Support. Campaign. Sustain. Our New Strategy

Since joining as chief executive last year, with my own personal experience of caring for my mother who had dementia, I’ve had the privilege to meet many dementia carers. While each individual carer’s experience is unique, I have been struck by just how much we often have in common – feeling overwhelmed, not knowing where to go for information and advice and feeling isolated and alone.

This needs to change.

Not least as our most recent research indicated that 9 in 10 carers are reaching breaking point. We owe it to the millions of unpaid dementia carers up and down the country to acknowledge their needs and their struggles.

Our new strategy, which we’re proud to unveil today, is the work of months of collaboration with many such carers. From listening to our staff with caring expertise and personal lived experience of being a dementia carer, to working with our Carers Advisory Panel and thousands of survey respondents, we’ve listened. And what we’ve heard is that carers feel unheard, invisible, and alone.

This new strategy seeks to match our resources, our expertise from working with dementia carers day in day out, with what carers tell us they really need: more support.

Support for their own wellbeing, and ability to carry on meeting the challenges of their journey as a dementia carer. And support to change the system that ignores them and takes carers for granted.

That’s why we’re investing heavily in

• one to one confidential support through our Carer Support Line,
• online advice and information available on demand, and
• introducing new online support groups where carers can connect.

And we’re committed to equipping and empowering carers to campaign with us to, and through, the next election, for the things that matter to them.

Of course, this ambition means a change to the way we’re run. As a small charity we simply can’t do it alone.

So we’re focusing on partnership with like-minded organisations and businesses, who will work with us to reach more carers through their networks and sustain us with financial support.

With its long, rich history spanning over 150 years, I feel not only a huge responsibility towards the charity, but also to the dementia carers we’re here to support. I’m enormously privileged to lead this organisation. And to lead it at a time when we’ve never been more needed. It was seeing the commitment to including carers’ real thoughts, voices and experiences that persuaded me to take the role, and to see all this organisation could be. So I’m incredibly proud of the work that’s gone into ensuring we’re fit for the future.

I hope you’ll take a minute to read this strategy, and join us on our mission to ensure no dementia carer feels alone.

Frances