Session 3: Identifying my skills, qualities and abilities

Introduction

Figure 3.1

In this session we are going to look at learning in terms of skills, qualities and abilities gained both from caring responsibilities and through other areas of life. This will include formal skills developed through education and work, and other skills developed through experience of everyday life.

Carers’ skills and qualities

We will start by watching Claire talking about the skills and qualities she has developed as a carer.

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Transcript

Claire

From being a carer I’ve become more understanding. I problem solve and I adapt more. I’ve had to be more understanding and I’ve had to learn to read between the lines because especially with my mother. In terms of my partner it’s quite different. My mum was quite mentally draining for me to look after but he’s more physical. So the skills I’ve used for him are different, that is, more organisation. I take him, I come in for his appointments, I have him transfer…there’s a little bit of I have to be supportive and encouraging because he gets a bit down because he struggles and his muscles…he has weaker days and things and he gets upset over it, and so I’ve had to become more…I’ve become more positive to try and say ‘well, look what you have got’.

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Claire used some of the following key words and phrases to describe the skills and qualities she has developed from caring:

• understanding
• adapt
• problem solving
• reading between the lines
• supportive
• positive.

What are your thoughts about Claire’s observations? Do you feel you have some of these skills and qualities?

Skills and qualities

Listen to Suzanne talking about the skills and qualities she has developed through her caring role.

Figure 3.2 (model photo used for illustrative purposes only)

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Suzanne

I think the positives of caring are actually developing much stronger than normal perhaps. I suppose it can work the other way but for our family certainly, we have very, very strong familial relationships. My sister and I have been brought closer together by this, also myself and my mother. My father and I, although we’ve always been very close, even though there’s 3000 miles away in distance between the two houses, we communicate on a daily basis and it’s not just about Steve; a lot of it is about sort of how I’m supporting Dad, or what’s going on in my life, so that has been a real positive.

Being a carer, I’ve developed a really good feeling for my own inner instincts: I’m a great researcher--I had to do a lot of research; good at developing leads for different treatments and care options and following those up, gathering information and disseminating that to other people in a way they can understand. And I’m not afraid to say, ‘Well, actually, I don’t agree with you’, even if the people I’m speaking to are so-called experts: ‘Have you looked at this? Have you looked at that? Why?’ Especially around Steven’s medication, because it took a long time for us to find medication that didn’t have so many side effects that he couldn’t function, so that was, you know, that was really tough.

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So Suzanne’s skills and qualities are:

• research
• gathering information
• supporting
• not afraid to disagree.

Summary

The aim of this session was to get you thinking about how your experiences, including those you have had as a carer, have helped you develop skills and qualities.

Have you been able to recognise the skills and abilities that you have developed as a carer? Do you share those highlighted by the carers in this session? Do you have other qualities that your caring role has helped you to develop?

In the next session you will explore how these skills, qualities and abilities might be relevant to your future goals – for personal development, study or career.

Session 4: Clarifying my goals and planning for the future

Acknowledgements

What about me? was developed by Carers Trust Wales and OU in Wales. It is based on and adapted from content developed by Lindsay Hewitt and Christine McConnell of The Open University in Scotland in collaboration with Bridges Programmes.

We are hugely grateful to the carers and staff from North East Wales Carers Information Service (NEWCIS) for sharing their stories and testing out the course activities. We hope you find something in their experiences that speaks to you as well.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.   

The material acknowledged below is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this course:

Images

Figure 3.1: Richard Learoyd for © The Open University

Figure 3.2: © Juanmonino/iStockphoto.com (model photo used for illustrative purposes only)

Video/audio: © The Open University

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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Next: Session 4: Clarifying my goals and planning for the future