I’m Kate. I am a Parent Carer Support Worker and a General Carer Support Worker. I’m also a carer myself. I support two children, one with a physical disability and one with emotional difficulties. I also provide support to an elderly grandparent. I’ve recently completed the Edinburgh Half Marathon and I’m considering training for a triathlon.
Initially, I had to give up work because caring and working was getting too much. It was too much of a juggle. I needed to attend so many appointments and I had to get my daughters care established. I was out of work for quite a long time before things were stable enough for me to consider going back again. I tried working for several different organisations, but they weren’t very supportive of my caring situation, and I ended up having to stop working again. It’s safe to say that my employment journey has been severely interrupted.
I really enjoy working. I have a lot of skills and work is important to me for my sense of self. But caring takes up so much time and I found there wasn’t time to be anything else. I found myself feeling like caring was consuming my whole identity.
Carers of East Lothian have been a different kind of employer. They have a clear carer policy that everybody can access, that shows that they aren’t just obeying the letter of the law. They actually believe in supporting carers to get back into work. They have a flexible working policy that means I can attend appointments. And they trust me to have integrity. I don’t need to have repeated conversations about my caring situation and I don’t get that sick feeling in my stomach when I need to talk about something to do with caring with my workplace. Consequently, I’m actually more open and I don’t feel like I have to hide anything, because I know I’m not perceived as someone whose caring gets in the way of their capacity to do a good job!
I’m passionate about supporting carers to get back into work and I would really like to see the stigma of asking for help overcome. Asking for help isn’t a failure. It’s actually the bravest thing you can do.
