If you are a family carer in Hawke’s Bay or Gisborne – this website is for you!

We want this website to help you deal with the stresses of being a family carer, by providing information that is relevant to your experience, your personal wellbeing, as well as supporting you in your care giving role.

This website is still in it’s infancy. We want your input and contributions, so it can be a meaningful resource provided by carers for carers.

A recent New Zealand study shows that the number of people with care giving responsibilities for people of all ages has increased since 2001. The total number of New Zealand carers is now estimated to be 420,000 (Ministry of Social Development, 2008), which equates to 10% of the population.

That means there are approximately 14,800 carers in the Hawke’s Bay region and 4,400 carers in the Gisborne region.

Anyone can suddenly become a carer at any time, “out of the blue”. There is no training for this or preparedness for the impact on personal/family and work life.

Presbyterian Support East Coast (PSEC) has responded to this by funding and developing its Caring for Carers Service across the East Coast region and across our spectrum of services. 

This website is part of a number of ways we provide this service such as:

• our field worker, who is available for home visits on request
• our monthly support group meetings
• weekly drop in sessions by appointment for one on one support
• regular newsletters and monthly letters to carers
• our free helpline
• our annual carers’ pamper day

Carers’ feedback indicates that we are ‘on the right track’. Also the number of carers attending our monthly meetings is increasing, the figures for newsletter mail outs have doubled, and the visits to our website have grown too.

If you are a family carer and sometimes feel isolated, and you want to connect with people who understand your experience, please check out this website for information, inspiration and realise - you are not on your own.

Come along to one of our monthly meetings in Hawke’s Bay Meetings or Gisborne Meetings, or contact our Hawke’s Bay co-ordinator Ingrid Contact details HB or Sandra our Gisborne coordinator Contact details Gisborne