Embolden

Em-Bold-en is our older carers project. Funded by Comic Relief

What’s the project about?

The aim of the project is to give a strong voice to family carers and to influence and hold decision makers to account within health and social care services.

Who is it for?

The project is aimed at families who care for adults with learning disabilities, whether they are living with you at home or in supported living or residential care. It is also aimed at brothers and sisters or other family relatives who may be involved in supporting your relative with a learning disability and may be sharing the caring with parents.

We especially want to reach out to older family carers in this project, as we know that many of you worry about the future and want to ensure a secure good life for your loved ones who have a learning disability. We want to work with you on these important concerns.

Here’s what we have done so far:

We held a series of coffee mornings around the county to find out…

What are health and social care services planning for the immediate future – and how will it affect you?
How do we protect and plan for the long-term future of our loved ones when public services face hard times?
Do we need older family policies?
How do we change services to meet the needs of older people with learning disabilities?

Embolden Events

We held a ‘Meet the Decision Makers’ event in November 2016

This event was an opportunity for family carers to tell senior commissioners from Health and Social care about the issues that affect them.

We worked with Tom Skinner from Age UK Oxfordshire. Tom is working on another Comic Relief funded project called ‘Get the Picture’.

Tom produced a short film called ‘What will happen when I’m no longer around’ where families share their concerns for the future when supporting their relative with learning disabilities.

January 2017

In January we held a ‘You said, we did’ event to update everyone on what we had done since the first ‘Meet the Decision Makers’ event.

Outcomes

Families asked us to produce some simple guidance on the Care Act 2014 so they know what their rights and rights of their relative are. Follow the link to our: Guide to the Care Act – Top Tips for Family Carers of People with Learning Disabilities
Together Matters have produced an excellent guide called – Thinking Ahead – A planning guide for families. You can download the guide here
OxFSN has also produced a guide to finding the right support. Although this was written for families who have children moving into adulthood, the information contained is equally useful to older family carers who are thinking of the next steps and supported living.

March 2017

In March 2017 we held a coffee morning in Witney and were filmed for the BBC Red Nose Day – This was an opportunity to raise the profile of the issues and promoting the project. It also enabled us to say thank you to Comic Relief for funding us and to show people who raise money where it goes locally.

Follow the link to our 2nd Em.Bold.en newsletter

June 2017

In June we held a Housing and Support event. Read about it in our Embolden Newsletter – June 2017

Presentations from the event will be made available soon on this page.

We also streamed the ‘Question Time Panel’ live on our Facebook page

Embolden Project Report: The number of older family carers of people with a learning disability in Oxfordshire

This report sets out the current knowledge on the numbers of older family carers in Oxfordshire, caring for an adult relative or friend with a learning disability (LD).

It aims to make the case for increasing current knowledge in health and social care services – both statutory and independent of the numbers and profiles of older carers of people with learning disabilities in Oxfordshire, in order to meet their needs and plan support for their futures.

To read the full report follow the above link.

Planning for the Future – Checklist for Families

Would your family know what to do if you were suddenly unable to care for your son or daughter with learning disabilities?

OxFSN has compiled a checklist especially for family carers. Click on the link below:

Planning for the Future – Checklist for Families

December 2017

Before we all become too caught up in the festive season, Team Embolden just wanted to give you an update on what has been happening and what we have planned for the New Year as well as some links to resources that you may find useful.

Firstly, attached is our latest Newsletter which has some dates for upcoming events that we are in the process of planning for the start of 2018. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.

Secondly, we are well aware that for many of you, your relative if not already will at some point be transferring to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) from DLA. Home Farm Trust have produced a series of videos with guidance and tips that you may find useful to watch before completing the forms. The link to the correct page can be found here:

https://www.hft.org.uk/resources-and-guidance/benefits-and-support/pips/

Another issue that we all worry about is ‘What happens when we are no longer around’ or unable to care for our relative.

HFT have produced a film for family carers who have a relative with a learning disability, autism, or both. It addresses the key areas of planning for your relative’s future when you’re no longer around: What happens when I am no longer around

At OxFSN we also get sent a lot of information about activities that organisations feel Family Carers may like to participate in. Attached are some that may be of interest to some of you.

As a Carer you have the opportunity to sign up to a number of FREE workshops run in conjunction between Abingdon and Witney College and Oxfordshire Adult Learning. Information about the courses that are run throughout Oxfordshire can be found on Abingdon and Witney College’s website under the Carers courses:

Carer Programme

Oxfordshire Adult Learning have also teamed up with Oxfordshire Libraries to offer an exciting new programme of workshops to help local residents improve their digital and online skills. Again all workshops are going to be run across the county and are FREE but booking is essential. To find out where the courses are being run and how to book either follow the link below or call them on 01235 555585 to chat with their admissions team who will book your place:

Course search Oxfordshire Online

We will all be taking a short break to spend time with our families but will be checking emails so please do get in touch if you have any questions.

In the mean time we wish you all a very happy, healthy and safe Xmas and New Year!

Team Embolden – Gail, Angeli and Kathy

November 2018

OxFSN’s Better Together event was held on the 8th of November 2018 at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford and attended by 117 people.

53 professionals from Health, Social Care, Education and the voluntary sector attended along with 60 family carers of children or adults with learning disabilities and/or autism and seven people with learning disabilities and their supporters.

Follow the links to read the full reports: Better Together Event Report and Better Together Event ‘You Said : We Did’ Feedback Report

June 2019

On display at County Hall a photo and story exhibition aims to give each family carer or carers their own unique voice but also to show that whatever the circumstances of their family member, the family carer cannot step back and ‘retire’. Each story gives an insight in to the range of support and involvement they have given and continue to do so.

We would like to thank each of these family carers for allowing us to share their own individual and personal stories. They reflect the range of emotions that comes with raising a child with a learning disability – the hopes, the fears, the uncertainty and best of all the joy and laughter that each and everyone brings.

Click on the photo below to view the photo gallery and read older carers’ stories about Life Long Caring.

July 2019

Welcome to the 6th and final edition of the Em.bold.en newsletter. The Embolden project was started in 2017 to give a stronger voice to older families who have relatives with learning disabilities to influence decision makers, hold them to account and improve services. We are just about to complete the final year of the Comic Relief three-year funded project although OxFSN will continue to support and raise the profile of older family carers in everything they do.