Topic Tuesday // Does the label 'Carers' make you feel uncomfortable // Tues 27 March, 7pm AEDT

[Determined]

For us it can sometimes vary depending on who I am talking to @NikNik but I prefer to say that I support my wife rather than I am her carer.   This thought was reinforced after reading an article titled caretaker or caregiver.   For me the term carer tends to make my darling more dependent rather than my enabling her to be independent.. 

[Henry]

I think that the term carer is used to describe a lot of different roles, paid and unpaid, and feel that takes away some significance of the word for me and what I do if that makes sence?

[Shaz51]

how does the term 'carer' as a title resonate?--- ammmm @NikNik,

my Husband always says " I am not his Carer ", I am his wife that he can not do without

My mum sometimes says I am her carer but the family says " she is doing what a daughter should do , she is your daughter

[Former-Member]

I have mixed feelings in relation to the term carer.

When Mr D first became unwell I was considered his wife by pdocs. When I realised that he was not handling things on his own I became his carer, I found that I had a little more leverage with this term, but even with
being a 'responsible person' when Mr D was on a treatment order, communication was well below the standards set out under the mental health charter.

I feel a husband-wife relationship (particularly if long term) is a different dynamic to a parent - adult child relationship or a non-relative care situation.

I feel being a carer means there is a responsibility separate to ones relationship, I am now Mr D's enduring guardian.

No matter the title I am much more assertive in relation to communication.

I usually only refer to myself as Mr D's carer in medical circles (would do with Centrelink if required) but I prefer to think of myself as his wife.

[NikNik]

That makes sense @Former-Member
Do others find they are using the term 'carer' to one audience and something different (eg: wife, daughter etc) in other contexts?

[Shaz51]

mostly mine is  wife / Daughter @NikNik

hello @Susana

[Determined]

---

@Former-Memberwrote:
I have mixed feelings in relation to the term carer.

...

I usually only refer to myself as Mr D's carer in medical circles (would do with Centrelink if required) but I prefer to think of myself as his wife.

---

I am in a similar frame of mind, I prefer to think of and refer to my darling as my wife,
even here on the forums I have made a consious shift from 'caring for' to 'supporting my wife'

I have difficulty seperating 'caring' responsibilities from my responsibilities as a husband, it is only in recent time that it was pointed out to me that what I was doing was over and above the role of a husband and that I was in fact in a 'carer' role. 

[Determined]

very much so @NikNik.

[Shaz51]

yes same here @NikNik 

Hello @Bella1978 

[Henry]

I've often found myself having to explain what I do as a carer for a family member and people will usually still think it's the same as paid care workers.