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Find out more – Links resources and support

Introduction

This Find out more section of the course aims to give some useful information and contacts that may help you towards your goals. We have included information about carers’ support organisations in Wales, education opportunities, careers and employment-based information, and volunteering opportunities in Wales.

Carers’ support organisations

Name of organisation Information Contact details
Carers Trust and Carers Trust Wales 24 hour online support; where to find your local carers’ services; dedicated help and advice including benefit entitlements, carers’ needs assessments and much more.www.carers.org
Local Carers’ Centres and services

Carers’ centres are independent charities that deliver a wide range of local support services to meet the needs of carers in their own communities. All carers’ centres provide, either by telephone, drop-in or outreach surgeries, the following core services:

  • emotional support
  • information and advice;
  • a carer’s voice.

To find your local carers’ centre please look here:

www.carers.org

Crossroads Care schemes Crossroads Care schemes are a network of local independent charities providing respite services in the home enabling carers to take a break. This may be provided either as part of a care package funded through the local authority or paid for privately.

To find your nearest Crossroads Care scheme look here:

www.carers.org

 

What your Local Health Board and Local Authority offer to carers

Local Health Boards in WalesAll Health Boards have a requirement under the Carers Strategy (Wales) Measure 2010 to publish and implement a local Carers Information and Consultation Strategy telling carers what information and support they are entitled to, to help them in their caring role.

To find out what your Local Health Board is doing, log onto the ‘NHS Wales’ website and type in ‘carers’ in the search option:

www.wales.nhs.uk/

 
Support provided by your Local Authority Your Local Authority will also have details on carer support and what they provide.

You can find a list of them all on the link below. Just click on your region and type ‘carers’ in the search engine.

http://gov.wales/ topics/ localgovernment/ unitary-authorities/ ?lang=en

Citizens Advice Wales Free advice on a wide range of issues – open to everyone in Wales and across the UK.www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ wales/

Education and training opportunities

There are lots of opportunities to develop your learning, either informally with free online resources, like this course or through local courses and tasters, which may be run through your local carers’ centre or adult education provider. Local colleges also offer a programme of adult education classes.

OpenLearn (Open University)A website with 10,000 hours of free learning content including video, audio and short courses.www.open.edu/ openlearn
OpenLearn Cymru (Open University in Wales)A bilingual website with free courses available in English and Welsh including the What about me? course.www.open.edu/ openlearncymru
FutureLearnA website with a range of courses offered free by different universities. www.futurelearn.com
BBC SkillswiseA free website with courses and activities to improve your writing, maths and IT skills.www.bbc.co.uk/ skillswise
WEA CymruThe largest provider of adult community learning in Wales. Provides courses in local community venues.www.weacymru.org.uk
Local further education collegesMany local further education colleges offer community learning courses.

This website lists all the colleges in Wales and through this you can link to their websites. The colleges in North and Mid Wales cover large areas and have many local centres.

www.collegeswales.ac.uk/ wales_colleges-42.aspx

Learn Direct Wales/CymruVarious online courses, some of which are free of chargewww.learndirect.co.uk/ wales-eng/

 

General information about university and higher education study

UCAS

A comprehensive website that provides information about full-time university study and courses; getting started, finding a course, applying and finance and support.

While this is a useful website, it deals with full-time higher education study. If you want to study part time at a university, you are advised to contact the specific university directly.

www.ucas.com

 

Studying formally with The Open University

You can study at undergraduate and postgraduate level with The Open University. We also have Access courses for learners who want to build their confidence and skills before they start undergraduate study.

Study at The Open University is part time and flexible so it can be fitted around your caring role and other responsibilities. Students can also take a break between modules and build up their qualifications at a pace to suit them.

The Open UniversityThis is the main Open University website. Explore our courses and qualifications, funding and financial support and what it’s like to be a student with the OU.

www.open.ac.uk/ study

Contact: 029 2047 1170

Email: Wales@open.ac.uk

The Open University Careers Advisory ServiceThis is a useful website to explore potential career options linked to OU courses and qualifications.www.open.ac.uk/ careers

 

Careers information

Careers WalesA comprehensive careers website for people living in Wales. It’s for all ages and abilities and has information on jobs, courses and apprenticeships. It’s a bilingual interactive site with specific information relevant to careers and opportunities in Wales.www.careerswales.com/ en/
Directgov: National careers service

A UK-wide website with information and help with careers. It offers:

  • help to choose or change career
  • skills tests, course search, job search advice
  • personalised help from careers advisers.
https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/ Pages/ Home.aspx
Directgov: education and learning

Extensive web pages covering:

  • information on apprenticeships and training for work
  • school admissions and transport
  • schools and curriculum
  • student finance
  • universities and higher education.
www.gov.uk/ browse/ education

 

Volunteering opportunities

Volunteering Wales The main website that lists volunteering opportunities across Wales. www.volunteering-wales.net

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:

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.

Take your learning further

Click the link above for further information on:

– further study in Welsh related to this subject

– related study content from The Open University

– this topic and free course materials on OpenLearn

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