Audio Transcript
Adrian Plitzco (Host) – 00:00:02: Hello and welcome to Tune in to Care, a podcast exploring the lives of carers. In this season, we shine a light on the diversity of caring communities from bustling cities to remote outback towns. Carers come from all walks of life, and though their challenges and experiences may differ, we hear how they all share the same resilience and dedication to their caring role. Tune in to Care is produced on Aboriginal land across Australia. We acknowledge the traditional owners as the custodians of this land. Tune in to Care is brought to you by Wellways Carer Gateway. Carer Gateway is an Australian government initiative providing free services and support for carers. My name is Adrian Plitzco.
Carer – 00:01:05: I would say the most important challenge is carers burnout. You know, it’s, it’s a very real thing. You’ll get very, very overwhelmed physically, mentally, you’ll feel like you cannot function no more. And it’s, it’s very difficult.
Carer – 00:01:22: I’ve kind of never really sat down and given myself time to even think about it. I probably don’t let them worry me. I probably should, but I don’t, to have a bit of peace of mind. It’s like a, a normal day. A normal day sort of thing.
Carer – 00:01:41: I have no one here. I’ve had to cut off from friends because nobody understands. Nobody understands what you’re going through. You’re depressed, you’re deprived, you’re not having sleep. Your mind’s going 24/7 all the time.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:01:56: Challenges carers are faced with, the emotional and physical toll of caregiving is ever present. Caring for an elderly loved one also often means caring for a person with dementia. Kim and Liz, both aging carers, will share their experiences and illustrate the unique challenges they face in their roles. They will also underline the transformative impact that Wellways Carer Gateway has on their lives, helping them find resources and a support network. After hearing from Kim and Liz, we will also speak with two experts around the topics of dementia and carer burnout. Liz not only cares for an elderly person, her husband, she herself is also an aging person. And we both agreed that I’m allowed to address her as such. Kim, on the other hand, is quite some years younger, but like Liz cares for an elderly person, her father.
Kim (Carer) – 00:02:55: I am 49 years of age. I started caring for my mum last year when she was terminally ill, and it was a very traumatic illness. It was very hard. My mum passed away four months later, from diagnosis to when she passed away, and in that time, I was caring for both mum and dad really, because mum was dad’s carer. Dad has dementia, frontal lobe damage and numerous body problems. So, yeah, which causes him to fall a lot. He’s a very big falls risk. So, when my mum passed away, I promised her that I would care for dad. I also am a single mother of a 24-year-old son, a 16-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old granddaughter, a nana as well. But my role at the moment is primarily my dad and being his carer and finding a facility for him to go into while I, you know, finalise mum’s death and all of her assets.
Kim (Carer) – 00:03:58: The end plan is, so I can live with my dad, I need to sell his house and my house so I can find somewhere for my dad and I to live together, because that’s what I promised mum. But at the moment, he’s not allowed to live independently, so our living arrangements don’t allow that. And dad has to go into temporary care, into an aged care facility. And we are finding problems along the way with that as well I’m my dad’s voice. And my mum was the one that kept us all together and told us all what to do and when to do and how to do it. So, mum’s not here anymore and it’s just me and dad and my two children and we are getting through it, but it’s tough. I should be enjoying my life at the moment. I’m really stuck. I’m, I’m in this role and I mean, I wouldn’t have it any other way, but it is hard work. I, I find I’m very isolated. My friends are out having fun and I, I still have the fun with dad, but it’s just not the same sometimes.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:05:11: Thank you Kim, for sharing. I want to ask Liz now, who do you care for and please tell us about yourself too.
Liz (Carer) – 00:05:21: Well, I’m 78 years old and my husband became ill when he was 32 from multiple chemical poisoning. And so, I really became his part-time carer from when I was very young. And that’s been an ongoing thing. And now that has morphed into early cognitive decline, and he’s just had his 77th birthday. And so that’s just been one of the challenges, I’ve been exactly where Kim is. We bought a home where we could home both my parents, my mum and dad cause I was an only child, in the same house as us. And I looked after them for 10 years until mum had to go into care with dementia, which was the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do. Mum was in care and then she died after four years in care. In the mornings my dad would go in, and every day, and I would go in every afternoon.
