Testimonials
On this page, you’ll find testimonials that reflect the experiences of the unpaid carers we support through our services.
We’re proud to share their words and highlight the impact our services have made in their lives.
It helped to talk with someone
It helped to talk with someone who understands what I’m going through and could offer practical advice. It was also great to be booked into a couple of events as I don’t always find time to do anything to help myself.
Elaine, carer who accessed a Carer Assessment
Someone is actually listening
I feel that someone is actually listening to my concerns and understands the difference of caring for someone who has lost a limb but a whole different ball game caring for someone with dementia.
Carer who accessed the Helpline
Helped beyond measure
The service provided has helped beyond measure, eternally grateful to such kind and wonderful people who cater for carer’s needs and much more, without assistance I would be here now, it keeps people alive with understanding and empathy within a budget I’m sure they would like to be increased, but what a fine and noble cause amongst all this mayhem and desperation.
Carer who accessed the Helpline
I was supported and validated
I have been able to talk about how caring affects me and I was not judged, I was supported and validated – it made a whole world of difference at such a terrible time in my life – thank you.
Ros, a carer who accessed a Carer Assessment
Help is there for us
I never expected to be in the situation I am in today. I was extremely worried, stressed and felt like my husband and I were in an invisible cage and no matter how loud we scream no one can hear us. loud we scream. However, when I was contacted by Carers Support, it was a blessing. EVERY SINGLE PERSON I have spoken were so ready and happy to help. They made me feel that I’m surrounded and not alone anymore. Help is there for us. They make me feel so confident and strong and proud of what I have been doing before knowing them. They put so much emphasis on my wellbeing. They listen, comfort, encourage, praise, give advice and truly help. I do not know what I would have done without knowing Carer’s Support West Sussex. Many many thanks for all their help and support.
Carer who accessed a Carer Assessment
I was made to feel relaxed and understood
I have been informed of how to apply to something I enquired about and given additional support. I was made to feel relaxed and understood during my online chat.
Carer who accessed the Helpline
I just wanted to extend my sincere thanks for the Power Yin session
I just wanted to extend my sincere thanks for the Power Yin session. As a full-time worker and carer to a young man with severe mental impairment, it can be incredibly difficult to find time—or even the space—to leave the house. I wasn’t expecting to feel so uplifted during the session with Becky, but it really made a world of difference. For the first time in a long while, I slept peacefully without racing thoughts keeping me awake. It was exactly what I needed. Your sessions are worth their weight in gold. These sessions bring much-needed calm in a world that often feels relentlessly fast-paced. We could all benefit from a little more stillness and balance in our lives.
Vee, carer who attended a Power Yin session
Made me feel better
Feel better about giving up my caring role for mum, as was feeling very guilty about it! They made me feel better about this. Thank You.
Carer who accessed the Helpline
Someone who understood
I was able to speak with someone who understood the difficulties of caring for two disabled men.
Carer who accessed the Helpline
You can speak to someone
It’s nice to know that you can speak to someone if you need any kind of help or information.
Carer who accessed the Helpline
Great comfort at times
Carers Support has always been a source of information and knowing the organisation is available specifier carers is a great comfort at times.
Carer who accessed the Helpline
Really helpful
Having check in from carers support has been really helpful for my mental health as well as informative about events and services available. Being granted money towards a activity for me from the carers wellbeing fund has been really helpful towards a small break from my caring duties for myself.
Carer who accessed the Helpline
Made me feel so safe
I found the call very therapeutic; I felt listened to and justified in my feelings and emotions regarding the stresses of caring for immediate family. Helen made me feel so safe when we were discussing tricky things. The payments received will certainly alleviate some financial worries and I look forward to using some for “me” time to help me reset.
Charlotte, a carer who accessed a Carer Assessment
An absolute godsend
Carers Support has provided me with strong emotional support and very practical support that has made a world of difference. They have also explained things clearly and simply to help me navigate the maze of Adult Social Services. The practical help they have given is amazing, things like a cleaner once every 2 weeks, thereby giving me a little respite and lifting my burden a little are invaluable. The funding to go camping is an absolute godsend at a difficult and I think this respite for my children and myself has come just in time as I have been completely broken the last few days and overwhelmed. Of all the services, I feel strongly that carers support has been the only one who have actually listened to me and the only one that has offered practical help. Thank you.
