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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