Boosting your skills

Taking on the challenge of a new course can be a great way to boost your skills and confidence.

At times you may feel that your whole world revolves around caring, without much room in it for you.

Finding an interest outside of your caring role is important, especially for your sense of identity and to boost your confidence. Undertaking a short evening course or a degree course could be a great way to do this.

If you're keen to develop your skills, you could begin by asking yourself the following questions:

• Do you want to develop an existing interest or skill or learn a new one?
• Where do you want to do your course – do you want to go to an adult education centre or college? Do you want to do distance learning or e-learning?
• How much time do you want to spend learning?
• What level of the course do you want to do?
• What can you gain through learning?

Note – Making the choice to study may affect your entitlement to benefits so it's a good idea to look into this before making any decisions.