Kathleen, a carer who accessed a Carer Assessment
Found new communities of people
It made me aware that it’s ok to occasionally feel overburdened and that I have places to turn to. I don’tfeel nearly as excluded as often before and have found new communities of people I can share activities with.
Carer who accessed a Carer Assessment.
Tor is a passionate advocate for self-care—a lesson she learned the hard way. In her younger years, Tor worked as a professional performer. While the lifestyle was filled with glitz and glamour, it also carried a darker side. After prolonged periods of stress, she faced burnout. That pivotal moment led her to make a lifelong commitment to her well-being.
True to her nature of giving her all, Tor has spent the past 12 years practicing and teaching mindfulness. Her dedication to self-care recently culminated in completing a master’s degree in Mindfulness-Based Approaches at Bangor University.
Tor’s connection with Carers Support began when she became a carer for her mum, who has dementia. The incredible support she received inspired her to join the charity, where she now works to make a difference.
As a member of the coaching team, Tor considers it a privilege to help carers navigate their personal journeys. With training in cognitive-behavioural coaching, she loves supporting carers in exploring their inner world, fostering change, and embracing self-development.
Diane brings a deep personal understanding to her work at Carers Support, drawing from her own experience in a caring role. This perspective gives her profound empathy for carers seeking guidance.
Her lived experience has reinforced the vital importance of prioritising self-care and personal wellbeing. Diane believes, “Meeting your own needs as a carer helps sustain you in your life and your caring role. One cannot be void of self-care and expect to care well for someone else.”
As a Certified Coach and Person-Centred Practitioner, Diane employs a Trauma-Informed Approach to her work. She has extensive experience supporting vulnerable families, children, young people with special needs, parents, and carers. Diane is dedicated to helping carers overcome challenges, break down barriers, and create new opportunities for growth and achievement.
Penni has over 20 years of experience as a qualified coach. Coaching has been a way of life for Penni, with it becoming a core part of who she is. Penni can vouch for the effectiveness of coaching having used the process to successfully guide her through some of her life’s challenges. This ranged from navigating health and education systems while supporting her daughter through school, college, and university, to caring for her late father from a distance, and now supporting her neurodiverse granddaughter.
Penni’s lived experience inspired her career in supporting unpaid carers. This allowed Penni to blend practical insights with coaching to empower others in their caring roles.
In 2024, Penni decided to formalise her coaching skills by achieving the IAFPD Certificate in Coaching from the Centre for Coaching. To complement her previous qualifications in career, youth, and group coaching, she also achieved an ILM-endorsed program in wellbeing.
Penni feels privileged to use her personal experience and skills to lead on this life changing coaching programme for unpaid carers.
I have worked for the NHS for over 24 years, specialising in ensuring the voices and experience of those that use NHS services, and their carers, are sought, heard and effectively influence change and improvement. I’m particularly passionate about ensuring the involvement of some of our most marginalised people and communities in local health services. I left the NHS in October 2024, taking up a role in Brighton and Sussex Medical School as a lecturer- educating the clinical leaders of the future!
I am a carer for my mum; whilst in my NHS role I was proud to champion the important role of carers across my work and the local health and care partners, and to see the great work of this amazing organisation. I am delighted to now become a Trustee, and look forward to using my knowledge, skills and experience to support the charity in the future.
In my spare time, I enjoy musical theatre, visiting museums and gardens, doing my own gardening and looking after my two granddaughters who keep me on my toes!
It’s a privilege to become a trustee of CSWS – a Charity doing such remarkable work on behalf of the thousands of unpaid carers of West Sussex.
My background is in the travel industry, where I led sales teams for various airlines and cruise lines, including Virgin Atlantic and P&O Cruises. For the last 20 years I have been a volunteer and then an employee at a homelessness charity in Sussex, specialising in drug and alcohol work as part of their outreach team. Since 2018 I have looked after fundraising, partnerships and income generation in order to keep the Charity thriving. Our success has been based on building and nurturing strong relationships across the community. I hope that some of this experience can be useful on the trustee board at CSWS.
I spend free time holidaying with my wife, playing football and tennis (badly), enjoying time with my 3 children and 3 little granddaughters, and watching the great Crystal Palace FC.
I became a Trustee of Carers Support West Sussex in 2021 as I wanted to support a charity benefitting my local community, whilst also supporting a cause very close to my heart.
I have experience being a carer to close family members affected by learning disabilities and dementia, and have many friends in unpaid caring roles. So I’m very aware of the important contribution unpaid carers make and the challenges they face. Carers Support West Sussex makes such a difference to help people in their caring roles, providing vital information and support.
