Summary
We delivered 3 residential breaks of 2 nights each - 1 residential for carers and cared for people from Chinese community, and 2 residentials only for carers from Chinese and Gypsy/Traveller communities. In total 44 participants, including 31 carers and 13 people receiving care attended the residential breaks. We delivered 10 day trip short break opportunities – 4 day trips for carers and cared for people and 6 day trips only for carers from Chinese, Arabic speaking, Gypsy/Traveller and wider BME communities. In total 109 participants attended the day trips, including 76 adult carers, 15 young carers, and 18 people receiving care. 38 participants were able to attend two day trips, while the rest could only attend once due to lack of replacement care, other commitments, or challenges with travel from a remote area. All the support breaks incorporated the linguistic and cultural requirements of Chinese, Gypsy/Traveller, and Arabic speaking carers respectively, under the unifying theme of 'heritage'. Both the residentials and the day trips included activities focused on Scottish heritage to support New Scots in learning about the culture of their new home and fostering a greater sense of belonging in Scotland. These included visits to sights of cultural and historic importance, and experiencing Scottish food. This was a focus requested by our service users, since a lot of them cannot access cultural spaces independently due to language barrier, digital exclusion, and poverty. We visited the Scone Palace, Deep Sea World, Roslin Chapel, The Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel, and went on a bout tour in South Queensferry. Our staff delivered information in community languages and prepared activities for the carers to be able to engage with the space. We also tailored our short break activities to celebrate the heritage of our diverse communities. For Chinese carers, it was a desire to cook together, share food, and engage in physical activities. For Arabic speaking carers we organised a shared meal and an outing during Eid celebration. For Gypsy/Traveller carers, it was a sharing of their heritage through storytelling and traditional crafts. All the activities included sharing food together in restaurants that met the cultural needs of our carers, like serving halal meals or Chinese cuisine. We translated and printed the menus ahead of time, and supported carers with ordering where needed. During the day trips and residentials we organised a range of culturally appropriate activities to promote the health and wellbeing of carers, such as massages, energetic healing, art therapy, hot tub, spa treatments and beauty treatments like getting eye brows and nails done, and nature walks. These were rare and meaningful opportunities for the carers to focus on self-care and relaxation.
What MECOPP (Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project) has learned
We have learnt about and implemented changes related to the structure of the day trip, participants, and the type of activities offered during the respite breaks.
During the first day trip, we had allocated one hour for lunch, to focus the day trip around the activity, like visiting the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel. But at the end of the day trip, we learnt that the carers really valued the opportunity to sit down for a nice meal together with their peers – something they do not get a chance to do normally. We took this on board and for all subsequent trips we allocated two hours for lunch, which allowed participants more time to connect with each other and benefit from peer support. This is learning that we plan to take forward into future respite activities that we organise.
As we started inviting carers to participate in the activities, many, especially parent carers, responded by saying that they would not be able to attend without their cared for person and children, who are young carers, attending the day trips with them. ‘State of Caring’ found that 71% of parents on means tested benefits (which represents all of MECOPP’s parent carers) cut down on essentials, and 95% are cutting back on personal hobbies, treats and social activities. This group is particularly severely impacted by poverty and isolation. To ensure that the parent carers could get a break from caring, we organised day trips that they could attend with their children, with separate activities for the young people and the adults. This proved very successful and all participants were keen to attend future events. This observation impacted the project application for 2026-2027 Short Breaks fund, within which we intend to deliver three Family Days along with day trips and residential breaks.
Due to high demand for respite, in the first instance we offered the spaces to people in with the highest need and operated a waiting list. This worked well, as a few carers had to cancel attendance last minute, due to unforeseen circumstances relating to their caring role, and their spaces could be effectively offered to others. However, this strategy also entailed a challenge, since a lot of the community members are in touch with one another, and would raise questions around why they were not invited to certain activities. The staff addressed it by delicately explaining the approach without breaching confidentiality and outlining the limitations of the service provision.
A few carers remarked that even though we provided transport for the day trips, they struggled to make their way to the pick-up location. We chose our office as the pick-up location, since it is familiar to most of our community members. The staff also provided guidance and support for people on how to get to the pick-up location, and were available on the day to support over the phone. Any further support would entail a significant financial expense, of providing individual taxis to the pick-up location.
