Carers Support Services

If you care for someone living with a mental health condition or dementia, or are a young adult carer, and are looking for information, advice and support on any aspect of your caring responsibilities then Brent Carers Centre is your first point of contact.

Our Carers Support Service is a single access point for Brent Carers to contact us to seek advice, information and support on any matter relating to their caring role.

Information and Advice

We provide a wide range of information and advice on what you will need to know and what you may be entitled to. We can give you information on other services available in the borough, in the community, social services, your GP or other health services.

Also, we can advise you or make referrals to other specialist advice services such as legal or housing matters and much more.

Our aim is to stop you running around in circles or being passed from pillar to post to find the right support. Even if we do not know an answer to your question(s) we will know someone who does.

We ensure our advice workers are fully trained and have sound knowledge of services and support available to you. Have you considered making plans for when something goes wrong? Do you know where to turn in a crisis? If you need help on any matter relating to yourself or caring role then please Contact Us or have a look at our Resources for Carers page.

Carers Assessments

Every Carer is entitled to a Carers Assessment. The Carers Assessment is about YOU, and a chance for you to talk about the care you provide and the impact it has on your day-to-day life. The assessment will give an insight into how you are coping with your caring responsibilities and whether the local authority or local carers support services can make caring easier for you.

The Carer Assessment focuses on your caring role and the impact that it is having on different areas of your life namely:

Physical and mental well-being
Family and other relationships
Accessing education, employment and volunteering opportunities
Ability to provide care to a child/children
Maintaining a habitable home environment
Being able to access social activities
Managing and maintaining good nutrition
Issues that affect your ability to continue to care.

You may be informed about services and provided with information relevant to your situation to reduce any negative impacts that your caring role might be having on other areas of your life.

You may be entitled to a Carers Direct Payment dependant on the outcome of your assessment and your needs as a carer.

Brent Carers Centre would recommend that all carers take the opportunity to have an assessment. It may not always result in drastic changes in the amount of support you receive but even if the assessment concludes that you are coping well, you should be offered a review each year.

If you would like to arrange an assessment, or have any questions about the process, please give a member of our team a call on 020 3802 7070.

Money and Benefits Advice

If you do not know, or you are unsure, about the benefits you should be receiving we can help you. This includes helping you to complete benefit forms, as well as dealing with problems in managing your finances and/or debts.

Also, if we become aware of any grants you can apply for we will let you know, including supporting you on how to complete the necessary application form.

For further information, please Contact Us.

Caring Support and Training

Do you need support in developing your skills to better care for the person you are caring for? Do you want to learn more about the medical condition(s) of the person you are caring for? Do you want to learn more about coping strategies (including managing challenging behaviour and managing stress)? We offer such support via carer awareness sessions and our carer support groups.

Carers Forum

The Carers Forum meets at least 4 times a year at varying times of the day and evening to ensure that carers who are employed also have an opportunity to attend. The aims of our Carers Forum are:

To represent the views of carers in discussions with Brent Council and Health Services, and thereby to influence the way local services are delivered;
To inform Brent Council when the experience of practice does not match current policy and falls below acceptable levels of quality in service as its design intended;
To play an active part in the design and development of services by ensuring that the needs and wishes of carers are heard and placed at the Centre of these processes;
To allow carers to advise on how local services are performing and on the types of new services that could help carers; and
To enable carers to meet other carers and share their knowledge and experiences.

All meetings provide an opportunity for Carers to hear first-hand of changes and developments taking place, to highlight some of the difficulties being experienced, and to contribute to shaping services for the better. Carers who attend the forum help decide which items should be included for discussion at future forums.

Details of when the Forum meets can be found on our Events page.

Emergency Support

Have you produced an emergency plan in the event of something happening to you? Is it up-to-date? Does it cover the whole family? Is it accessible? These are issues we can help you to develop and/or update. Have a look at our Emergency Planning page.

We also work with GP Surgeries and other professionals to raise awareness of this issue.

Equipment Replacement or Needs

If you have essential home equipment which has broken down we may be able to assist you in accessing funds/grants to replace the equipment. This could be for something like a washing machine or a bed. Young carers may need a computer or a tablet to assist with homework or tackling social isolation. Whatever this may be we will look into what grants are available at the time of your request.

Home Adjustments & Equipment

There may come a time where you need to make adjustments to your home because of limited mobility of yourself or the person you care for. You may need a hoist to get out of bed, or grab rails in the hallway. You may find the bath too difficult to get into, so perhaps a shower or wet room would be more appropriate; getting up and down the stairs may be too difficult too! If you find things becoming more & more difficult to use within your home or difficulty getting around, please Contact Us. We can support you in applying for a home improvement grant.

You may also be interested in what technological equipment or resources could be of assistance to you giving you peace of mind in the home or making some areas of responsibility easier for you. We can assist you in finding out more about what may be useful to you in your home.

Home Repairs & Maintenance

We can help you access a service in the borough which can carry out basic repairs, improvements and adaptations such as electrical, carpentry and plumbing jobs. This is a service to help keep vulnerable people safe and secure in their homes.

You will have to pay for any materials used. Labour is free if you are on benefits; if you are not on benefits the labour charges are subsidised. If there are basic repairs required in your home please Contact Us to obtain assistance from this service.

Access to Health and Wellbeing Services

Does your GP know that you are a carer? If not please let him/her know so that they can record your details on their Carer Register. This may result in some additional adjustments and support for you and the person you care for when visiting your doctor. Your GP will let you know of the additional support they will provide.

We are working with GP surgeries in Brent to raise awareness of carer issues, including helping professional staff to identify carers in their practices as early as possible. If you think your GP could do more for carers, please let us know.

Register your details with us

The easiest and best way to keep in touch with the developments of our services, local news and consultations is to register your details with us. You will receive a free copy of our seasonal Newsletter “Caring Matters”, and we use other forms of communication (including email) to remind you of forthcoming events, meetings and consultations.