Dementia Carers Voices can your story help others #2013

Dementia Carers Voices can your story help others

Reaching out to carers of people with dementia and giving them a voice through a “letters campaign” has been part of an awareness raising activity of Tommy Whitelaw, who has experienced first hand what it is like to care for someone with dementia. Tommy has also made a film about dementia and caring for someone with dementia with a view to reaching a wide audience in the UK

and beyond.  Read Tommy's blog .

Dementia Carers Voices is a new project building on the awareness activities from 'Tommy on Tour ' project and the ALLIANCE

.  This project has been made possible with funding from the Scottish Government.

The ALLIANCE

recognizes the importance of the Carer Voice in informing future service provision and in empowering carers themselves. To this end the Dementia Carers Voices project aims to

·                  Harness the work undertaken to date, particularly by the Tommy on Tour campaign

·                  Develop this by supporting Tommy Whitelaw to undertake further outreach work to carer organisations across Scotland

In doing this, the ALLIANCE will highlight the importance of family carers being enabled after diagnosis to build and sustain a network of support, preventing crisis situations and feel enabled to ask for additional help when it is needed;

·                  Capture the experiences of carers across Scotland

with a view to informing future policy and service provision

·                  Raise awareness of the issues around caring for someone with dementia including among health and social care students

·                  Empower carers by providing information based on the Charter of Rights and Carer Strategy about caring for someone with dementia

·                  Highlight the role of Carers as natural resources; Carers as people with needs; Carers as people with independent live

·                  Work with other Carer Organisations and key stakeholders to ensure that relevant strategies are well informed by the views of service users. (As a network organization which includes organisations such as - Alzheimer Scotland

, Carers’ Coalition and Age Concern within our membership, we are well placed to undertake this role).

The project will do this through visits and talks to Carer Organisations; the provision of written materials with key carer messages; dissemination of information including through social media;  network events and consider possible future film to raise awareness/understanding.

For further information read the Dementia Carers Voices Information Report or contact Project Lead Irene Oldfather or Awareness Campaigner Tommy Whitelaw.

Tommy produced a short film, which includes families and carers reading from the letters they sent him.

Photos from Tommy on Tour awareness raising campaign.

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You can add you’re story at tommy@i-woz-there.com