Courses & Learning

Carers of Dundee offers a number of workshops and learning opportunities that you can complete in your own time. These are designed to help you in your caring role by increasing your health and wellbeing and allowing you to learn new skills.

Managing Stress and Anxiety
Thursday 15th July at 10am.
Do you experience stress or anxiety? You’re not alone – everyone does at some point, but there are always things you can do to help you manage.

We can’t always control when difficult feelings come up, but we can improve our wellbeing by learning healthy ways to respond when they do. Join us in a non-judgemental and supportive environment to explore tips and techniques to manage anxious thoughts and feelings.

This session will take place on Google Meet. You’ll need to have a Google account to access the session, but we will send you a joining guide before the session, and can arrange a practice session if you need it. Just contact ellie.julings@dundeecarerscentre.org.uk if you need help.

Register at https://bit.ly/3cKvIxE

** This session is open to unpaid carers in Dundee and the paid workforce who support them**


Train The Trainer - Stress & Anxiety
Thursday 15th July, 1.15pm - 3.15pm
Creative Writing for Carers
Monday 19th July, 1pm - 3pm
Are you an unpaid carer? Do you have a creative side or the urge to share your story?

This 2 hour informal workshop will be a friendly space to get your creativity flowing and grow your confidence to get words on paper. No experience necessary!

The session will be led by members of Clype, a new Creative Writing collective made up of graduates of the MLitt Writing Practice & Study at Dundee University.

This is a one-off event which if successful could turn into regular sessions. If you can’t make it on this date but are interested in getting involved, please get in touch.

Register at https://bit.ly/2U1aZyO

NOTE: the workshop will be held over Google Meet. We will send a link and joining instructions before the workshop, but if you’ve never used Meet before and would like to do a practice run, please contact Ellie on ellie.julings@dundeecarerscentre.org.uk or 07713993431

Seasons For Growth
Wednesday 14th July, 10.30am - 12.30pm via Google Meet
Seasons for Growth is a program from Australia to learn about change and loss.
We explore the different stages of change and loss using images of the seasons of the year.

We will look at how some things can be a big event, but for others might only be little, and vice versa, as well as the different ways in which people can grieve.

Please note this is not a context to explore your personal grief, but there are further workshops that can be attended with more information to help with this process.

This session is open to all unpaid adult carers living in Dundee. Register at https://carersofdundee.org/events/3139/
The session will be held on Google Meet. You will be sent joining details before the event.


Carer Wellbeing Journey
(Three E-modules aimed at improving carers overall wellbeing) - Steps to Wellbeing, Bumps in the Road, and Crossroads.
 
Everyone Cares
You will explore some of the reasons people find it difficult to identify as a carer, discover how to recognise and support carers yourself, find out about the rights of carers under the Carers Act, and learn about the opportunities for carers to get involved in personal, local and national decision making.
 
Supporting Young Carers
This module is for staff in schools and social work teams and will be most useful for those in key roles such as Young Carer Co-ordinator and those responsible for Young Carer Statements.
For those in broader roles, the module will give you a valuable overview of support for young carers.
 
Nutrition, Food & Mood
An introductory e-learning module for carers about how nutrition can influence your mood and mental as well as physical health.

Navigating Services
We are working on a range of video resources explaining how to access the many different services available to carers and the people they support across Dundee.

Visit www.carersofdundee.org/learning to find out more.
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Vocational Training for Young Carers

• Are you a carer aged 16 – 25?*
• About to leave school or college with nothing lined up for after?
• Didn’t get the grades you were hoping for or finding it hard to find work?

Dundee Carers Centre has funding to offer vocational training sessions to help young carers gain skills, boost their CVs and get into work or education. 
We already have partnerships with Faith Elder Beauty Academy, Alexander’s Community Development, First Aid Perthshire and more.

If those options don’t fit your goals, or you’re not sure what you want to do, we can help you find something that fits. Courses will be run in a covid secure way as local or national guidance allows.
 
Contact Ellie or Vickie to find out more:

ellie.julings@dundeecarerscentre.org.uk 07713 993431

vickie.carnegie@dundeecarerscentre.org.uk 07770 891425

*if you’re over 25 and want to get back into employment or education, we might still be able to help.

Some information on courses we are already able to provide:

Faith Elder Beauty Academy:

• Gel polish - Fingers & toes course with free starter kit
• Weekend lashes - Course with free starter kit
• Eye treatments - Course with free starter kit
• Mini facial treatments - Course Cost with free starter kit

All courses are Babtac Certificates – this company is a world leading insurer and highly recognised
 
Alexander’s:
Transition to Trade – bespoke and flexible introduction to working in the construction industry from experienced industry specialists.

