In 2015, with her children in secondary school, Laura had planned to return to full-time work. However, a series of personal challenges changed her path. Her son, later diagnosed as autistic, was struggling to attend his secondary school, managing only a couple of days a week through Laura’s sheer will power. At the same time, her father passed away, leaving her to care for her mother, while her husband faced personal difficulties, and her daughter battled serious mental health issues. Laura had to put aside her career plans and drop everything, having to act as counsellor, CAMHS worker, care support and trying to find professional help for her family

Laura says,

‘I am a carer because of austerity... before, there were better services that could have helped my family, and I could have returned to work. By 2019 I had a complete carer's breakdown – I was dealing with tribunals, we were just trying to get things in place for my son to do his GCSEs. The battle nearly destroyed us both. I was referred to MIND who got my son an autism diagnosis but who also said, ‘Do you know you’re a carer?’ which I didn’t. I just thought of myself as wife, daughter and mum.’

Laura connected with Devon Carers and subsequently became a Carer Ambassador volunteer, advocating for carers in areas such as healthcare and housing systems. She says,

‘Covid had just hit, this seemed like something useful to do during lockdowns and to help me get some of my self-confidence back. It took a long time to realise it wasn’t me, it was the system that couldn’t cope. It’s a fantastic way of enabling people when they’ve been disabled by the system. As I became part of the Carer Ambassador team it became obviously there was quite a few issues I could help with, to offer examples of where the systems could be improved.’

‘The big problem most carers face is it feels very isolating, you feel you’re on your own dealing with this problem. Being a CA brings people together and makes you realise the problem isn’t you and you’re not going crazy and you can make a positive change for the future.’

To find out more about volunteering at Westbank, or to apply to volunteer, please click here