Liz (Carer) – 00:06:15: And my mother was an opera singer, and we had big print songbooks, so I’d lie in bed with her and she’d remember all the words, even in Italian of all the Italian operas and all the songs. So, we’d spend every afternoon doing that. Well then mum ultimately died from heart failure, then Dad had developed melanoma from being in the war. My dad had PTSD from the Second World War. He had five years active service. And I was thinking about my caring role before this interview and I was thinking, I really became a carer at about seven when my father started drinking to cover his feelings from being number one, a Rat of Tobruk and then number two in behind Japanese lines in Burma. And he started drinking to mask his terrible experiences. And I became an overprotective daughter to my mum. So, I really started caring for my mum.
Liz (Carer) – 00:07:11: Although she was a professional woman, I developed this overdeveloped sense of responsibility towards her because of my dad. So, this caring role has been part of me, a part of my being all my life. And then when dad got melanoma, mum had died in 2010, and dad was expected to only live five months. And we had him at home and we nursed him at home. My husband, caring for my husband at the same time, although he had improved a bit through having alternative medicines. We nursed my dad up until two days before he died, when we could no longer clean him up. We just could no longer manage the physical part of cleaning him up. And he went into hospital and died two days later. That left an enormous hole in our lives cause we’d taken, well, me particularly had had this role of being a carer just as part of being me.
Liz (Carer) – 00:08:06: And I’d really lost sight of who I was. And a friend of mine knew about Carer Gateway and she suggested I join and do something about finding me again. This was years ago, but I didn’t do anything about it. And then it wasn’t until our daughter was diagnosed with terminal cancer that we are now taking on caring for her full time. So, the caring role has changed from looking after my husband, being there for my elderly parents and being exactly where Kim is now, sorting out financial stuff and selling stuff and doing all that stuff. And you just get lost. Totally get lost within yourself and you become last, and your health suffers, and your mental health suffers. And so, once I joined Carer Gateway, oh, what a difference that made.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:08:57: Enormous burdens for both of you. How do you manage to get up in the morning to face the challenges that are awaiting you? And where do you find the strength, Kim?
Kim (Carer) – 00:09:08: I’ve learned a lot from Wellways about having to take time out for myself. And sometimes that time for myself doesn’t even happen, and it may even happen at nine o’clock at night, and then I can’t be bothered to take it. But I still try and take it and I, I’ve been doing online meditation, positive affirmations because you know, I don’t have mum here now anyway, and she was always the one that told me, yeah, I’m doing the right thing. So, I just need a bit of that positive reassurance sometimes. Because you know your mum, you always needed your mum, eh, I do these positive affirmations every morning. I try and, you know, go for a walk. I’ve, I got myself a little puppy last year when, when mum was sick, and I’ve never owned an animal before. My little Missy Moo, she’s not the sort of dog that I wanted, but I love her, and I have a lot of time with my little dog where it’s just me and her, and I love her.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:10:08: Caring for an elderly loved one like you do, has its own unique challenges. But what was it like navigating the aged care system while seeking support for yourself?
Kim (Carer) – 00:10:20: Trying to navigate all these services that helped Dad was a minefield for me. I found that very hard, working out who was who in the zoo because it was all new to me, my mum was all over it. So, I had to learn, you know, where to access the help for Dad. And then along the way I found the help for me. I make appointments and I do, I do some classes and that through Wellways and I, I always walk away from a Wellways group feeling on top of the world and I feel like I’m not alone.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:10:55: How is it for you, Liz? Where do you find the strength, especially at your age? How do you cope with the challenges? It must be, at least, physically demanding.
Liz (Carer) – 00:11:05: I found that I totally lost myself until I came to Wellways and I found, I came to a coach and that very first day I came to the coach, I broke the mould immediately and instead of driving straight home, I stopped in at a girlfriend without even telling my husband that I was going to do that. And that was most unusual because he doesn’t make any decisions whatsoever, I make every single decision. And that is so demanding, and it takes over your life cause you’re having to think about every little tiny thing. But I, like you Kim, I do online meditations cause I’ve been studying Buddhist philosophy for years and I found that’s really helpful. But also, I was taught to take out a few minutes in every hour. And so, I set an alarm on my phone to ding every hour. And sometimes it’s in the middle of something and I can’t do anything.
