Agreement for the Provision of Time to Talk - Carers Counselling Services in Bournemouth Poole and D...

Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole are developing services to support unpaid carers who are helping a family member or friend who is unwell either physically or mentally. The 2011 census indicated that there were over 82,900 unpaid carers across the County of Dorset and the two conurbations out of a total 744,000 people living in the county.

For several years carers have been able to access counselling through individually funded services in a limited number of locations. These sessions have centred on the challenges, feelings and the relationship with the cared for person as a result of taking on the caring role.

These sessions have proved very popular and instrumental in supporting the wellbeing of carers, so we now want to ensure that all carers have access to a variety of interventions as close to home as possible.

We are looking to develop and put out a tender for a framework of counselling services that give carers a choice of providers, locations and services to meet their particular needs. The intention is to be able to provide carers with a list and access instructions to providers on the framework to have a number of agreed sessions. These will be publicised through the My Life My Care Carers Hub and CRISP websites. Funding for these sessions will be provided by the local authorities on an invoice basis.

This is a new undertaking for the three local authorities and we would like to take the opportunity to explore this option further with counselling providers to gauge interest and to give you an overview of the tender process and timetable.

To that end, we would like to invite you to one of two interest meetings that will be held at the following times and locations:

Wednesday 18th May 2016 – 10am to 12pm
Community Learning and Resource Centre, 41 – 11 King Street, Wimborne BH21 1EB.

Friday 20th May 2016 – 10am to 12pm
Dorford Centre, Dorchester DT1 IRR

If you would be interested in attending either event please contact Lisa Hosking by email at l.hosking@dorsetcc.gov.uk or telephone 01305 225523 by Friday 29th April 2016.

We are aiming to have contracts in place by October 2016.
We are looking forward to meeting with you and taking this exciting opportunity forward.