I bring over 20 years’ senior leadership experience in the charity sector with significant experience of governance, compliance, HR, finance, safeguarding and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with family and friends, making the most of the nearby coast or walking in the South Downs.
I joined Carers Support in 2012 as an Information Worker on our Response Line. Since that time it has been a privilege to watch the organisation grow and change to best support the needs of Carers in the County. I am now Head of Information and Advice, leading our amazing Helpline, Carer Assessment and Welfare Benefits Advisor teams.
Initially training to be a primary school teacher and following a change of heart I started my career in retail. I moved into Health & Social Care in 2004 and have stayed there ever since. Prior to Carers Support I had management roles in a careers service, providing information and guidance to young people. I had a brief stint with the NHS, providing administrative services for the GP contracts team but then I saw the role advertised with Carers Support and have never looked back!
I feel very privileged to work with such dedicated and passionate staff and volunteers right across the organisation – carers always come first.
I’m a global digital transformation professional with over twenty years of experience across a wide array of industries and sectors. Informed by a multidisciplinary background that includes technical development, innovation, design disciplines, coaching, and strategy, my focus in recent years has been in leadership excellence, culture, Agile and change management. In other words, I’ve helped companies around the world adapt to the changing times that digital has brought along, and helped both staff and users thrive by designing meaningful experiences that make a difference.
As someone who comes from a family of carers and who is transitioning into more of such a role myself, I’m passionate about the work that Carers Support West Sussex is engaged in, and I will aim to apply my professional background to create meaningful experiences for the charity, our carers, and the supportive carer community.
Outside of work I enjoy travel, the cultural arts, indulging the foodie within, and lengthy chess tournaments with my husband.
I am a Chartered Member of the institute of Personnel and Development and have worked in Human Resources for over 30 years. I have experience working across Not for Profit and Healthcare sectors and have also spent time working as an independent Human Resources consultant. I’m passionate in the delivery of good business practices through a businesses’ most important asset – their people.
Having lived experience of caring for my mother-in-law I’m delighted to be able to support the work of the many unpaid carers and through the work of Carers Support hope that I can in small part make a massive difference in their lives.
I am delighted and honoured to join an amazing organisation doing such good work.
Outside of work I’m a keen motorcyclist and passionate fan of Arsenal FC. I also enjoy spending time with my family and friends and taking long walks over the Sussex Downs with my Wire-Haired Fox Terrier, Alfie.
I’m delighted to join Carers Support West Sussex as a trustee – alongside a talented and compassionate group of people – allowing me to support a local charity and one that works in an area close to my heart.
My day job for much of the past 30 years has involved marketing, comms and digital – specifically at a number of national charities since 2010. I enjoy understanding audiences and their needs and then giving them what they want, as well as getting to grips with new technology and learning how it might be best used to improve and develop the organisations I’m working for.
I live in Hove, and have two daughters in the latter stages of full-time education. I sing in a local indie choir, am a year-round sea swimmer and have a passion for learning languages – currently numbering nine, at various stages of fluency.
I always thought that when I retired from full time work, I’d have lots of time to enjoy myself, of course, but also take up some opportunities to contribute to the work of some of the fantastic organisations on my doorstep in Sussex. Life took a different turn when my husband John had a major stroke while we were on holiday in Wales, just a few months into my retirement. I’m now a registered carer, grateful for the support and resources available through Carers Support West Sussex, but also intent on continuing to contribute and enjoy life.
I’ve spent my life working in health and social care services with a strong emphasis on volunteering as a way to get things done and make sometimes radical changes to improve services. I’ve enjoyed director roles in UK wide charitable organisations with hundreds of staff and thousands of volunteers and latterly was a hospice chief executive. Supporting families and carers through illness, death and into a different future is a particular focus for me.
I am delighted to have the opportunity to join the talented and experienced board of trustees, staff and volunteers of Carers Support West Sussex and look forward to being able to learn from them as well as share some ideas of my own.
I am a resident of West Sussex and live with my elderly parents. As a carer, I wanted to support Carers Support West Sussex as a Trustee since I appreciate the joys and challenges that caring can bring and how the right support can make all the difference.
I am a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). In my professional life I have focused mostly on internal audit, risk management, governance and controls, largely in the Financial Services sector both in the UK and overseas. I have also worked for a charity supporting the homeless in East London. I am currently a Trustee and Treasurer for CancerWise, a local charity based in Chichester which supports adults and children living with cancer by providing counselling, support group, social and complementary therapy services. It is very rewarding to see the difference this can make for people on an often difficult journey.
