Caring, safe and excellent

Family, Friends, Carers

Welcome to the Family, Friends or Carers Information Page.

Family, friends or carers have special types of relationships and usually enjoy spending time together and looking out for each other. Relationships tend to have a lot of give and take in them. However when some-one becomes unwell for any reason then they made need extra support or practical help from their family, friends or carers. This is ok in the short term but if it is ongoing then everyone’s needs have to be taken into consideration not just the person who is unwell. It can be very difficult to get the balance right.

A person is usually referred to the mental health services by their GP and will probably be seen initially by a Community Mental Health Team before maybe being referred to a specialist service. Once a person is referred to the mental health services they will have what is called an assessment and the views of their family, friends or carers are often part of this assessment. However due to the nature of mental health problems there are occasions where if the person concerned does not give permission to contact thier family, friends or carers then their confidentiality must be respected. More information on this can be found in our Information for Carers leaflet. While a person’s confidentiality must be respected there is a lot of information on mental health conditions and support available for anyone can access.

It is usually some time after signs and symptoms have appeared that a person is referred to the mental health services and by that time the person may be quite ill and relationships at home quite strained. Everyone may be very confused and stressed and communication difficult. It is well recognised that stress and emotionally charged situations aggravate mental health conditions but without support it is hard for social networks to function normally. Particularly at the beginning when everything is not clear people experience many different emotions. Love may be one of them but despair, frustration, anger, confusion, hurt to name but a few are often present.

It is important that while family, friends or carers try to understand what is happening and be supportive they must take time to keep life going and have time out from the situation in order to survive the journey.

There are more than 5 million carers in England