Connecting carers: National Carers Week

Anthea Forbes knows all too well that carers can live isolated lives. She has been a carer for 43 years and is driven to pass on her knowledge and experience to as many carers as she can.

October 12-18 is National Carers Week, a time to recognise, celebrate and raise awareness of the 3 million Australians who provide care to a family member or friend. For-purpose aged and disability organisation VMCH is one of Victoria’s largest state-funded carer support providers, supporting almost 2,800 unpaid carers.

The 18-member Carer Services team focuses on the health and wellbeing of the carer and offers education and information, personal care, flexible respite and a multitude of special events.

Anthea has been accessing support from VMCH since 2017, while also advocating as one of the 12 VMCH peer group volunteers. She speaks directly to carers and encourages them to seek the help they desperately need.

“Carers live a very isolated life. Sometimes, as we all know, they’re not exposed to other carers. They don’t know what’s going on in the carer space. One of the hardest things is getting people to identify as a carer – [they often say] that’s just my son. Well perhaps you are a carer, because you’re committing a lot more hours than someone else would need to get through a normal day”.

When Anthea’s son Adam was born, she could tell something wasn’t quite right. When he was just three months old, she noticed he wasn’t crying, he just slept and wasn’t too interested in drinking milk. She was observing other mothers who had young babies with Down syndrome and went to the doctor to get further tests. After month-long waits and two chromosome tests later, Adam was formally diagnosed with Down syndrome on Christmas eve.

“My husband left the same night Adam was diagnosed. I later met someone else who adopted my son, who’s amazing. I think my son prefers Gary to me…I actually love that”.

For the last 20 years, Anthea unexpectedly became Gary’s carer.

Connecting people with the same lived experience is something that Anthea is passionate about. Anthea has actively facilitated and organised support groups for carers over the years, and hopes to pass on her knowledge and experience.
 
VMCH Carer Services Manager Fredricka Gonsalves says her team is grateful for every carer, and hopes that their program makes the carers’ journey a little bit easier. 

“Anthea was a huge advocate when VMCH decided to expand our service areas regionally, and has continued to be a pillar of support for how we’ve engaged with carers in the area”.

“We’re fortunate to have 12 peer volunteers like Anthea, who lead our monthly support groups and share their lived experiences. They’ve created spaces where carers feel seen, heard and supported”.