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Medway Carers Centre

Medway Carers Centre  aims to support informal carers in the Medway area. It provides advice, information and support to unpaid family carers from all backgrounds and age groups who are caring for someone who has a disability, mental health problem or is frail or elderly. The person they are caring for can be a member of the family, a neighbour or a friend. The trust works with individual carers and also with groups as a:

  • drop-in facility;
  • meeting place for carer support groups;
  • venue for training or relaxation sessions;
  • focal point for information and/or support.

This service also supports young carers. A young carer is a child or young person, aged less than 18 years, carrying out significant caring tasks and assuming a level of responsibility for another person which would normally be taken on by an adult.

Successful merger

Medway Carers Centre became a subsidiary of Carers First on 1 April 2009 but has retained its local identity and a separate board.

Further improvements

The centre has undergone refurbishment, including:

  • a more inviting environment for carers on the downstairs floor, with a café style area for support groups, drop-in and training area;
  • computer access for carers who wish to improve their IT skills or search for information;
  • improvements to the upstairs area to allow the staff to work more effectively.

The centre has improved accessibility further by being available an additional four hours over evenings and Saturdays. It has increased its outreach support for carers and young carers across Medway and continues to improve the quality and presentation of its information.

The centre offers additional support groups and carer training sessions for carers and continues to develop activities and events that provide them with well-deserved breaks from their caring roles.

A counselling service to enhance one-to-one support has been enhanced further by the availability of centre staff to visit other locations.

The centre continues to work with other statutory and voluntary organisations that support carers and their families, including Crossroads, awarded the contract for respite services.

A key development has been to establish a Carers' Partnership Board, comprising carers and the key statutory and voluntary organisations supporting them. To make the board effective, it encourages representation that reflects fairly the needs of all carers.

For more information, please phone or drop by the centre on weekdays between 10am and 4pm.

Useful links

For more information contact Medway Carers Centre by telephone: 01634 577340 or by email: info@medwaycarerscentre.org.uk

Write to: Medway Carers Centre, 3 Canterbury Street, Gillingham, Kent ME7 5TP

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