Site guide
What do we mean by the word 'Carer'?
When we use the word carer in this site what we mean is:
Anyone who has extra responsibilities because they are looking after or helping to look after someone who has a disability, illness, difficulty (such as an addiction) or who is elderly and frail.Carers often have other tasks like:
- Continuing to go out to work or school
- Doing the shopping
- Looking after the home
- Looking after the rest of the family
Carers are people of all ages from all walks of life, just like the people we look after.Caring groups include:
- Parents of pre-school and school aged children with special needs (Parent Carers)
- Carers looking after someone with a mental health problem (Mental Health Carers)
- Carers under the age of 18 (Children with Caring Responsibilities (Young Carers))
- Carers over retirement age themselves (Older Carers)
- Carers with final responsibility for decisions (Main Carers)
It is worth remembering that these groupings are just for convenience; they help us access services and advice but in reality as a carer you may not fit exactly into any of these groups.
People who get paid for caring or work as a volunteer (Formal Carers) are not considered to be 'carers' in the context of this website. The term carer refers only to those who are caring for somebody but are not paid for it.
You can get more information from:
www.carersuk.org - Carers UK, the voice of carers, campaigning for their rightswww.thecarer.co.uk - not-for-profit public interest website focused on the practicalities and emotional needs of caring.
There are people who can help:
Carers Support West Sussex
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You can use this facility to search the Carers Online database for organisations in West Sussex that may be able to help you.
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