National Lottery Community Fund ‘Caring Together’ Project

This project is creating a network of support services for unpaid Carers across Northamptonshire helping to build resilience and and helping to improve the lives of unpaid Carers and those they care for.

The overall aim is to bring communities together particularly in rural and hard to reach communities by providing information, advice and support as well as finding more “hidden” Carers by:

• Increasing Carers’ social networks, helping to combat loneliness and providing friendship
• Increasing confidence to care through mutual/peer support and sharing.
• Improving and maintaining Mental Health and Wellbeing, therefore enabling Carers to sustain their caring role.
• Increasing knowledge of other services and forms of support so Carers are increasingly confident and empowered to reach out to services.
• Improving the inclusion of Carers from marginalised and disadvantaged sections of the community who have not previously accessed support to enjoy the same outcomes and impacts.

A huge part of this project is working in collaboration with other Voluntary, Statutory, Health & Businesses to provide effective support for Carers across the County as well as helping to identify gaps in services.

OUR SERVICES

We offer a wide range of social networks across Northamptonshire including Carers Support Groups, Carer Cafes, Awareness Events & Drop-ins throughout the County – these are safe spaces to gain advice, information and support as well as having some fun and meeting other Carers who may be in a similar situation.

Carer Cafes & Drop ins (for Carers and the person they care for can also attend) at Corby, Kettering, Oundle, Wellingborough, Daventry, Northampton, Kingsthorpe, Mawsley, Saxon Spires, Burton Latimer, Roade

Carers Support Groups (For Carers only) at Brackley, Towcester, Northampton, Rushden, Yardley Hastings, Parent Carers North, Kettering Evening Group, Desborough, Asian Evergreen groups at Northampton and Wellingborough, Himalayan Asian Male Carer Group at Wellingborough, Male Carers North Northants, Male Carers West Northants

Diverse Communities

Gypsy, Roma & Traveller Communities
LGBTQ+ Communities

Carers from Global Ethnic Minority Groups (GEM)

Holistic & Zoom Groups 

As an organisation, we run over 70 groups and activities on a regular basis, the details of where and timings etc. can be found on the 'What's On' page, examples of groups for our service include:

Carers Choir & Ukulele Groups	Step Into Exercise on line
Walk & Talk Group - Irchester Country Park	Walk & Talk Group - Stanwick Lakes
Walk & Talk - Corby coming soon	Walk & Talk Whittlebury - coming soon
Cinema Groups	Walking Football
Warm Spaces	Living Well with Menopause

Some fun at the Walking Football

WELLBEING & E-LEARNING - Full details HERE

Caring & Me  

The E-Learning project is a collaboration project with NHFT Recovery College, Northamptonshire Carers and Carers. The e-learning sessions aim to give Carers multiple skills to help support themselves as Carers, which in turn enables them to support the ones they care for.

The course gives Carers a safe space to share through lived experiences, personal stories and peer to peer support. Carers have easy access to physical and mental health support along with resources to support their daily needs. It is free for Carers to access and study at their own pace at a time convenient to them. 

Group Wellbeing Sessions following the same format are being planned around the County from March 2023 – more information to follow once dates and venues have been confirmed.

VOLUNTEER TELEPHONE BEFRIENDING

We started our Volunteer Telephone Befriending Service during the first COVID lockdown in March 2019 initially to offer support to the huge number of Carers calling us in distress.

The project continues to develop and our amazing team of volunteers provide support to Carers who may be feeling isolated and alone.  We are always looking to extend of our team of volunteers for this service.

View Volunteer Telephone Befriender role - HERE

Groups and our volunteer Carer Champions at work:

Volunteer Carer Champions

We wouldn’t be able to offer such a diverse and varied range of support across the county without the help and support of our team of Volunteer Carer Champions.  They help us to facilitate support groups, Carer Cafes, Outreach services, Drop-ins, Befriending, 1:1 support, Pop-up-Hubs, Awareness events, Admin, Wellbeing Sessions, Driving – the list is endless. They are a vital part of our team and we are always looking to extend our team – the role is very flexible and fits around your own commitments (can link for this be taken to the volunteer information)

View Carer Champion Role Description - HERE

Stuart describe the benefits in volunteering as a Carer Champion