Carers Focus Newsletter: September 2018

Next Carers Forum - Thursday, September 20th

We will be hosting our next Carers Forum on September 20th 2018 from 11am— 2pm. This will be our first Forum since our office move and because of this it will be held at a new venue - Volunteer Edinburgh (222 Leith Walk, EH6 5EQ). Lunch/ refreshments will be provided. New to the Carers Forum? The Carers Forum meets quarterly and gives carers the opportunity to come together and discuss current changes and developments within mental health. It also gives carers the chance to meet others who may be in similar circumstances. Additionally we listen for feedback from carers on how we can improve our advocacy service. The Carers Forum welcomes all carers and you do not need to be a member of Edinburgh Carers Council to attend.

Booking is not required but it's helpful for catering to know approximate numbers. Contact Rachael on 0131 322 8480 or email rachael@edinburghcarerscouncil.co.uk

AGM—Save the Date

You are invited to attend Edinburgh Carers Council’s 2018 Annual General Meeting. It will be held on Friday, November 30th from 11am—1:30pm. The venue is The Mews (35 Young Street, North Lane, EH2 4JD). We will also have a guest speaker (details to be advised). Join us to hear about our work from the past year and enjoy some refreshments and cake.

Information Booklets

We have recently updated our information / ‘About us’ booklet. We have combined previous publications to make one single booklet that is designed to have all the information you need. You can find the new booklet on our website, www.edinburghcarerscouncil.co.uk. Once you’ve reached our homepage, you can find them by clicking on Resources > Publications > About us.

Prefer your newsletter emailed? Let us know by email or phone and we will update our records. If you no longer want to receive our newsletter contact us at info@edinburghcarerscouncil.co.uk

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​June 2018 Carers Forum & Creative Workshop

Thank you to everyone who came along to our June Forum. We had a relaxing, creative afternoon with Heather from Light Bulb Arts. Carers had the opportunity to experiment with oil pastels, black ink, and learned how to ‘finger-knit’! We also had a look at a variety of different artworks, thinking about if some art is more appealing to those with dementia than others. Light Bulb Arts will be working alongside Art in Healthcare to design a dementia-friendly picture book in the future, and Heather was interested to gather the opinions of carers.

It’s Our 20th Anniversary!

This summer we marked Edinburgh Carers Council’s 20th Anniversary. To celebrate, we hosted a Coffee Morning in our new office building on July 18th from 10am-12pm. The catering for brunch was provided by Galway Gourmet and included croissants, fruit pastries, teas and coffees. Fran from our Management Committee brought along some delicious homemade treats, blueberry muffins and cupcakes. It was wonderful to see everyone together, from carers to our colleagues in other organisations. A big thank you to everyone for taking the time to join us.

Carers Collective Advocacy Group at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital

A new support group has been formed for relatives, partners and friends of those in the care of the elderly wards at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. Join us to meet other carers, discuss ways to improve services, get information and support one another. We will meet once a month in the Boardroom of MacKinnon House for an informal chat, teas/coffees and biscuits. Booking is not required. For more information about this group or the date of the next meeting, please contact Rachael or Ruth on 0131 322 8480, or email rachael@edinburghcarerscouncil.co.uk. You can also find details about other groups on our website, www.edinburghcarerscouncil.co.uk

Care for Carers Therapy Appointments

Therapy appointment times are available from Care for Carers. The appointments are on a one-to-one basis with a qualified Aromatherapist / Reflexologist and are one hour long, located in St Margaret’s House Counselling Room. There is a contribution of £20 that is paid to the therapist for this service. Please contact Care for Carers on 0131 661 2077 to arrange a date and time, or to find out more information.