This is a 6 week course for two days a week and is open to anyone who wants to join. There is an application process, which we would ask the referring service to help fill out if necessary.
 
First Aid Perthshire:
Emergency First Aid at Work
   

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Carers Guide to Fire Safety
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have identified a number of health and lifestyle behaviours that increase the likelihood of being involved in a fire. As part of our commitment to building a safer Scotland we offer everyone in Scotland a free home fire safety visit to identify risks and reduce them by putting preventative measures in place.

Do you have fire safety concerns about someone you care for?
Factors may include burn marks found within the home, cooking regularly being left unattended, poor housekeeping or an accumulation of possessions that restricts escape routes, having an alcohol dependency, suffering from mobility issues or due to health reasons they are less able to react or understand a situation.
Many of us know a friend, relative, neighbour or client, often living alone, who could be vulnerable from fire. If you know someone who could be at risk from fire, please tell them about Home Fire Safety Visits and submit a referral to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will work with you to make sure that the person is safe in their own home.

Requesting a home fire safety visit for the person you care for:
When referring and answering “How did you hear?” please quote “Personal Plan”.
Text ‘FIRE’ to 80800, call 0800 0731 999 or visit firescotland.gov.uk
 

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Kinship Care Advice Service

The Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland has a Helpline, open Monday to Friday, 10am -2.30pm for kinship carers and professionals. The number to call is 0808 800 0006.

The Helpline provides free and confidential advice on issues affecting kinship carers including welfare advice on Kinship Care Allowance, and child-related benefits. We also take calls on managing contact and difficult family relationships and finding emotional support for carers and children and young people, among other enquiries. Visit http://kinship.scot/ for more info.
 

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Engage Dundee 2021 Consultation

Engage Dundee 2021 is now live at http://dee.communitychoices.scot/ and will run until the end of June.

Engage Dundee 2021 is an opportunity for the people of Dundee to tell public services, voluntary organisations and community groups what is important to the people of Dundee. Engage Dundee 2021 will be used to inform Local Community Plans, Participatory Budgeting projects and local action across Dundee.
 

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Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA) are delighted to launch our new website this week! We have been working hard over the past few months with our web designers, Form & Function, to refresh the design and layout of the site, update the content and add new features. The website makes it easier to find out what independent advocacy is, who provides it and who might be able to access it, as well as providing clear signposting to local independent advocacy organisations.  
We’ve highlighted some of the most relevant new content below!

• Find an advocate - provides clear and accessible information about independent advocacy provision in Scotland, with a new dynamic map and search tool.
• What is independent advocacy? – as well as showcasing the foundational document for independent advocacy in Scotland, ‘Independent Advocacy Principles, Standards and Code of Best Practice’, we’ve worked hard to give key facts about independent advocacy in the Scottish context.

• Independent advocacy and human rights – explains how independent advocacy fits within human rights and why we see independent advocates as ‘human rights defenders’.
• Our work – gives an overview of SIAA as the national intermediary for independent advocacy in Scotland, explaining how we ‘advocate for independent advocacy’.
• Our members – contains a complete list of the diverse independent advocacy organisations and groups that are SIAA members across Scotland.
  
  Visit SIAA's new website 
  
  
  
   

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SDF works to improve Scotland’s response to problem drug use. In doing this we work with people who use or have used services, service staff and managers, service planners and commissioners and people developing policy, including elected members of local and national government. We also run workforce training. Visit our website to take a look at upcoming training courses. https://www.sdftraining.org.uk/training
   

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Our volunteers support the work of the Centre on an ongoing basis and they add enormous value to the work we do.  They help with fundraising, assisting with and running support groups, peer mentoring, driving the minibus for our walking group and young peoples’ activities, along with helping in the office with admin and taking photographs at many of our events.

If you are interested in volunteering with us you can find out more, and fill out our volunteer enquiry form at https://dundeecarerscentre.org.uk/get-involved/

 

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Young carers often put the needs of the person they care for before their own, meaning that they can miss out on experiences that other young people get. Young carers may also experience stress, anxiety and worry about the person they care for and would benefit from additional support.

We want to make sure that young carers are identified as early as possible so that they can get the support that they need.

A new Are You a Young Carer? leaflet has been developed by Dundee Carers Centre, Dundee City Council, carers, and their families, to help identify young carers and to help understand the challenges, and positive sides of being a young carer.

To view the leaflet and for more information on support for young carers visit https://carersofdundee.org/carers/young-carers/
 

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