on 0300 303 1555.