A few words from the CEO…

It is Carers Week this week and the theme this year is Making Carers Visible. We have heard a lot about Carers during the pandemic and there has been the weekly Clap for Carers. That has rightly recognised and celebrated the role of health and care workers. The public may not always acknowledge those other Carers – mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters - who dedicate every day to looking after someone who otherwise wouldn’t manage. So Carers Week is a good time to remind people of the vital role played by unpaid Carers – 180,000 of them in Essex alone.

We will be doing all we can to raise awareness during the week and that includes raising awareness about the support we offer. Many Carers cope alone without accessing support so please help them by sharing messages about our services and others that they can access. We are here to help.

We continue to provide our befriending services, counselling services and Feeling Good Caring well programme including through live and filmed online sessions. We have also sent activity packs to Young Carers and their families and are holding an increasing number of calls using online platforms such as Zoom.

This is a particularly difficult time for many Carers, older people and families and we are dealing with increasing calls from people who are anxious or frustrated by the lockdown and with some health and social care services not running as normal. We are here for you and will do all we can to help; please call 0300 770 80 90 or email care@affc.org.uk.

Thank you to all the Carers in Essex and thank you for helping to make them visible.

James Clarke
Chief Executive Officer

For Volunteers

Last week 1^st – 7^th June was Volunteers’ Week which is an annual celebration of the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering. We are very lucky to have over 150 volunteers and our thanks and gratitude go to them all for the support they give us across our services.

This week we are holding a training session specifically for Volunteers about Listening Skills, and we make sure volunteers are always invited to other training sessions, for example defibrillator training, safeguarding training and bereavement training.

If you would like to volunteer for us, please contact us on 0300 7708090

Support Available During Covid-19

We have been gathering information about information, tools and resources that may be helpful for Carers and families at the moment. We will be adding to these so do keep checking to see what else has been included.​​

Find out more

Essex Befriends

Our Essex Befriends service is continuing to support Carers, older people and people with mental health issues and learning disabilities. We are also working with the Essex Welfare Service, particularly supporting people with mental health issues, who are often suffering increased anxiety due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Our Essex Befriends volunteers work extremely hard to keep in touch with all our clients across Essex. All our volunteers receive training before they start befriending and are well supported by staff if any difficulties arise with clients.

If you would like to volunteer for our Essex Befriends service, please visit our website www.essexbefriends.org.uk