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:
- Complaints letter template
- Mindfulness
- Reflecting on events
- Watch our animated film about self-advocacy
Watch the following video about self-advocacy:
Latest updates
Carers Scotland calls for urgent action to tackle Scotland’s growing mental health crisis for unpaid carers
Press release for ‘State of Caring in Scotland 2024: Health and social care support for unpaid carers’.
Carers NI's response to the NI Programme for Government
Carers are invisible and ignored in the NI Executive’s Programme for Government say Carers NI.
60th Anniversary Stories: Sarah's Story
To mark Carers UK's 60th Anniversary in Scotland, we are using our platform to share the stories of carers across…
Unpaid carers urgently need more support to balance paid work with caring
Press release for State of Caring in Scotland 2024
Paid work and access to employment for unpaid carers
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