Looking backwards, looking forwards
You have been sharing in the experiences of carers as they look back at their life experiences, or at a particular period in their life. Lesley’s timeline showed that there are ups and downs, and that a number of factors have influenced her life. While she has control over some things, such as choosing nursing, or choosing to live in Scotland, other factors, like her son’s disabilities or her own back problems, are outside her control.
Having looked back on the carers’ journeys, in the next session you will be looking forwards and exploring factors that influence the choices the carers made about their future.
Later in the course you’ll think about carers’ support networks and what might help or hinder them in achieving their goals. Understanding the things that can be changed, and the things that have to be worked around, will help people to plan their next steps and find support for achieving them. This is something to bear in mind in your role as a manager.
To start you thinking about the factors that influence carers’ lives, have a look at Figure 2.7, which features Lesley’s experience.
Figure 2.7 Spider diagram of the main factors in Lesley’s life
Show description|Hide descriptionThis diagram represents the factors that have been an influence in Lesley’s life. It is a spray diagram of boxes arranged around a central box like the numbers on a clock face, attached by the spokes of a wheel to the centre box. The box in the centre of the spider diagram reads ‘Lesley’. Ten boxes surround this central box, each connected by a separate line to the centre box. From the top of the diagram, moving clockwise, the first box reads ‘Carers centre staff and other carers’. Box 2 states ‘Children’s needs – health, education, childcare’. At the three o’clock position, the box reads ‘Lesley’s own health’, followed by ‘Rural location – transport options’ (box 4). ‘Opportunities for study, distance learning, and local college’ constitute box 5, while box 6 at the bottom of the diagram states ‘At a cross roads, what to do?’ Boxes 7 and 8 are both connected to the centre on the same line, forming a single spoke on the diagram at 8 o’clock. The big influence (inner box 7) represents her ‘financial situation’ and is in turn connected to box 8 (on the outside end of the spoke) entitled ‘job availability and flexibility’, which has a direct impact on her financial situation. Time restraints, e.g. school holidays, and Lesley’s qualifications and work experience form the content of the remaining two boxes (and influences) on Lesley’s life in the top left corner of the diagram.
