About Carers Week

Carers Week is a time to celebrate and acknowledge the vital role carers play in our society.

Across Australia from the tip of Cape York to South East Cape, from Shark Bay to Byron Bay family carers are providing unpaid care and support for a family member or friend with a disability, mental illness or disorder, chronic condition, terminal illness or who is frail.

Carers Week promotes and raises awareness of the valuable role that carers play in our community and generates discussion about carer issues.

Carers Week also provides an opportunity for carers to come together, support one another and share ideas and information.

Carers Australia receives funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to coordinate Carers Week.

We work in collaboration with the state and territory carers associations as well as other stakeholders to promote carer issues to a national audience during this time.

Carers Week has continued to grow each year as a reflection of the increasing recognition of carers in our community.

About Anyone Anytime

Carers come from all walks of life and their experiences and needs are diverse. They can come into their caring responsibilities at any time throughout their life.

Anyone, Anytime across Australia has been chosen as the theme of Carers Week 2009 to reflect the unexpected and indiscriminate nature of the caring role and focuses on the geographical diversity of carers.

Through our posters, brochures and website we use visual and written clues to illustrate the diversity of caring and illustrate a wide variety of locations to demonstrate that carers come from all areas of Australia. Our colour palette has been deliberately chosen to reflect six geographical locations- red centre, outback, regional, city, tropics and coast.

About Carers Australia

Carers Australia is the peak national body representing the diversity of Australians who are family carers.

Together with the carers associations in each state and territory we work to improve the lives of carers and have caring accepted as a shared community responsibility.

At the national level, we raise community awareness of carers’ issues and advocate to ensure that carers can participate fully in family, social and community life and in education and employment.

Our state and territory associations help and assist carers with flexible services designed to support them in their caring role. These services include counselling, advocacy, respite and education and training for carers.

Carers associations can also help put you in contact with other people who have similar experiences to your own and who understand what you are going through.