Liz (Carer) – 00:11:57: But sometimes I’ll just stop, breathe deeply, just put myself in the position of the person I’m looking after and think, am I, if I am that person, how would I feel about me looking after me? And so that gives me the compassion to, to carry on cause it can be very demanding, especially when I was looking after my dad. I wake up very early in the morning and the first thing I do is I set my motivation for the day, and I look at what my mind’s going to do now. Am I going to allow my mind to bring me down and become a victim? Or am I going to be the person I was really meant to be? And cause you were the person you were meant to be before you took on the carer’s role and then you lose yourself cause you’re looking after everybody else and you come last.
Kim (Carer) – 00:12:46: I find that I’m way more busier now than what I was when I was working, taking on a caring role and looking after everyone.
Liz (Carer) – 00:12:54: And I think the trick to that is to delegate. If you’ve got people too, if you’ve got teenagers that can help you, delegate some of the responsibility if you can.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:13:03: I always wonder when you are isolated in your role, you would not have the time and not have the strength to go out there and make new friends or, at least, see your old friends.
Kim (Carer) – 00:13:17: Oh no, no, no. I’m making a lot of friends. I’ve been making a lot of friends along the way and that’s, with thanks, through Wellways. So, some of the groups that I’ve done….
Adrian Plitzco – 00:13:28: That’s my point. That’s my point. That obviously is the case now, but before you found Wellways Carer Gateway, you must have been so busy caring for your loved ones. How did it come to you that you actually asked for support?
Kim (Carer) – 00:13:44: After mum’s death, and then when I started caring for dad and I’m like, well what do I do? Somewhere along the lines, someone had given my number to Carer Gateway and Wellways here at Campbelltown. And I don’t know here I am, but I am just so glad that I’ve found Wellways. I have contact with them at least once a week in either a coaching or a counselling role because sometimes I just need that reassurance, just the reassurance I need some days.
Liz (Carer) – 00:14:13: And that’s what we need, you know, to know that we’re not alone.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:14:16: Liz, how did you find out about Wellways Carer Gateway?
Liz (Carer) – 00:14:21: I didn’t do anything about it until I hit rock bottom and I really feel, felt that I couldn’t go on anymore. I’d got to the point where I thought, my life’s gone. I’m now hitting my seventies, what am I going to do? Is this going to be my role forever? Can I do this? I don’t think I can. So, I rang and then we got in touch and then I did a peer group with Astrid here in Maroochydore. And then I was put onto Andrew, I was told about Andrew as, well the coaching process, got onto Andrew, and then counselling. And then when I started here at Wellways and talking to Andrew, it wasn’t so much, he just, he just awoke the joy in me again. I just had lost all the joy out of my life, used to do all sorts of things and suddenly I stopped doing everything and it was all focused on other people and not me. I’d lost me. And then coming to see them last year, it was just, changed my life immediately. And so, I was able to really get into looking after me and learning to say, no.
Kim (Carer) – 00:15:28: I know that word now.
Liz (Carer) – 00:15:29: And learning to say no to thinking negatively cause I didn’t want to be a victim, you know, I just, and so every time I feel, oh, poor me, poor me, I think, no, I’m going to do something that’s going to give me joy, even if it’s only for two minutes. And on those mornings when you wake up and you think, I can’t face this anymore, I put my nicest clothes on, I put my makeup on, I do my hair, I put some music on, and I don’t do anything I don’t want to do.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:15:56: Did anyone of you know that such a service exists before you found Wellways Carer Gateway?
Liz (Carer) – 00:16:02: No, no. And the best thing that was ever given to me from the, through the program, was a book on self-compassion. And it’s beside my bed all the time and I pick it up at night. If I wake up in the middle of the night with the worries of the world on my shoulders, I pick it up and I, it’s a little work, it’s a workbook and you do little exercises and that has been one of the best things. Apart from the coaching and the counselling.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:16:31: What kind of support are you receiving and what impact has that support on you? In what way has it changed your life?
Kim (Carer) – 00:16:39: With Wellways, I’ve tapped into some of the group sessions. I’m also dealing with grieving as well. I’m grieving my mum and I’m also grieving the loss of my dad really, because until I started caring for my mum, did I realise that my dad was so much hard work. So, I’ve accessed some counselling services through Wellways. One thing that I’ve only just started doing an access through is Janet in a coaching role. Oh my God, thank God for Janet. I tend to be a sort of person that feels like I have to do everything all at once and I have to make sure that everything’s done and Janet’s going, “but is that important today, Kim?” And I need someone like that to say, well, no, you don’t have to do that today, you can do that tomorrow. So, coaching has been amazing for me to try and, you know, just deal with one thing at a time instead of five things at once.
