08.02.2024
Our un-paid carers are not, unfortunately subject to the Working Time Directive i.e. workers must not work more than 48 hours a week on average. In fact, they do not get any free time unless they are lucky enough to have a wider supportive family who can share the burden. At least at Ashford Place there is an opportunity for a group of unpaid carers to have free time to access the support they need to refresh, share their stories and find a place where they can feel relaxed and comfortable. Our dramatherapy programme offers unpaid carers for people living dementia a confidential space led by Soirse who offers a type of therapy that doesn’t just involve talking, but also uses drama, stories, movement, art and play to help people explore their emotions. Dramatherapy can help people learn about themselves and others, build relationships and perhaps find new ways of expressing their feelings. It is wonderful to see how these carers feel so positive and refreshed after these sessions and are so grateful for the opportunity just to focus on their own wellbeing. They do this in the knowledge that their loved ones, people living with dementia are being cared for during the dramatherapy sessions in another room at Ashford Place by our staff and volunteers. We will try to find ways of extending this valuable opportunity to unpaid carers which means of course funding, but we know it will be worthwhile both for the carers and their loved ones.