Ever wonder how you can be a more effective caregiver to your loved ones? Are you struggling with the many roles and responsibilities as a primary family caregiver? Are you frustrated, physically and mentally exhausted from managing your career and your caregiving responsibilities all by yourself? Do you ‘walk on eggshells’ around your spouse, children or siblings avoiding conflicts that will set them off? What are the possible challenges that your family may face and how best can you turn them into something positive? Who can you turn to and where can you get help in your caregiving journey? These were some of the questions that were tackled at the 1st Singapore National Caregivers Conference held on 27 February 2010 at the Furama Riverfront Hotel.

Organised by Asian Women’s Welfare Association’s Centre for Caregivers Mr Laurence Wee, Nominated Member of Parliament graced the event as Guest-of-Honour. Constantly striving to be a “voice for caregivers”, AWWA Centre for Caregivers believes that its inaugural conference had also been a wonderful platform to listen, learn, and better understand the issues that were plaguing caregivers across the nation.

The conference themed ‘Empowering Family Caregivers: The Journey Starts with You!’ aimed to equip and empower family caregivers with essential knowledge, provide opportunities for sharing, building informal networks, encourage caregivers to reach out to resources in the community for help and celebrate the spirit of caregiving. At the same time, the conference was also a significant step towards building a platform to address the psychological and emotional needs of caregivers, an area which is often neglected, even by caregivers themselves.

The 1st Singapore National Caregivers Conference was a result of much effort and collaboration with 27 Voluntary Welfare Organisations. The conference delivered several workshops in the area of psycho-social training to support caregivers on issues that are critical in their roles as caregivers. The workshops were:

The AWWA CFC had invited Dr Richard Birkel, Executive Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute (RCI) and the Pope Distinguished Chair in Caregiving at Georgia Southwestern State University, U.S.A. as keynote speaker at its inaugural conference for caregivers. In his keynote speech, Dr Birkel shared with all family caregivers and professionals on the importance of finding a meaning in caregiving and coping with the stress of caregiving. He also delivered a professional talk where he imparted interesting information and knowledge based on evidence-based approaches to support family caregivers in the community. Dr Birkel was very well received by our local professionals and agencies concerned with the issues of caregiving. He shared more extensively with them both formally and informally during his visit.

Close to 280 family caregivers, professionals and Voluntary Welfare Organisations attended the conference. And at the conference, family caregivers were seated according to geographical locations so as to enable them to form support networks within their area of residence with ease. Overall, 98% of the participants had rated the conference as excellent and 97.3% felt that the conference has helped them in realising the importance of self care, being proactive and building support networks.

AWWA Centre for Caregivers would like thank everyone who had attended the conference. To view photographed moments at the conference, please click here.