Balancing care with life

As a carer, your priority will be helping the person with arthritis have as good a quality of life, with as much independence, as possible. But who’s caring for you?

You may be a carer, but you are also an individual and your life counts too. Finding the right balance between your role as carer and your job, family and social life won’t always be easy – but neglecting your own needs can lead to unhappiness as well as more serious physical and mental health problems.

Combining work with care

Around 3 million carers in the UK also have a job. If you are thinking about work, it may be helpful to consider the following:

• combining work, care and family life is like having three jobs, it can be exhausting and stressful, so it needs to be your choice
• ask your employer if they have a policy to support carers – some will already have this in place and others may be open to the idea
• don’t be afraid to tell your colleagues you are a carer – 3 in 5 of us will become carers at some stage in our lives and colleagues can be an important source of support
• some employees have the right to request flexible working – such as part-time hours. Ask your employer about this

For more useful tips see the Carers UK website.

You should also know that the Equality Act 2010 gives you additional rights at work related to your caring responsibilities. Under the Act,  an employer must not 'directly discriminate against, or harass a person because they are associated with a disabled person'. This means that you cannot be discriminated against because, for example, you have requested flexible working in order to continue your caring responsibilities.

Avoiding isolation

It’s easy to become isolated when a lot of your time is spent caring for someone else. It can be difficult to have time to get out socially, go on holiday or do an evening class for instance.

But finding a way to develop your own interests is crucial for your wellbeing:

• ask family and friends to help out more regularly
• think about getting more from other carers, through social services for instance
• discuss day care or short-term respite care with the person you care for – they may welcome the break from routine too

Find more information on all these options on the Taking a break pages of the Carers UK website. The Princess Royal Trust for Carers has more details on respite care.