When faced with ageing parents, or other relatives, lots of us step in to help with caring. But this can seem an immensely difficult task. Caring for the elderly presents an absolute quagmire of practical, legal and emotional challenges. “Am I doing it right?” “Am I doing enough?” “Am I doing too much?” These questions often have no clear place to find an answer.
Bell House is looking to provide some answers, or at least help people figure out the answers that best fit their situation. Learning to Care is a project being developed at Bell House – it will be a training course, made up of multiple short ‘information sessions’ for local people who wish to help care for the elderly. We hope to cover topics ranging from the practicalities of caring for the elderly, to tricky legal issues such as power of attorney.
To provide the best courses possible, we are conducting some research with people currently involved in caring practices, and those being cared for. We are looking to talk to the following people:
- People aged over 75 who are receiving care in some form
or
- People aged over 55 who either have time to commit to volunteering with older people, or are caring for an older relative, or anticipate caring for an older relative.
The research will take the form of an interview, approximately 20 mins long, in whatever location is most convenient for the participant. We hope to conduct interviews from March onwards, and they will be completed by experience researchers.
Expenses are available for each participant, so you are not out of pocket in helping us. We really do value the thoughts of people in the community who are involved in care for the elderly, and hope this can shape a truly effective programme for local people.
If you, or someone you know, falls into either of the categories, we would love to hear from you! Please email [email protected] , or [email protected] to note your interest, or to find out more.