I just read Michael’s announcement on a now closed thread about someone having been barred from the site for six weeks having posted an inappropriate item.
I thank Michael for his explanations. The title of the post was contrary to the Carers UK guidelines.
I suppose my question I’m raising now is, if the person is under so much stress as to write such a message of intent, isn’t it during these next few weeks that they are likely to need responses from the forum from which they’re now banned?
I am really concerned that CUK’s only involvement with our forum at the moment is to ban members (I too have had periods in CUK’s dog house!) or recommend people go to the Samaritans for help.
During the last 40 years I’ve had a total of TEN carees, from newborn to 87!
The forum was invaluable to me when my mum was slowly declining, and I will be forever grateful for the support I was given.
Now I just have my son with LD living 15 miles away, so very much a part time carer.
I share lots of my experiences in the hope that others will be helped, but now need to spend more time getting fit.
I am very concerned about the barring of two people this year by CUK, but even more concerned about the future of the forum itself, it’s relationship with the parent organisation, and the lack of any information from the advice line being shared here. My eldest son is very uncomplimentary about the time I spend here!
I’d like to see a much more helpful approach from paid staff. Rather than ban people, I’d like them to understand the extreme frustration that those of us at grass roots level feel with our daily battles to get what we are entitled to.
Parts of an older thread will add a little weight to current … and future … developments.
Questions asked , suggestions made … confined to the back burner at that time :
https://www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/all-about-caring/carers-uk-advice-team-anything-we-can-do-forum-advice-team-calling-houston-we-have-a-problem-33424
( A couple of weeks to go before the above thread’s first birthday … perhaps we should all send it a birthday card ? )
I’ve made this comment dozens of times, I am here for support, which during my worse period was invaluable for me.
I could name three people in particular who got me through the dark side and into the light.
Partly thanks to them my Mum has now been home for two months, she is delighted, I am loving having her home.
If I give advice, it is due to personal experience.
If in my time of need, I’d been presented with a list of cryptic weblinks, I wouldn’t be here now and my Mum would still be in the home she hated.
Never forget the personal touch, we are people after all, not robots…
Thanks Rosemary and others for your thoughts on this.
In the Membership and Volunteering team we have 2.5 staff supporting 23,000 members and 450 volunteers, as well as overseeing the forum. We read the forum every day but unfortunately we don’t have the capacity to contribute to as many threads as you might like us to. The Forum is primarily a place for carers to support each other and signpost each other to relevant information and advice. We see members providing really valuable support to each other every day and we often send private messages to members to thank them for doing this.
Our priority as staff is to ensure that the Forum remains a supportive and welcoming place for carers to connect with each other, and occasionally this will mean that we need to remove posts that don’t comply with our Community Guidelines. On rare occasions we may also need to suspend members for a number of weeks for persistent breaches of the guidelines (this has only happened three times in the past year).
We are aware that members would like Carers UK helpline staff to respond to requests for advice on the Forum, and we’ll shortly be announcing a Q&A session with one of our advisers that will take place during Carers Week. We’ll also be running another Q&A with a nutrition specialist during Carers Week and would like to run these types of Q&As more frequently. We’ll also be asking for your views on other ways in which we can improve support to the forum (e.g. posting about Carers UK news more regularly) in a member survey later in the year. If any carers using the Forum would like advice on their specific situation, please email our Helpline at advice@carersuk.org or call them on a Monday or Tuesday (10am to 4pm) on 0808 8087777.
We hear from many of our members (online and in person) about the pressures that carers are under across the UK - this came across very strongly at the carers afternoon we held in Luton last week. Many Carers UK staff are also current or former carers and we do understand that it’s a really difficult time for carers across the whole country. We’ve also seen an increase in posts from carers posting on the forum who are finding it very difficult to cope. We don’t have an in house counselling service which is why we usually signpost to the Samaritans and other relevant organisations when safeguarding issues arise.
Thanks to everyone for all the support you provide to the many carers who visit the Forum every week.
Michael
Interesting to read about the “carers meeting in Luton last week”. Who was invited?
Thanks for that , Michael … certainly a different type of forum to the one a decade and more ago ?
( Without members , where would CUK be … your number one priority is to keep the few aboard. )
Luton ?
First we have heard about it … NOTHING on the forum until now !
Nutrition specialist forum appearance ?
Someone from Trussells , perhaps ?
At long last , the thorny subject of malnutrition in carers to be addressed … as in help needed in eating on an almost
non existent budget … the foodbanks are doing their best , time for CUK to join in ?
( Lack of food as opposed to comfort eating … eat / heat / roof … a balance half the carer army cannot maintain. )
After all , 100,000+ carers needed one in the last calender year.
Malnutrition ?
( Now more than 2 years old ! )
I certainly hope that the Q&A session times will be broadly posted on the site. Typically I browse the All About Caring and New To The Forum sections. I wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on what promises to be very useful sessions because they don’t scan the whole website.
Will make a welcomed change … as for the roadshows , weren’t they " By invitation only " … ?
Certainly one in Wales last year was …
I wonder if Carers UK ( Wales ) reimbursed the poster for the petrol used to get to the cancelled " Event ? "
We need Jenny on the forum.
Having supported her husband through cancer, to the end, she was the ONE person on the forum who could have supported our new member Charie whose wife is dying after a long illness.