Liz (Carer) – 00:17:39: Yep, I agree with you.
Kim (Carer) – 00:17:41: And that’s what I need is someone that’s going to really help me prioritise what I need to do. And then the group sessions have been amazing. I’ve tapped into some sort of an artistic side in me that I didn’t even think existed. I look back at little things that I’ve made in sessions and that along the way, it means nothing to anyone, but it means something to me in that moment. Just these group sessions have been absolutely amazing. And I walk out of every session feeling really good about myself.
Liz (Carer) – 00:18:17: Yeah, coaching has been my lifesaver too. And the counselling and the group sessions. Once I start caring for our daughter when she gets into the palliative stage, that is going to be the hardest caring job. So, I’m going to be caring for an old man. But see, grief is an amazing thing. See, I, I lost my marriage when my husband became ill when he was, what, 32? So, I was no longer a wife. I was a carer from there on in. And I’ve often wondered what it must be like to be a wife, you know, to, to have someone to share things with. And it was Andrew, my coach that said, taught me how to open up that communication channel a little bit so that I do get responses. But what I find is the worst thing with my husband now withdrawing cause that’s what he’s doing, he’s withdrawing from life.
Kim (Carer) – 00:19:13: Liz, you sound like my mum. You sound like my mum. And I didn’t understand any of that until I’m living it.
Liz (Carer) – 00:19:20: You know what you have to do? You have to remember that you’ve done the best you can and just forgive yourself. This is what my coach taught me. You got to forgive yourself for what you didn’t know you could do, or you couldn’t do.
Kim (Carer) – 00:19:33: Sometimes I wish that my mum had this help. I wish my mum had Wellways because my mum always felt so alone and I’m now not the daughter anymore. I’m just the person telling dad what to do.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:19:46: Can we say, given that you now have support from the outside, that you found, in that, some strength?
Kim (Carer) – 00:19:54: A hundred percent.
Liz (Carer) – 00:19:55: Oh, absolutely. Oh, I, I tell you what, I don’t, I wouldn’t be here now if I hadn’t have come along. And I, I had hit rock bottom when I decided to ask my friend about the support group she told me about. And without it, I don’t think I’d be here.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:20:13: How important is it that you are able to share your thoughts, your feelings with other people who are in a similar situation?
Kim (Carer) – 00:20:22: I find it refreshing to know that I’m not the only one going through problems. Everyone’s got a story and it’s given me a little bit more given compassion towards other people as well.
Liz (Carer) – 00:20:36: It validates, it validates what you are feeling.
Kim (Carer) – 00:20:39: Yeah. And I’ve, I’ve formed a lot more compassion towards other people because I could be walking down the street and just walked out of Wellways and think that I’m on top of the world. But before I walked into that place, I was falling apart, and I always walk out feeling good. And if, Wellways came at a time when I was falling apart and I was, wow, it was, last year changed me in a lot of ways.
Liz (Carer) – 00:21:04: When you’ve got the love and the, and all the, the despair and knowing you can’t do anything to help the situation except be there for them and help them get through whatever it is they’re going through, you know, it’s hard. It’s really hard and, and I think you’ve just got to be kind to yourself.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:21:21: What advice would you give someone who is in a situation where there is no support?
Liz (Carer) – 00:21:27: Oh, go and get it. Explore. Explore every avenue.
Kim (Carer) – 00:21:32: The people that work at Wellways have that experience. They’ve been carers themselves, so they know. They’ve got the compassion that I’ve got now. You know? Yeah. They’re not reading out of a textbook. They’re reading from and talking about their life experiences as well. So, when it, it’s real life and not textbook.
Liz (Carer) – 00:21:52: Kim, I’ve been where you are and there is light at the end of the tunnel, but you’re going to be dealing with grief again and it’s an ongoing grief. You know, when your dad goes, you know, you’ll have that to deal with too. But eventually life will get a bit easier cause I went through what you are going through. I lost my mum first, then I lost my dad. There is light at the end of the tunnel. In a way, it’s a loss of independence. That’s the problem. It’s a big deal as you get older, losing your independence.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:22:20: Liz and Kim, I would like to say a big, big thank you for your time and sharing your life as a carer with us today. Thank you.
