Caring and balancing work

All about caring Young adult carers
1

I currently care for my friend, who suffers with many mental health issues and physical health issues.

It has been getting increasingly difficult to balance work and caring for her. I only work 16h a week to have enough time to care for her, but I fear I may have to quit work to properly care for her .

I struggle with my own mental health at times but mostly struggle with motivation to go to work, and while at work am constantly worried about my friend as she has been taken off her medication for depression several times, through miss communication between doctors and the pharmacy and because we missed a review appointment for her medication.

We have been looking at getting into council housing and we both receive some UC support, she is currently trying to again apply for pip as last time they rejected her application but I fear we will not have enough money to live comfortably if I have to quit working.

2

Have you asked for support from Social Services for her?

3

We are trying to get a support worker but when we called the council they just said they didn’t know why she needed one and were not sure what to do about getting one sorted. She’s also autistic so we would have to find someone she can actually get along with and feel comfortable with

4

In that case, I suggest that you try referring yourselves online. There seems to be a new drive concerning autism (Melly, one of our forum mods, is an expert on autism, but she may be at work at the moment).

It is NOT up to the person on the phone to decide who does and doesn’t need care. The rules are clear, they MUST visit and do an assessment, and decide afterwards! Make sure you have a Carers Assessment too.