Increasingly, policy is recognising the importance of identifying carers within treatment. As practitioners, we spend only a small amount of time with our clients, compared to their family, carers, and other loved ones, however family and carers can often get left out of the picture and not provided with necessary support and involvement.
Family and carers can be a huge asset to our work with our clients. When it comes to understanding a person’s story and deciding how services can help, carers can often provide additional information and a different perspective.
This resource was developed for the Rural Mental Health Partnership by Dr Dayle Raftery (Clinical Psychologist) at The Peregrine Centre. The Rural Mental Health Partnership is funded by NSW Health.
We thank Stacey Lewis, Carer Advisor and Consumer Representative, Heather Gant, Mental Health Nurse and Local Project Officer at The Peregrine Centre, and Mental Health Carers NSW for their valuable contributions to this resource.
This is an introductory toolkit about including family and carers in the care of their loved one and is not exhaustive nor designed as a treatment manual. We encourage all practitioners who wish to expand their knowledge of working with systems to seek specialised training and engage in supervision.