Liz (Carer) – 00:22:31: Thank you.
Kim (Carer) – 00:22:32: Thanks guys.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:22:36: Kim and Liz. Two aging caregivers, sharing the emotional and physical toll of caregiving for elderly loved ones and also highlighting the benefits of external support systems such as Wellways Carer Gateway, a service that is free and accessible to anyone caring for loved one Australia wide.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:23:03: As we are finding out throughout this podcast series, no two carers are the same. And Wellways Carer Gateway is able to tailor services to meet the unique needs of carers by partnering with other specialist organisations, organisations like Dementia Australia. Tenille Griffiths, she serves as the State Manager for Dementia Australia. In this podcast episode about aging carers, she is the expert together with Lou Faulkner, General Manager of Carer Gateway Services at Wellways. Both have taken notes of the conversation I just had with Kim and Liz. My first question goes to Tenille. What role Tenille, does Dementia Australia play as a Wellways partner in delivering Carer Gateway services?
Tenille Griffiths – 00:23:51: Services and supports we provide are for both people living with dementia and their carers to specifically talk about what supports we provide for carers. We have counselling and carer support groups, peer group sessions, memory lane cafes, and carer coaching as well.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:24:07: What is your main impression of the conversation we just heard?
Tenille Griffiths – 00:24:12: I guess the main take away for me was the impact that the supports that they’ve accessed through Wellways and Carer Gateway have really helped them in the caring role. And not everybody knows that those supports are out there. So, I think it was Kim who said she wished her mum had accessed these supports earlier. For me it was that sort of light bulb moment of they’ve identified the real need that carers have in needing to access these supports and doing something for themselves and not only for the person that they’re caring for as well.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:24:45: Now to Lou, Carer Gateway Services, what was your key point?
Louise Faulkner – 00:24:50: The biggest thing I’ve taken away from it is that we heard two different carers with two very different stories, yet so many similarities. So, the grief, the loss of identity, the loneliness, they were all, yeah, very much similarities that they had. And I really enjoyed listening to how much compassion they had for each other and the journey that each of them was on.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:25:13: It is this powerful care for each other, isn’t it? The sharing of experiences that experts like you refer to as peer groups on connecting people to others in the same situation. What Carer Gateway does so well.
Louise Faulkner – 00:25:27: And I think that’s what happens so beautifully in any group setting with carers, is they’re so open to sharing their own story, incredibly generous with their own story and then very supportive of each other as well. So, I think through spending time together, they, you know, like we all do, we learned that it’s actually okay to be a little bit selfish sometimes.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:25:46: Liz was pointing out that, after all these years, she has been caring for her husband, she doesn’t know him anymore. He has become a stranger to her. And faced with that challenge, would a carer have access to a different, or to a specific service rather than a standard service?
Tenille Griffiths – 00:26:03: We have specific grief and loss programs that we deliver through our partnership with Wellways and also through either coaching or counselling. Each carer creates their own individual goals around what’s happening for them at that time. So, it’s really being in the moment with those carers, working through what they need to work through.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:26:23: Lou, is that the main challenge for a carer that they have to deal with their ongoing grief and loss? Or is the actual physical act of caring the challenge, the bigger challenge?
Louise Faulkner – 00:26:35: Probably both. I think the physical aspect would definitely take a toll at times on your energy levels and maybe your own personal health as well. I think with the grief journey, we hear a lot of carers talk about how the grief consistently changes. You know, you might be grieving at first maybe a diagnosis or finding out that, you know, maybe your partner or your loved one has a diagnosis of dementia and there’s an element of grief and loss there. Potentially a change in the dynamic and relationship and then as you learn more about dementia, and you can speak so much more to this than I can Tenille, you’re the expert. As your symptoms increase or the challenges around that diagnosis might increase a little bit, there’s another element of grief there as well because you’re relearning your role as a carer and then of course, you know, when your person passes.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:27:21: Am I on the right path to think that it is not easy for a carer who never took the time to look after themselves or even think about themselves, that it doesn’t come easy to them to allow and indulge their own needs?
