The Difference Good Carers Make

Hello there,

Yes it's been AGES since I last blogged, but I've been vlogging. Will stick a cheeky link in to the vlogs and my Youtube Channel.

So much has happened and I'll maybe post writing about it but probably won't because it's tiring and stressful. But I have something I really feel I need to write about. And that's good carers. I strongly believe that caring isn't a profession someone should go into because they need a job or money. Caring is a very sensitive and responsible role, and should be taken very seriously.

Over the last 4 years I've had a fair few different care agencies and probably over 100 different carers. Over the last week or so, a new care agency and carers have changed my life. And I'm not exaggerating in the slightest, they have changed my life for the better so much. My attitude to care the last few months have been dreading my care calls, going without just to get carers to leave early, and forcing myself to do way more than I have the energy to.

Now I know I can expect my carers at the times they say, I will only ever see one of three people (sometimes two of them) and I feel 100% safe and comfortable with them. I don't mean 99%, I mean 100% where I don't have to hold back anything. Where I can be myself, talk to my carers like old friends, whilst also having high quality care, executed to the best standard.

I have carers that go more than the extra mile, carers that care holistically about my well being, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual etc. Carers that don't clock off at the end of a long shift and forget you exist. Carers that are happy to be on call 24/7, but know where to draw the boundaries.

Quality care, executed not only with paramount standards, but with a laugh and a joke too. Carers that want to know who I am, that want to hear my story, and that want to share their lives and stories with me. Carers that are assertive and can advocate on my behalf, carers that truly know what it is to care.

I'm so incredibly grateful for them, and they honestly mean the world to me. I can say with confidence that my new carers have saved my life. Thank you Sarah, Dani and Abi from SLR Care.

Alley x

© Alice Daley 2016