Hello @Karen Atkinson I have printed off the documents, and they are very clear.Hi @SeaSwallow - no worries. There's no hurry and I completely understand. I just wanted to check the documents were accessible for you. Karen
Hi @Rishile, yes I'm very much interested in carers' stories. It doesn't matter how long it takes and you can choose what format you want to tell this - email, via Conversation option on this forum, or by Zoom or Teams face-to-face. I am happy with whatever you feel most comfortable with. If you would like to go forward, can you email me at karen.atkinson@sunderland.ac.uk and I will send you some more information about the study along with a Consent form to sign to agree participation. Looking forward to hearing from you. KarenCan I ask if this is a question/answer request or do you want a 'story'? I have a long story to tell but it could take a long time for me to complete as my carer duties take up a lot of my time.
Thanks @sdmhred. I'm very much interested in real carers' stories and I agree, I feel it's important that these get heard by social work trainees. @Rishile, do contact me via email and we can take it from there (karen.atkinson@sunderland.ac.uk)@Rishile
Your long story would be SO good for social work trainees to hear. you have such experience to share of both good and bad practice.
I agree service freewheeling downhill. What will you u guys so in ten fifteen years?? whenb someone with dementia who cant feed or drink themselves and who is incontinent or commicate doesn't qualify for funding or has to jump through hoops. And yet the ppl who run residential homes are allowed to run them for profit. When I say profit I mean millions mThanks so much for replying. It's interesting that you see the service having gone downhill but I am pleased to hear you previously had excellent support when you needed it.
Hi Izzy, can you contact me by directly by messaging me through this forum (click on my name and then 'Start conversation'), or by tbfeed themselves oerllllemailing me at karen.atkinson@sunderland.ac.uk. At the moment (I think because I am new to the forum), I can't see an option to open Conversations myself (I think I have to post 10 times to do that)
I won’t be contacting you for pretty much the same reasons. That and if I had a spare hour or two I’d want it for myself. Thanks for asking and best of BritishHello yoy, thanks for replying. It's so important that carers voices are heard and I appreciate you taking the time to post. Participation in the research study is entirely voluntary and I can understand you not wanting to re-live the experience again. If you do change your mind, you would be very welcome to participate in the study. You can contact me by directly messaging me through this forum by clicking on my name and then 'Start conversation', or by emailing me at karen.atkinson@sunderland.ac.uk Thanks again.
The only experience I have so far with Social Services is chasing them up. I was told 5 weeks ago that a urgent assessment would be requested but they couldn't say when. There is a waiting list. In the meantime I am trying to do everything and am very tired
Same hereI've thought about this thread for a while. My experiences of social workers and social services left me with an incredibly low opinion of them (that's putting it politely). Having thought about it I'm not sure that I want to re-live it all again or that I could keep it civil one to one.
I would be interested in supporting this, I too am a SW student in my 3rd year. I am also an informal carer for my mum with Alzheimer's.Hi everyone,
Dr Karen Atkinson from the University of Sunderland will be undertaking approved research on Dementia Support Forum between April and October this year.
As a senior lecturer in social work, Karen wants students to be better informed about the carer experience and is very interested in learning about the challenges and rewards you may have of caring for a person with dementia. In addition, she is also interested in what your experiences of social services have been (good or bad!). As well as looking at posts in this area, Karen would also like to talk on a 1:1 basis with anyone who would like to contribute to this research.
She can be contacted either by emailing karen.atkinson@sunderland.ac.uk or by directly messaging her through this forum by clicking on her name and then 'Start conversation'.
A big thank you to those who are able to take part![]()
I have been on my council's waiting list for a carer's assessment & help for over a year now!!!The only experience I have so far with Social Services is chasing them up. I was told 5 weeks ago that a urgent assessment would be requested but they couldn't say when. There is a waiting list. In the meantime I am trying to do everything and am very tired
That's terrible. I was fortunate that I didn't have to wait too long for a carer's assessment and they did it over the phone. It was an assessment of mum that took a long time. I did phone several times as mum got worse, to let them know about her changing needs, hoping it would speed things up. Sadly mum died soon after.I have been on my council's waiting list for a carer's assessment & help for over a year now!!!