Bensoc NSW helps care for carers
The Benevolent Society of NSW is answering a growing need in the community through its Family Care Program to support thousands of people in south eastern Sydney who battle, week in and week out, to find time for themselves from caring for others.
The Family Care Program is believed to be the only caring-for-carers scheme that is funded fully by an anonymous donor.
Sharryn Llewellyn, the acting senior manager of the Society’s southern Sydney programs said: “Caring can be extremely stressful on families working to stay together. There is a vital need to encourage the spirit of carers, and to also build confidence that they can reach out for assistance, especially those who may be hampered by cultural or language barriers”.
“Often the missing link is getting the word out to a wider audience of carers that they don’t have to battle on alone; that home and community care services are possible; that they can get respite in many ways and on many fronts.”
Ms Llewellyn said there was also a network of services coordinated through the Society’s Carer Respite Centre, which is one of the largest in the country, and was dependent on generous funding from both the Commonwealth and NSW Governments. “But the truth is, what we do is a small drop in an ocean of need.”
