Call for GPs to connect unpaid carers with free support

Around one in nine Australians provide unpaid care for people with a disability, a medical condition, mental illness or frailty, yet many don’t identify as carers. Instead, they see themselves simply as children, parents, partners, relatives or friends supporting a loved one.
 
Carer Gateway can help. The Australian Government program provides free services and support for unpaid carers across Australia, no matter where they live.
 
Accessible by phone, online or in person, it offers a wide range of services including peer support groups, tailored support packages, counselling, coaching, online skills courses and access to emergency respite.
 
Most unpaid carers are not aware of Carer Gateway, and this is where GPs have the chance to play a critical role as a trusted source of information.
 
Initially, it might not be easy to identify an unpaid carer. They might be a senior citizen caring for a partner with dementia, a parent raising a child with additional needs, or a teenager helping to look after family member living with disability. They might provide full-time care or help out a few hours a week.
 
Take Charlize Pitkin, a 16-year-old who is studying for her HSC. In her spare time she enjoys playing video games.
 
Charlize also helps her dad look after her younger brothers Calum and Casey, who were both born with learning difficulties and autism. It’s important for Charlize’s mental health that she balances the pressures of study and her caring role, with time for herself.
 
Charlize, who lives in Palmerston, NT, regularly uses Carer Gateway to stay up to date with what’s happening in the carer community and to connect with other young carers.
 
‘Something I’ve learnt from talking with other carers is we believe our purpose is to help others,’ she said. 
 
Sonia Nunan is another carer who has thrived since accessing government support.
 
She lives with her four children in the village of O’Connell in central west NSW and provides full-time care for her youngest son, 11-year-old Darcy. Darcy faces challenges with his dexterity and fine motor skills, has limited vision and a language delay. Sonia also suffers from chronic pain as the result of a car accident years ago, and the three older children help Darcy with eating, bathing and dressing.
 
Thanks to Carer Gateway, Sonia says she has ‘found her tribe’. Her husband Mark is often away with work and she is time-poor, but she makes time to meet regularly in nearby Orange with other carers, taking strength from the social connection, workshops and other activities.  
 
The program also helped two of the older children go to camp during school holidays. They’re recognised as Young Carers, with a peer support worker who helps them access tutoring and facilitates the purchase of school supplies. They’ve also received support through the Young Carer Bursary Program, which assists them with their school tuition. 
 
‘Carer Gateway reached out and offered help,’ Sonia said. ‘I didn’t have time for myself. I was managing chronic pain, but I had to keep soldiering on. Carer Gateway services are helping us to get our balance back and make it easier for the whole family.’
 
Most unpaid carers don’t ask for help until they reach crisis point. GPs can help ensure the caregivers who enter their practice – be they patients or the carers who accompany them – get the support and services that can make a positive difference to their lives.
 
Interested GPs can find more information on the Carer Gateway website.
 
This article was commissioned by Carer Gateway.
 
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