Choose your content
UK NI Scotland Wales
Cymraeg English

Back
back
back
back
back
back
Back
back
back
Back
Back
Back
back
Back
Join us Login Forum Media centre
Choose your content
UK NI Scotland Wales
Cymraeg English

Being Heard is our self-advocacy guide for carers


Self-advocacy is about speaking up for yourself. It’s about getting your voice heard and effectively communicating your own interests. Our guide has been designed to help you communicate your needs with professionals, understand your rights and look after your wellbeing. 

Caring can be rewarding but also very isolating. You may not know what help to ask for, how to ask, or indeed who to ask. 

Being Heard: a self-advocacy guide for carers  can help you get your voice heard when you care for someone. Self-advocacy is also about being able to have your own needs listened to, as well as speaking up for the person you care for. 

The guide stems from work carried out by Carers Scotland and the Scottish Government from 2011, and each guide reflects the situation for carers in each UK nation. 

Updated in 2020, the guides are packed with new information on carers’ rights, as well as how to speak up and look after your wellbeing. For useful accompanying resources, such as a complaints letter template, see the links below. 

 

Main guide 

Click the relevant link below to download the Being Heard  guide:
 

Being Heard - a self-advocacy guide for carers - England 

Being Heard - a self-advocacy guide for carers - Wales - English   

Being Heard - a self-advocacy guide for carers - Wales - Welsh

Being Heard - a self-advocacy guide for carers - Scotland   

Being Heard - a self-advocacy guide for carers - Northern Ireland 

 

You can order printed copies from our  online shop.  

  

Other useful resources

The guide also features extra resources to download: 

Watch the following video about self-advocacy:

Back to top
Print this page

Related content

Help and advice
Get involved
News and campaigns

See related discussions in our forum

Visit forum

Latest updates

Press Release
Dummy image
Carers UK welcomes the opportunity to engage with the government's 10 Year Workforce Plan
26 September 25
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will support the 10 Year Health Plan, published in July this year. Its aim is to ensure that the NHS has the right people, in the right roles, with the right skills.
Press Release
Dummy image
Carers UK responds to IPPR paper 'Who Will Care? How Can We Meet The Scale of the Care Challenge?'
19 September 25
A new report published by the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research) highlights a rise in the number of people caring for 35 hours or more per week.
Press Release
Dummy image
Carers UK responds to Guardian article reporting that the Government is considering compensation for carers hit by the Carer’s Allowance scandal
14 September 25
Helen Walker, Chief Executive at Carers UK, said:  “This is very good news to hear that the Government is discussing financial redress. The Carer’s Allowance overpayments scandal has had far-reaching consequences for thousands of carers and their families who, for many years, have been the victims of an overly complicated, flawed and unfair system. 
Press Release
Dummy image
Carers UK's response to the 2024 NHS Adult Inpatient survey
09 September 25
Emily Holzhausen CBE, Director of Policy and Public Affairs responds to this recent survey.

Got a question about caring?

Every day we hear from people who need help with looking after a friend or family member

Become a member for free

Joining Carers UK is free and takes just a few minutes.

Back to top