Caring for the Carers
This National Carers Week, the University acknowledges the important but often unobserved and unpaid work done by 2.65 million carers in Australia who provide support to family members or friends.
Dr Anneliese Spiteri-Staines, Associate Professor David Rose, and Amaya Alvarez have collaborated to publish a Pursuit article on how we can support carers of those with mental ill health.
With up to 43% of Australians experiencing a form of mental ill health, including impacts on life that can’t always be diagnosed, this affects not only the individual but also the people supporting them.
Carer roles come at a cost on both individual, family and socio-economic levels. It’s important to highlight that there is support available for carers of people with mental ill health. Tandem is one such body, which provides a Carer Support Fund from the Victorian State Government to reduce some of the costs associated with caring and to support the carer’s own health and wellbeing.
Tandem and the University of Melbourne have partnered to explore how this carer support fund is being used, distributed and accessed to assist with developing new models for funding across Victoria. Various insights have been found about the contribution and its positive effects on the lives of carers.
To learn about these insights read the Pursuit article.