I have also spent many years volunteering with a charity to take children and adults living with disabilities on holiday to France, providing one-on-one care for them and giving families some respite back at home. This gave me a real appreciation for carers and it has been a truly formative and life-enhancing experience for me.
I love living in West Sussex and enjoying everything the county has to offer. I am really delighted to have the opportunity to join Carers Support West Sussex, and I am looking forward to contributing to their valuable work in any way that I can.
I am an experienced IT professional with over three decades of diverse experience in both enterprise and SME organisations within Finance, Technology and Professional Service sectors. I am used to working with complex systems to deliver business objectives, ensuring business outcomes, and driving innovation and efficiencies. As a business strategist, I am excited about what we can achieve in Carers Support West Sussex and the difference we can make to the lives of unpaid carers.
My goal is to make sure that we do that safely and effectively for everyone. Three out of five us will at some time be an unpaid carer and my role as a Trustee is to support the Charity to make a difference to those people.
I am excited to have joined a dedicated and compassionate team.
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with family and friends. I enjoy cycling and skiing when I can, am a keen sports fan and enjoy following cricket, football, rugby and motor sports.
I am a member of the Board of Trustees which is responsible for ensuring that the charity operates properly and effectively. I take a lead on financial aspects of the charity on behalf of the other board of trustees.
The role and positive impact of unpaid carers is huge but largely hidden from view. I believe CSWS has a critical role in supporting carers; giving them a strong voice and influencing how services for carers are designed and run. Like many families, mine has carers looking after elderly relatives with dementia, long-term conditions and life-limiting illnesses. I have worked for the NHS for over 30 years and held several senior finance posts across London, Kent and Sussex.
I enjoy watching sport, paddle boarding, gardening and reading golden-age crime novels.
I was delighted to join the team at CSWS in 2018, having known the Charity for a number of years, and admired and respected the work which they do. I became Vice-Chairman in 2021.
My husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at around the time that I joined, and I have since become a registered carer for him.
My family business is in Funeral directing, another caring profession and I hold a non-executive role. My career has been spent in local politics and public service. I held a variety of roles across all tiers of local government with a primary interest in health and social care, in which I hold a professional qualification. I also served as Chairman of an NHS Trust and worked with a range of charities and voluntary organisations.
I joined the charity in 2016 to use my Board and management expertise and skills to give something back to society.
I ensure there is a clear purpose, vision, strategy for, and proper governance of, the charity. My wife and I have been voluntary helpers and befrienders for elderly vulnerable people in the community for many years – making regular visits and phone calls, helping with errands and shopping, and trying to alleviate loneliness during lockdown.
This has been rewarding and life-enhancing for me. I have held senior Group HR Director roles at The Rank Organisation, Gala Coral Group, Inspiring Learning, and other organisations. I moved into HR Consultancy and Executive Coaching in 2009 and ensure a proportion of my work is in the Third sector. I am a Trustee Board Director of two FTSE Pension Schemes, Chair of a Gibraltar Pension scheme and a Trustee Director of the Russell Martin Foundation – a local charity positively impacting children and young people’s lives through football, education, health, and improvement.
I live in Kemp Town with my wife, have two grown up children, three grandchildren and am a keen animator, cyclist, and Harlequins Rugby FC and Brighton & Hove Albion FC supporter.
I lead and work with wonderful staff, volunteers and Trustees. My mum, in Cumbria, lives with dementia, so I know the rewards and challenges of caring. This makes me determined we make things easier for unpaid carers in this glorious County.
I have had CEO roles with two Age UKs, a County Mental Health Charity and a Sight Advice Charity. I started my career as a nurse, moved into NHS management and have had two Matron roles for care homes.
I live with my partner, and our dog and two cats. I’ve got three adult children. My dancing and singing were interrupted by the pandemic. I’ll get back to these soon.
I trained and worked as a nurse in Brighton and after time off to bring up my family, I returned to work in a charity as a volunteer and then managed carer support teams across multiple counties and boroughs before working here at Carers Support.
Knowing our work makes a real difference to friend and family carers across the county is particularly important to me.
My children, grandson and husband, my three dogs, and cat are important parts of my life. I enjoy music and theatre. I love travelling and visiting cities, especially in Italy.
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