Reflections – a joint update from the co-chairs

By Emma Morris and Kate Lever, co-chairs of the parent & carer network.

It’s been just over 2 months since we took over as the co-chairs of the network, so we thought we’d
write a joint blog post to give you an insight into our experiences so far.

Emma Morris:
When I wrote my previous blog post ‘What exactly is a carer?’, I had only just joined the steering
group and was interested to see how I could help to develop the carer side of the network as it was
still very new. Little did I know that I would end up becoming co-chair! The decision to take up the
role made perfect sense, especially as it meant that Kate and myself could not only share the
workload, but we could each bring our individual experiences and ensure that the parent and carer
aspects would receive equal attention.

For me, one of the biggest challenges we have as a network is reaching out to other carers. The act
of caring is such a hidden practice and to add to that challenge, a lot of people simply won’t see
themselves as a carer in the first place…one of our very own steering group members only realised
that she was a carer after reading my blog post! So, when we had our first drop-in session at the
end of February, I was thrilled to see that some of the people who came along were carers; knowing
that awareness of the network is slowly spreading is great news and a sign that we’re heading in the
right direction.

One of the other great benefits of being in this role is getting to work with our fantastic steering
group members. Each person brings something unique and in a relatively short space of time they
have enabled us to take forward several ideas. We have some great things in the pipeline so keep
watching this space for future updates!

Kate Lever:
Where has 2 months gone?! When I agreed to take up the role of co-chair with Emma I had only just
returned from maternity leave and was very much still figuring out how to balance work with being a
new (does an 18 month old still count as new?) mum. I’d like to say that I’ve now got it all sussed,
but I don’t think that’s ever going to completely be the case, I think it’s more of a long-term
balancing act.

Personally, work-life balance has become more important to me than ever, and the feedback that
we’ve received recently from members of the network shows that it’s important for you too,
especially the ability to work flexibly. As a network we want to help SHU shape a better approach to
flexible working that can help us all achieve a healthy work-life balance in future, and I’m really
excited about the work the steering group is doing around this.

Another initiative that the steering group has been working on in the last few months, driven by
Amanda Johnston’s enthusiasm, is a buddy scheme. This is something that I wish had been in place
before I went on maternity leave in 2017. There is so much we can learn from each other, and it can
be reassuring to talk to someone who is going through a similar experience or has knowledge and
experience to share. I’m really looking forward to seeing the buddy scheme get off the ground and
being able to offer more support for parents and carers at SHU.