I was working as a consultant having just left Corporate life and had a move in place. A whole new life ahead of me. My daughter didn’t recover,was left with life changing disabilities. My new life started as an unpaid carer for her and my granddaughter, a joy but also a challenge to find any support appropriate for our need.

So, it’s 2021, I didn’t follow the pathway I expected, but the one I did, led to the birth of Care4Carers Club.
With a background in Health, Health programme development, I decided that I would use all these skills and experience to make life better for unpaid carers. I have been an ambassador for Carers UK and I am currently Carer Ambassador for HealthWatch Essex. In my working life I was a trainer and executive in the Pharmaceutical Industry. A coach for the Department of Health ‘Look After Your Heart’ programme and founder of the Cardiac Rehabilitation programme, Broomfield Hospital, Essex. I ran a pain management clinic at Springfield Hospital, Chelmsford. I have been involved in many projects making life better for people.

Over the years of attending numerous meetings, trainings, conferences, etc. to do with the unpaid carer pathway, I noticed that lots of projects were  in the implementation stage but often these took months, sometimes years to come to fruition. I had a project in mind for years and with Covid-19 the lightbulb moment hit and Care4Carers Club was born.
 
I want us to be a community that looks out for us. Learns about our commitment and ways to improve the lives we have. I want us to support all the other Carer organisations to ensure we get a much better deal. We need to have better health support, organisational help and seek to get the fair financial support we deserve and earn. So much is being done by the many organisations but sometimes the intent doesn’t match the need.

In numbers we can make a huge loud noise and refuse to be taken for granted. By “coaching ourselves”, we are more likely to know what we want and gain the energy and impetus to achieve these things.

Glad to have you in the team.

Barbara
MSc Health and Behavioural Science.
Dip.Health Education.