Westbank has launched a new service for Parent Carers of children with special educational needs, a disability, long-term illness or additional needs. The charity held the official launch event for Devon Parent Carers at Westbank at its Healthy Living Centre in Exminster last month (April 26), attended by health and social care professionals and some of the people who have helped make the new support service possible. 

Intrepid community fundraisers John Powell and Andy Green together raised more than four thousand pounds to support Devon Parent Carers at Westbank. They gave a talk about the mountain of a challenge they undertook last autumn - hiking from Everest Base Camp to Island Peak, an ascent of over 6,000m. Among the attendees was Matt Lowe, whose late husband, John Hatch, left a significant legacy to Westbank that has also helped fund Devon Parent Carers at Westbank. Organisations that have helped fund the service are Garfield Weston Foundation, The Master Charitable Trust/Blackaton Charitable Foundation and The Williamson Charitable Trust. 

Westbank’s dedicated support for Parent Carers will include Peer Support Groups, Skills Workshops, a quarterly E-newsletter, self-help resources and access to discounted short breaks through Carefree. No formal diagnosis is needed for parents to join the service.

Face-to-face groups will meet monthly. The first of these is at Westbank’s Coffee on the Corner cafe in Exminster village, where parent carers can meet for a cuppa, peer support and a chat in a welcoming, relaxed space to unwind and connect with others in a similar situation. There are plans to expand these groups to other parts of Devon, including Tiverton. 

Westbank’s Head of Carers Services, Andy Hood, introduced the launch event by thanking all those whose contributions are helping to fund the new service. He said, “Devon Parent Carers will help to fill the gaps between lots of different pieces of legislation, helping to support those looking after Under 18s with disabilities or additional needs. Westbank decided a couple of years ago that we wanted to provide a service for Parent Carers and set about getting the funds to make it happen. We have been very fortunate to have some great organisations and individuals donate to us and provide grants. 

“John Hatch, a former Westbank employee who then volunteered for us for years, supporting carers, left a generous legacy in his will, which was very gratefully received. And John Powell and Andy Green undertook a fundraising challenge last October, trekking through the Himalayas to raise money for us to start this project.”

John Powell told the audience why he and his fellow fundraiser Andy Green had chosen Westbank as the beneficiary of their fundraising. He said, “I’ve been asked many times, why Westbank? I’ve been working in and around social health and care in Devon for many years now, and I’ve watched as Westbank has done some incredible work, inspiring work. The outcomes of what Westbank does are far bigger than the charity, and that’s why Andy and I did this. It’s a real honour to be involved.”

Matt Lowe said his late husband, John Hatch, would have been thrilled to know the legacy he left was supporting such a vital service. He said,

“John’s mother had dementia. He cared for her for about 20 years and understood the support that Westbank’s Carers Services provides. When he stopped working for Westbank, he volunteered as an Ambassador for Devon Carers because he understood the need to support ‘unseen carers’ who can feel very isolated and alone. Sadly, John died of bowel cancer. This service really fits his ethos of helping and supporting people who are caring for others. He’d be thrilled.”

Health and social care professionals who attended the launch event said a service like Devon Parent Carers at Westbank was badly needed and would make a real difference to the lives of countless families across Devon.

Teacher Meg Donnelly, from Montgomery Primary School in Exeter and the PEAK charity, said, “A lot of families in our school have children with substantial needs, often multiple children, each with their own individual needs. Those parents aren’t necessarily a fit for other services, so I think this will be fantastic, especially the peer support. It’s exactly what a lot of our parents are looking for.” 

Tiverton GP Frank O’Kelly said, “Part of my role is to speak for the people of Devon through the lens of the Primary Care Board. I was shown around Westbank a few weeks ago and was very impressed with what I saw.  I know what it’s like to be a parent carer. My children are now adults, but they still need support. So I completely understand what the need is in terms of parent carers.”

Cara Stratford of Esteem Team CIC, which works with children and young people who have additional needs and/or struggle with their mental health, said, “We support children and young people with a variety of needs through mentoring and alternative provision. My side of the organisation provides parent carers’ support. This new Westbank service is brilliant because it’s so important for parent carers to have the right support at the right time, and I really welcome any service that we can work alongside and refer families to. The more support there is for parent carers, the better, because when they are well supported, their children and young people are too.”

Daisy Binnie of Exeter Community Initiative added, “I manage a team of family support workers, and we support a lot of parent carers. Our contract is supporting victims of crime and domestic abuse; however, what a lot of families have in common is that they have children with SEN issues. Often, the crime might have been within the family, so we know the cohort that this work will be supporting. I was excited to come along. So many parent carers feel lonely, and so many of them are single parents. Peer support is so useful because I can say something five times over, but when someone hears it from another parent who is going through the same thing, it lands completely differently.”

For more information about Devon Parent Carers, visit www.westbank.org.uk/devon-parent-carers or contact [email protected]