Celebrating the unpaid carers in our community in National Carers Week 2024

This National Carers Week, at Your Side we are reflecting on how people who provide unpaid care to someone in their life are the glue that holds our society together.

There are three million people giving unpaid care to someone in Australia. In monetary value, it’s estimated to be worth over $1.5 billion per week. While this saving helps the national economy, it tends to have a negative impact on a carer’s financial future, in limiting their opportunities to acquire skills, work in paid roles, achieve higher salaried jobs, save money and invest in their retirement.

The value of unpaid carers isn’t just fiscal of course, their support can be a lifeline for the people they care for. Carers are contributing a valuable service to their loved ones and the wider community. Like the people they help, carers come in many forms and being a carer can mean many things. From performing physical tasks for someone; to just calling or visiting someone regularly to give them companionship or emotional support. Without the empathy of these individuals, our society would suffer irreparably.

Your Side has been supporting carers for 25+ years, in our work with and for people who are supporting an elderly family member, or who are an older person looking after a family member themselves.

The number of people over the age of 65 who look after another family member is extraordinarily high, most recently recorded at 546,000. On top of that, there are 425,000 people aged over 65 who reportedly provide unpaid care for their grandchildren or infant relatives.

And indeed, of our workforce of team members, care workers, stakeholders and partners, many are juggling their careers with their own personal, unpaid care duties in their downtime.  75% of Your Side employees are or have been a carer.  Australia’s professional caring workforce is an ageing demographic, with close to 40% of the aged care and disability workforce, and 30% the sector’s registered nurses, aged over 50.

We must be innovative and agile to adapt to the changing needs of our population – but with change comes progress. Societally, as our awareness of the value of unpaid caring increased, we have developed initiatives to support our carers, with targeted support services and resources.  Collectively we understand the importance of self-care, and how essential it is for carers so they can have the capacity to give the best possible care to others.

Self-care requires time, something carers have very little of, so accessing Flexible Respite Care services allows people who care for loved ones to take a break with the knowledge that a trusted, qualified worker is filling their shoes. Self-care can also be supported with Counselling, to address the stress and emotions that come with caring; and Coaching, to help individuals to set and achieve positive goals for success in their lives.

While it is important to recognise the strains of care-giving, the benefits aren’t solely weighted in favour of the recipient. Giving care to another person can generate feelings of personal satisfaction, reward and wellbeing. Older caregivers can feel more connected to other generations and their communities. Because they participate in activities, even peripherally, that they otherwise might not have reason to, they are less likely to experience depression and loneliness.

For older people, having caring responsibilities can help them feel needed and appreciated, which improves their own mental health and wellbeing. So let’s celebrate the carers in our community, and work together to keep creating positive possibilities for carers and the people they care for.