Navigating a Career Gap as a Carer Returning to the UK Film and TV Industry
As a carer working in film and television, you may find yourself facing career gaps due to the demands of caring for loved ones.
Breaks can feel daunting when it comes to re-entering the industry, but with the right resources and strategies, you can successfully re-enter the industry with confidence.
Practical Activities for Crisis Support
This month, we’re exploring caring for a loved one or friend during a crisis with practical activities that will support you in any situation.
Communicating with Loved Ones Suffering from Dementia
Dealing with loved ones who suffer from dementia can be a heart-wrenching experience that is both emotionally challenging and mentally exhausting. There are many misconceptions about dementia sufferers, which frequently develop due to a lack of understanding of the disease and not knowing how to interact with those affected by it.
By employing appropriate strategies and adopting a compassionate approach, you can maintain meaningful interactions and provide emotional support to your loved ones, thereby enriching their quality of life.
The Three Stages of Caregiving
Caring for a loved on who is ill, disabled, addicted or elderly can be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of your life. However, the journey of a carer often comes in three distinct stages: the pre-carer stage, the caring stage and the post-carer stage. In this blog, we share an overview of the three phases of the caring journey, what each stage entails, what you can expect during each one and why it is useful to know what challenges each phase might bring and finally, some resources, activities and exercises, to support you as you enter and transition between them.
Feeling lonely, even when you are not alone?
It doesn't matter whether you are a carer or not, loneliness affects us all. However, if you are a carer, you can feel more isolated and lonely as your lifestyle changes to adapt to this often additional role.
As a result, you might find you are withdrawing from your usual activities, such as seeing less of work colleagues, or friends and not being able to carry out normal hobbies and activities, where you would chat and interact with others, such as going to the gym. Also, it can feel lonely because you don't have those shared experiences any more, or even the anticipation of those experiences, that you might have had with your loved one or friends, such as family holidays or celebrating those special occasions.
The Disclosure Dilemma
Disclosing caregiving responsibilities to employers can help caregivers achieve better work-life balance and foster a more supportive and inclusive work environment. However, some caregivers may face stigma and negative career implications if they choose to disclose their responsibilities. The decision to disclose or not ultimately rests with the individual, who should carefully weigh the potential benefits and risks.
Make Mine A Large One
In this post, we’re exploring how having the odd glass of wine or beer to ‘relax’ in the evening or with your meal, can sometimes creep into multiple glasses or more, to try and suppress or numb the strong and negative emotions that can accompany being a carer.
We’re not talking about addiction, which is different and is also experienced by many carers. In this blog, we reflect on how, often without even noticing it, alcohol can become the ‘crutch’ we turn to when we feel emotionally and physically drained from the constant demands of the caring role.