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 UK's response to the 2024 NHS Adult Inpatient survey
Emily Holzhausen CBE, Director of Policy and Public Affairs responds to this recent survey.
Carers Rights Day theme announced
Carers UK has launched the theme for this year’s Carers Rights Day on Thursday 20 November 2025 which is ‘Know…
Rising numbers of unpaid carers say they need more support from the NHS
An increasing number of unpaid carers looking after family members or friends who are older, disabled or living with a…
Project helping unpaid carers to get active is up and running again after three-year funding boost
New funding from Sport England will support the Carers Active Project, led by Carers UK, working to reduce barriers and…
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.