Tenille Griffiths – 00:27:38: I think being in that caring role can be really tough, doing something for themselves. Even if Liz mentioned she has a buzzer every hour just to do some breathing techniques, which is time for her. And she sees that as her time, even if it’s only a minute or two, really gives them a sense of control and something to fill their bucket.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:28:01: Kim cared for her mother who only recently died. She now struggles with grief and loss. And not only because her beloved mother died, also because her previous role as a carer came to an end and she literally, yeah, fell into a hole. Does Carer Gateway address this issue?
Louise Faulkner – 00:28:20: Yeah, so Wellways Carer Gateway will offer up to 12 months of support, after a care recipient passes away, to the carer. So that can be counselling, coaching or in-person peer support. What might start with grief and loss will, you know, maybe after a few months or a period of time turn into opportunities to connect with others over an activity or an interest or a hobby and you know, and hopefully the carer can maybe start to find themselves from there.
Tenille Griffiths – 00:28:49: But we often find that dementia, it is the hidden disease. It has a stigma around it. So, it’s not openly talked about often such as cancer where you’ll, it’s openly talked about, and people quite often will rally around. With dementia quite often these carers will feel quite isolated because family and friends tend to retreat back and so they don’t have that support around them. And then once the person living with dementia has passed that support of friendships and family sometimes isn’t there. So, connecting in with others going through the journey as well has been really helpful for some of our carers.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:29:27: Liz, she’s 70 years old, she herself is an aging person. Are her needs as a carer different to a younger person?
Tenille Griffiths – 00:29:35: Potentially it could be. I think for Liz, she’s aging herself. She sounds like she’s really got some wraparound supports in place for her and on the right journey to do a lot of that self-care for herself, which is great. I guess when you reflect and look at Kim’s challenges, Kim’s still got a young family herself that she’s trying to support as well as supporting her father. So, I think as much as their journeys are different, there are some similarities in their challenges
Louise Faulkner – 00:30:07: With Liz as well, she will potentially have her own challenges around maybe the practicality of caring, so potentially the lifting or the cleaning or that really practical support that that happens within the caring role. So, I’m not sure if she has or if she will in the future, maybe need to navigate the My Aged Care system to gain some support, some really practical support from that. And Wellways Carer Gateway do have aged care navigators that can potentially provide some support in that space to access and to navigate, because I think I heard Kim say it’s really challenging to know who’s who in the zoo and we can certainly provide some support with that as well. So yeah, potentially for Liz, maybe some more practical supports.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:30:47: My last question goes to you both Lou and Tenille, what stood out for you in the conversation with Kim and Liz?
Tenille Griffiths – 00:30:55: As Lou said, it can be challenging knowing what services and supports are out there for carers. And I guess if we even reflect further, even people identifying themselves as a carer rather than a just a husband or wife or daughter or son. Sometimes they don’t actually place that term ‘caring’ on themselves. So, I guess the first step is identifying that they are a carer and then finding out what supports and services are available to them as well as the person that they’re supporting. Dementia Australia has our Dementia helpline, which is 1800 100 500, which is accessible 24/7.
Louise Faulkner – 00:31:35: I’m just so pleased to hear that Kim and Liz have found some support that works for them.
Tenille Griffiths – 00:31:40: I think it’s vitally important to recognise that being a carer, whilst it can be rewarding, can come with its own challenges. And it’s important for those carers to explore what support and help is available not only for their loved one, but for themselves as well and taking that care for themselves.
Adrian Plitzco – 00:32:00: Tenille Griffith, State Manager, Dementia Australia and Lou Faulkner, General Manager Carer Gateway Services, highlighting the importance of accessing support services like counselling, carer groups, and practical assistance. Tenille, Lou and both carers Kim and Liz agreed on the need for carers to acknowledge their own needs and the benefits of peer support. For an in-depth understanding and more enriching conversations about caregiving, listen to the next episode of Tune in to Care, when we delve into the personal stories of two dedicated carers faced by the challenges of mental health care. Tune in to Care is a podcast supported by Carer Gateway, an Australian Government Initiative. If you are a carer in need of support, call Wellways Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737, and make sure you don’t miss out on hearing more incredible carer stories. Subscribe to the podcast on your favourite podcast platform or streaming service.