Creating life-changing opportunities for carers through digital skills
Case Study:
A carer is any individual who provides care and support to a family member or friend who has a disability, mental illness, drug and/or alcohol dependency, chronic condition, terminal illness or who is frail. There are more than 2.65 million carers in Australia and the role they play in our communities is essential.
With COVID-19 exacerbating social isolation and increasing reliance on online delivery of information and services, Carers NSW – the peak non-government organisation for carers in NSW – wanted to find a way to support carers to build their confidence online, while also addressing financial barriers.
In 2021, Carers NSW partnered with YourLink to create the ‘Connecting Carers Online’ digital project as part of their Carer Gateway service offerings in the Hunter New England, Central Coast and North Coast regions. ‘Connecting Carers Online’ is a digital education project to help carers gain access to smart devices and learn the essential basics of online skills in order to use them with confidence.
The results from the program to date:
The first phase of the program supported 70 carers between March 2021 and March 2022 and included an iPad with data plan, a personal one-to-one ‘welcome session’, three one hour online group training sessions, post-training follow-up and 12 months access to support with a YourLink digital coach.
* iPads were used for this project as YourLink is an Apple Reseller and team members are part of the Apple Consultants Network.
Before training
Participants’ self-ranking prior to training.
1= lowest rating to 5 = highest rating.
After training
Participants’ self-ranking after three training sessions. YourLink conducted follow-up calls 3 weeks after Session 3.
“I’m independent from the kids and someone helping me, this is really good. Everyone is so busy with no time to help and now slowly I have been able to do emails, safari, it's excellent.”
Carer, NSW
“Learning to connect online can greatly improve carers’ wellbeing and reduce feelings of isolation by connecting them with friends and family and to access information, services and interests without leaving home. This project has really delivered on that. The team at YourLink have gone over and above to support our Carers to participate in an incredibly challenging time. I’m looking forward to working with them again on the 2022 program.”
Carers NSW, CEO, Ms Elena Katrakis
“It’s honestly such a joy for us to be working with these carers. We step into their lives not yet knowing what circumstances they are in and we are able to give them something that might improve that for them. Online independence, new services they can access, an engaging way to connect with their loved ones. It’s life-changing for some and very rewarding for our team.”
YourLink Founding Director, Richard Scenna
The program has been a great success, with nearly all participants meeting or exceeding their individual goals and will continue to be delivered to more carers in 2022. Download the case study for more information.