Seventy-seven-year-old Val from Tuggeranong became the primary carer for her husband Ray, 12 years ago, when he was diagnosed with a non-aggressive form of Parkinson’s disease.

And while, for a long time, Val felt that she and her husband were ‘managing’, she said, “The bottom line was that I needed help. It’s very isolating at times because you’re in a different zone… caring for somebody. You make sacrifices, you forego different things that you may have made commitments for yourself to.”

For some time, a friend of Val’s had been asking her if she was registered for support with Carers ACT. However, a few years ago she said she finally answered, “No, I’m not, but why aren’t I?!”

Val promptly registered via the Carers ACT Carer Portal and began accessing the many services offered and has not looked back. “It really blew my mind as to what was available,” she said.

It’s not only carers who benefit from the support they directly receive. Val says that her husband is also happier.

“He’s happy and he is happy for me, because when I come home from a Carers event, I feel uplifted because I have had a break. So, if you’re happy, it flows on,” she says.

Newly appointed Carers ACT CEO, Mr Cain Beckett, who has worked closely with carers and families throughout his 30-year career and has lived experience with disability, says that Val is one of 58,000 carers in Canberra. And that nationally, carers deliver more care than the entire hospital system.

“From a systems point of view… if the carers weren’t there, the health system would fall over overnight, because we just can’t support that volume of people”, he said.

“It’s hard to appreciate the impact of caring.

“Many underestimate the effort, psychological stress, and social isolation that comes with having to look after one of your family members,” he said.

Mr Beckett said that he feels privileged to be in his new position.

“I feel we punch above our weight compared to similar care organisations in other states. I think we’re lucky in that we’ve got an interesting role. We do systemic advocacy and advocating to government on behalf of all the carers in the ACT,” he said.

“Our peak advocacy is funded by the ACT government.

“But then we also manage the Carer Gateway for the ACT and that’s federally funded. And that’s our biggest role.”

This is a coordination role to help carers to find supports and what things are available, both from government and in the community for carers. So, that’s really the front door for carers nationally. And that’s, as I said, our biggest role. It’s about 80% of our funding.”

Carers ACT also welcomes donations and ongoing support from the community.

“We get great support from organizations like, Shaw Construction. And that allows us to do little things that the government doesn’t fund.”

And with demand for support outstripping supply in the ACT, every bit helps.

Anyone wanting to support the work of Carers ACT, can do so by calling directly and asking to speak with Mr Beckett, or by heading to the Support Us link.

“With the volume of carers that we’ve got, I could triple the size of the organisation, and we would still have more services to deliver,” said Mr Beckett.

Especially in support for the psychological distress and isolation carers experience.

Results of the National Carer Survey published this April, confirm that psychological stress is an ever increasing issue for carers. The number of respondents who experienced high to very high levels of psychological distress has risen to 53.7% in 2024, and 61.2% reported feeling socially isolated or highly socially isolated.

“The average wellbeing score remains with 55.7% on the Personal Wellbeing Index significantly below the Australian average of 74.4%.”

There are likely many Canberrans who don’t even realise that they would qualify for support, as according to Mr Beckett, carers do not need to be ‘full-time’ carers to access help from Carers ACT.

“There isn’t really an accepted definition of who a carer is, so we urge people to contact us to see how we can help,” says Mr Beckett.

Val agrees.

“Apart from a lot of fun, what you get from Carers ACT is support and knowing you aren’t alone,” she said.

“So even if you don’t know what you need or what you’re’ looking for, just get in touch. It can make all the difference.”