Carers
News
TIME
OUT!
A new social group for carers of PWMS in the Herefordshire, Worcestershire
and Wyre Forest area.
WHY DO I NEED TIME
OUT?
Have you heard the story about the young Canadian lumber jack?
First day in the forest camp he lets swing with his axe and cuts down lots of
trees. Second day, its getting harder, so he puts more effort in but doesn't cut
down as many trees. Third day, he's exhausted and can barely cut down a single
tree. A more experienced lumber jack calls him over and says "have you thought
about taking some time out to sharpen the axe?".
Ah.
Hands
up all those getting echoes of recognition? Many of us Carers fall into this trap.
We are so busy caring and holding everything together that we forget to look after
ourselves and charge our batteries. We can all find our own ways of restoring
our energy; going for a walk, visiting friends; whatever does it for you. Sadly
some people find it difficult to justify to themselves taking any time out to
nurture themselves.
A possibility that we'd like to offer you is a local
Carers get together, in fact Time Out. It's more than just a few hours out of
the house, we usually come away having learned some useful nugget of information,
shared a problem, or feeling generally less burdened. How ever much we love our
Carees we all sometimes need some distance from our normal world, and to talk
to people not directly involved with our day-to-day lives, and importantly, people
who won't judge us or our Carees.
You can't take on any of the symptoms
for your caree, but you can be strong to help them cope. Its hard to feel strong
when you're tired and isolated.
The MS Society West Midlands Carer's Group
is in the process of setting up Time Out as a pilot local meet in the Herefordshire/
Worcestershire/Wyre Forest area. We would like to extend our successful regional
get togethers to a local level for those people not able to travel across the
region.
Initially we are looking to start a local informal get together
in the Herefordshire/ Worcestershire/Wyre Forest area, and we'd welcome your feedback
on what would be most attractive to local carers.
WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK!
We need to know a bit about you to help us set up Time Out to suit
as many people as possible. What suits you? A day time or evening meet? Week day
or weekend? Coffee/walks/dinner? In a city centre or an out of town venue? If
this might be for you, or you have any thoughts on this, please register your
interest with me, Jill Crawley on jill1@jillcrawley.me.uk, or ring 01684 592901.
Maybe you have a few questions...
WHAT IS TIME OUT?
Time
Out is more than one Carer gathered together for the purpose of making everyone
in the group feel better. We chat as any group of friends would chat, but in the
course of conversation we share information and experiences. We are generally
supportive of one another and we try not to judge.
At Time Out there's
no committee, no agenda, no speakers, no rules. Well, maybe just one little rule;
we'll try to make a point of keeping things positive and fun where possible.
WHY
JOIN US AT TIME OUT?
There are as many reasons as there are Carers:
maybe it's an evening out, to have a laugh and let your hair down, or a chance
to talk about something that you can't share with your Caree or family, or maybe
an opportunity to make some new friends if you have been socially isolated for
a while.
Its an opportunity to step outside your day to day world for
a while and relax. You can talk to other people outside of your normal social/family
circle who may have been through some similar experiences. If you are wrestling
with a particular challenge at the moment, you may find that someone else is too.
We try to make it light and fun so hopefully you'll feel a bit uplifted
before you leave.
Because your caree has greater needs, that doesn't
invalidate needs you might have. You BOTH have needs.
HOW
DO WE DEFINE 'CARER'?
We mean anyone involved in looking after or
supporting someone with MS. We interpret this as widely as possible. If you would
say that you have any type of caring role for partner, child, parent, friend etc,
then Time Out would welcome you.
If you crash and burn, who will do
the caring?
WHO GOES TO AN MS CARER'S GROUP?
MS Carers
are a widely diverse group, we're: old, young, men, women, spouses, friends, hard-up,
not so hard-up, frustrated, stressed, coping, working outside the home, full time
carers, etc. Just like 'normal' people really!
However we do have things
in common. We are all providing physical, mental and/or emotional support to our
Carees, we all experience the unpredictability of MS, we have all experienced
a complete change of lifestyle, work and social life due to MS, and we all see
the pressures on our Carees, and on the rest of our family.
When did
you last go out and have fun? (Yes you are still allowed to have fun.)
WHEN
DOES TIMEOUT MEET?
Venue: Robin Hood, Rashwood, Droitwich (just
off M5 J5) Date: Tues 19th November, Time: 19:00
Venue: The Trumpet
Inn, Ledbury Rd, Trumpet, Ledbury, Hereford, HR8 2RA Date: Wed 28th Jan, Time:
19:00
Venue: The Starting Gate, Holmer Rd, Holmer, Hereford, HR4
9RS Date: Wed 25th Feb, Time: 19:00
For up to date details of our get
togethers, see the Carer's page on the West
Mids MS Society Regional web site.
Contact me, Jill Crawley, on jill1@jillcrawley.me.uk,
or ring 01684 592901.
Sharpen your axe!
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