We work to develop our services so that you feel supported and have been given useful information by Neami staff when needed. This way you are best able to undertake your roles – one of which is to be there as a carer.

Understanding your role in a person’s life

We define carers and families as people who have an interest in a person’s wellbeing, who are affected by their illness or provide support to them at times of need. Carers do not need to be a blood relative and can include parents, children, siblings, spouses, friends, neighbours and others in a person’s life.

We believe that:

• Recovery is supported within an environment including carers and families. You can provide us with useful information to support a persons’ recovery work.
• Having a strong network of support aids recovery, so working with you and the person together may lead to the best possible outcomes.

• You have a right to be included in the work that occurs between a staff member and the person as it may have an impact on your life as well. For more information on how we can include you in our work, please read the section 'Working together with you'.

• You may also experience changes in your life when a family member/person you care about becomes unwell and may also need support.

Other than the person themselves, you often spend the most time with the person and therefore may like to contribute ideas on what may be useful moving forward.

Working together with you

We continually work to improve our practice in working effectively with carers and recognise how important your role can be in a person’s life. We aim to continue to progress work in the following four areas:

1. Improving our efforts to make contact with you, listen to your needs and to work together with the person and yourself where possible.
2. Improving how we communicate with you as well as the people using our services so that everyone is clear about how we involve you and what services we offer.
3. Increasing staff skill and knowledge in working with you so that they continue to feel competent and capable in working with you to best support a person’s recovery.
4. Continuing to improve and be creative with ways to involve you in our work.

Let us know what you think

We encourage you to continue to provide feedback to service managers at individual service sites or through the formal Neami feedback process regarding your experiences in any of these areas so that we can continue to improve the services we provide.

Useful supports for carers

There are a number of resources and organisations that can offer additional support to carers. Find more information about these organisations via the below link.

Carer supports

Find out more

Neami support workers can provide more information about the role of carers in supporting recovery as well as provide you with information on how you can get support for yourself as a carer. To learn more, speak with your Neami team or you can contact our Innovation and Projects team via the below details.