Carers Week Round-up

Increasing Awareness, Sharing and Caring.

Hi, Everyone! I hope you’re having a good day.

Hello and ‘Welcome!’ to all you lovely new subscribers! You can read more about me and the Carer Mentor mission here: Who Stared Carer Mentor and Why?’

This has been an important week of ‘Putting Carers on the Map’ during Carers Week

Here are the Carer Mentor Articles revised/written for Carers Week:

1. Carers Week UK. June 10-16, 2024. Unpaid Carers have 'No choice to care'. Can you support caregivers?

2. 'Care in the UK. 10 Facts Which Shock'. Realities and a Recommendation

3. 'Young carers and Young adults are Caregivers. The hidden crisis is ageless.' Let's ensure Children/Young adults know their rights and where to get support.

4. UK: Carers Allowance. Attendance Allowance. Two benefits. One for the Caregiver and the other for those receiving care.

5. Carers UK: 'Planning ahead, helping a loved one'. Animation 'Managing someone else's affairs.'

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Community Support:

One Resource, Two Insights, Three Ideas.

June 16 Caregiving Community Q&A.

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Community Shout-Outs & Network Connections:

Here are eight new directories/libraries/curated lists of publications to explore in the Substack wider community.

I’m looking forward to highlighting articles and collaborating with these community leaders.

• Tiffany Chu
  is building the Asian Writers Collective.

• Cissy Hu
  is Elevating Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) voices in a compilation of essays & a directory of writers.

• The

  Locked In
  team is publishing Unlocked, a new hub for Black, Global Indigenous, and POC voices.

• Mr. Troy Ford
  is publishing Qstack | The LGBTQ+ Directory of Substacks.

• Robin Taylor (he/him)
  and
  Robin Cangie (she/her)
  publish SmallStack, a new library for small publications.

• Kathryn Vercillo
  has curated Threadstack, a directory of Substack newsletters about knitting, crochet, embroidery, weaving, sewing and more.

• Lynn Hill
  publishes the FoodStack Library, which is committed to highlighting food writers, recipe creators, and food bloggers of all audience sizes.

• Maia Duerr
  is curating Dharma Stack, a directory of Buddhist-inspired newsletters on Substack.

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Here are two articles I’ve saved this week:

1. Donna Giles
   (June 15) ‘A Day in MY Life—otherwise known as "Welcome to Chaos!"‘

I suggest reading Donna’s 'About page.’ It’s inspiring. Two excerpts

I am a mother and a wife, a daughter, a sister and a friend.

I was born with a complex congenital cardiac condition – tricuspid atresia, pulmonary atresia, TGA and ASD. This means I have a right sided single ventricle condition. I have had open heart surgery on 2 occasions, and several scary moments…. but I’m still here… at 56 I am grateful for that fact.

‘My son, Nathan, and my daughter, Cerys, both have Cerebral Palsy and are full time wheelchair users. Nathan has a degree in politics and sociology and is currently working with local colleges and universities to train social workers. Cerys is currently at college and is creative, running her own little business selling cards to friends and family.’

I appreciate Donna sharing this window into her life, A Day in MY Life. While it’s called a ‘Care Routine,’ every caregiver knows that no two days are alike. The broad outline may be similar, but every day is a test in agile problem-solving, communication, and, at its worst, crisis management.

2. Bess Stillman
   (June 9) An Atlas of Vanishing Places. Where do you find the life you once lived when the places you lived it are gone?

If you’ve not read Bess’ articles, here’s a little about her and Jake:

I'm Bess Stillman: an emergency medicine doc, writer, and wife to Jake Seliger, who is currently dying of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. Here you'll find writing about life, cancer, death, love, health, and healthcare (“health” and “healthcare” being distinct).

‘An Atlas of Vanishing Places’ by Bess resonates because it touches on something I think every caregiver thinks about—life before and in caregiving, places or things that hold meaning for us and how they become part of us, our identity.

My comment to Bess:

‘oh that last paragraph...this is a beautiful piece, Bess. Thank you. Bearing witness to all you and Jake are journeying through and sending love and best wishes.

Love this: 'Proust had his madeleines. I’d have my tapas.' I have pieces of classical music for Dad.

In my case, there are places I've chosen not to revisit from my nostalgic past because I know the spirit of the place has irrevocably changed— I can keep the memory, the love, intact and unspoilt.’

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Have a great Sunday everyone.

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