Deborah and Sarah's story: building friendship

Deborah and Sarah's story: building friendship

Deborah and Sarah first met at a carers' workshop, facilitated by their local carers' centre. As single parents with significant caring responsibilities, they quickly found common ground and developed a strong friendship.

Deborah cares for her two daughters, one of whom has autism while the other has physical disabilities. Sarah cares for her two children, one with Asperger's syndrome and the other who is autistic and non-verbal. Both Deborah and Sarah understand the unique challenges that come with caring for children with additional support needs, and they soon became an important source of encouragement and support for one another.

When they learned about Time to Live microgrants, they decided to apply. With funding to help cover their additional care needs, both used their grants to enrol on a joinery course at their local college. The course provided them with regular breaks from their caring roles, while also giving them the opportunity to learn practical skills that they could use around the home or to create items in their spare time.

"Neither of us has been able to work for many years because of our caring responsibilities. Meeting each other was brilliant and we've been firm friends ever since. Attending the joinery course together meant we could share the driving and, on weeks that were particularly challenging, we encouraged each other to keep going and helped maintain each other's morale."

The experience demonstrates how carers can use grant funding creatively to improve their wellbeing while building confidence and developing new skills. Just as importantly, Deborah and Sarah supported one another to attend the course, helping ensure that neither felt alone in taking on something new. 

The joinery course provided friendship, peer support, confidence and valuable time away from caring responsibilities. Deborah and Sarah's story is a wonderful example of how two unpaid carers came together, embraced a new challenge and helped each other succeed every step of the way.

Find out more about Time to Live here.