Impact on beneficiaries
The research report ‘Where are We Now’ from 2025 on the state of unpaid caring among minoritised ethnic communities in Scotland undertaken by Herriot Watt University and commissioned by MECOPP showed that 70% of minoritised ethnic carers experience significant levels of loneliness and, and 74% do not have the time to look after themselves properly. The research clearly indicated the compounding impact of multiple deprivations on the wellbeing of carers and the need for tailored, culturally appropriate services to support them in their caring role. Among the variety of services that MECOPP provides to BME carers, like health, policy work, case work, income maximisation, housing advocacy, the Short Breaks project enabled us to provide opportunities for carers to have a break from caring, connect with other carers, share new experiences with the cared for person, enjoy life outside of caring role, and benefit from wellbeing activities.
After the day trips and the residentials we collected feedback from participants through short surveys, observations, and conversations to best understand the impact that the project had for the carers and cared for people. What follows is a summary of results demonstrating the impact of our Short Breaks project.
85% of all participants rated their experience during the day trips and residentials as excellent, and 15 % rated it as good. With everyone feeling supported by MECOPP during their experience. 96% of carers were keen to join future activities, and only 4% were unsure due to uncertainty around replacement care.
The feedback demonstrated a clear impact on wellbeing with 146 out of 147 of participants (153 beneficiaries in total) who gave us feedback following the residential or day trip respite breaks reported that the experience had a positive impact on their wellbeing in different ways:
58% reported feeling more relaxed
30% reported feeling less lonely
24% reported feeling more energised
15% reported feeling less worried
45% reported being in a better mood
The residential breaks in particular had a significant impact on physical and mental wellbeing, due to the length of the break and the physical and relaxation activities provided, like massages, hot tub, energetic healing, art therapy and more.
At the start of the break the participants described their wellbeing in the following ways:
Mental Health - Feeling very nervous, worried, sad, consistently in a bad mood, mentally tired, no desire to talk to people or socialise, feeling upset, feeling irritable and annoyed, experiencing consistent low mood, having low self-confidence, nothing goes as planned (poor outlook on life), heightened anxiety, feeling bitter, feeling bored.
Physical Health – fatigue, poor sleep, muscle stiffness and pain, and loss of appetite.
At the end of the break the participants reported significant improvement in their wellbeing.
Mental Health – feeling happier, less isolated and lonely through sharing about their caring role in a non-judgemental environment and forming social connections with other carers, boost in confidence, feeling less worried and depressed, feeling more patient and relaxed, and improved outlook on life and their caring role.
Physical Health – improved sleep, relief in pain, relief from tension and feeling rejuvenated and energised.
These are some of the comments we received from the people who attended either the day trips or residential breaks:
• “I can’t remember the last time I felt free, even if it was just for a wee bit.”
• “I need to do more for myself—if only I had the time.”
• “I enjoyed relaxing knowing that I am with my own folk and I don’t need to hide what I am.”
• “This was my first time at a spa day—it was amazing”
• “I feel ready to face my daily life”
• “I am not able to go away overnight, but coming to this for the full day was just what I needed.”
• “I really enjoyed it – the kids were entertained so I got a chance to relax, get my eyebrows done and do something for myself for a change!”
• “The only time I get away from home is when I attend MECOPP events with Georgia, as we trust her.”
• “I appreciated being invited. I don’t get to have adult company much due to my caring responsibilities.”
• “It’s good to forget my responsibilities for a wee while and be free.”
• “I had such a great time today. I’ve been isolated for a while now.”
Most of the community members who receive support from MECOPP face social isolation or loneliness due to language barrier, being new in the country, the demands of their caring role, experiences of racialisation, and living in remote areas and areas of multiple deprivation. Feedback showed that the parts of the Short Breaks project that the participants enjoyed most were the opportunity to socialise (83%), share a meal together (76%), the activity itself (65%), and experiencing something new (50%). This reflects that alongside with getting some time for themselves and enjoying the different activities that we organised, the carers valued the opportunity to connect with other carers from a similar cultural background over a shared meal. Carers commented on the benefit of sharing about their experiences in a non-judgmental environment and having the opportunity to build connections with peers.