Rebeca has two young children, works part-time, and she also looks after her mother, who is in her 80s and shows early signs of memory loss.
Lately, Rebeca has been feeling stressed, as she couldn’t cope with all her responsibilities. Trying to juggle a job with a family life, plus the demands of being an unpaid carer was making life hard, so she decided to reach out and find support.
She emailed the local charity Help & Care, which provides information, support and signposting in Dorset, to ask for advice. Particularly, she wanted her mum to go out and about more regularly and meet new people. She also needed support to take care of her garden and home.
Help & Care’s Information and Support Worker responded with information about Help & Care’s Volunteer Scheme and Help & care’s Handiworks Plus and Roots Gardening services.
Following this email, Rebecca got in touch with Nisa, Help & Care’s Volunteer Coordinator, who suggested the Telephone Befriending and the Walking Group.
Rebecca’s mother joined our Volunteer Scheme. She now gets a call once a week from one of our volunteers for a friendly chat and joins the Walking Group every other Monday to go for a gentle walk in Bournemouth or Poole.
Rebeca also signed up for Handiworks membership and Roots, and has used the services a couple of times. She said:
Thanks to Help & Care for all the support provided so far. My mum is really pleased – she looks forward to joining the Walking Group on Mondays and enjoys talking to the lovely volunteer who calls every week.
Joining Handiworks and Roots has been great too – I used to spend lots of time looking for the best contractor in town and was always worried that they would overcharge or that it wouldn’t be safe to leave my mum on her own at home while the contractor had to do the job. Now, I feel at ease knowing that contractors are reference and police checked by Help & Care.
Note: Names, as well as other identifying details, are changed to maintain confidentiality and privacy. Photograph is a stock image.
