With thanks to Helen Serginson (developed with Emma Loftus).

The hardest thing about needing carers is building trust and developing relationships of care.

When you need your carer to help you with so many personal things you have to trust in them entirely. But to trust is to be vulnerable.

I’ve had carers all of my life. I need care all day, every day. That means my care is intimate and personal. When you have very complex needs like me, ‘personal’ is so much more than physical needs.

Everything in my life involves carers. They know about my finances, my health, my mental health, and my relationships and friendships. They know my likes and dislikes, my joys and my sadnesses. They are there with me in every appointment, every interaction, every get together with friends. I’m never alone.

That’s not easy for them or for me.

It really is the deepest of relationships. A marriage.

Read the full article here.