Mar 2022
The Trust becomes a member of the Care Workers' Charity (CWC)
The Care Workers’ Charity (CWC) strives to improve the wellbeing of those who work in social care, and their values are truly aligned with OSJCT. By becoming a member of this charity, The Trust is demonstrating their commitment to their staff and wider social care workforce.
Something that particularly attracted OSJCT to the CWC is its newly launched Mental Health Support Programme, which offers care workers and managers a series of up to ten free support sessions with a qualified therapist via accredited mental health specialist provider, Red Umbrella.
The mental health of care workers is so important as the role is not only physically demanding but mentally challenging too. What’s more, the social care workforce bore the brunt of the Covid-19 crisis, having to work long hours in tough conditions in order to ensure those in the care were well looked after. CWC’s own independent research amongst its beneficiaries found that pre-pandemic, 42% of care workers experienced stress ‘often’ or ‘most of the time’ and 51% of care workers considered leaving their role because of the effect of the job on their mental health (Beating Heart of Care report, 2019). The pandemic has resulted in increased anxiety, depression and PTSD; in fact 75% of care workers in England experienced worsened mental health (GMB Union survey 2021)
The CWC are proud to have supported the mental health of incredible care workers throughout the pandemic. Here is what one care worker said: “I would like to thank CWC and Red Umbrella for giving me the support I needed to get through an incredibly difficult time…I was struggling with work and would often find myself in or close to tears. I felt so alone and like nobody cared. I have been believed and encouraged to explore memories in a safe place. I have been given different strategies and tools to use…knowing that everything discussed is confidential. I fully believe that once sessions finish, I will have the strategies and tools to be able to cope when things get tough.”
In addition to mental health support, CWC offer financial support via Crisis Grants. Grants help care workers affected by unforeseen life events or emergencies such as bereavement, illness or injury or housing issues. In the last two years, over 1,000 care workers received grants to the value of £637,091. This is addition to CWC’s Covid-19 grant scheme which awarded over £2.5million to close to 4,000 care workers whose income or outgoings were directly affected by the pandemic.
Services provided by the CWC are available to front line care workers. For more information, visit the website at www.thecareworkerscharity.org.uk.