Darling Downs Warrior Carers Support Group (DDWCSG)
It Takes a Warrior to Care!
WELCOME! This is the official page of the Darling Downs Warrior Carers Support Group (DDWCSG).
From here you can connect with fellow Primary (and usually unpaid) Carers in the Toowoomba Region and learn more about supports, services and opportunities available to help you navigate and cope with your caring role?
So Who Are Carers?
Are you a parent, spouse, partner, child, sibling, loved one, or even a friend caring for someone who is ill, disabled, incapacitated or unable to care for themselves?
Do you think caring for a loved one is just part of loving that person; a duty you do without a second thought?
Are you feeling frustrated, stressed, burned out, not listened to, and don’t know where to turn to for help?
It’s a fact that many don’t see themselves as Carers, but you are!
You are not alone; HELP is always available to those who seek it.
Would you like to feel stronger, more resilient, less stressed and meet other Carers in the Toowoomba Region?
The Darling Downs Warrior Carers Support Group (DDWCSG) can help you connect with fellow Carers, supports and services to assist you with your caring role and better look after yourself.
Primary Carers Versus Support Workers?
Primary Carers are persons who regularly look after the needs of an aged, infirm, disabled, or incapacitated person on a permanent or temporary basis usually in return for a government benefit.
Paid support workers are usually engaged by a care support organization, are trained, qualified and paid to look after clients on an employed basis with various entitlements and benefits.
Unlike paid support workers, Carers don’t get to go home and rest after an 8 to 12 hour shift, we are there for the long haul – 24/7, 365 days of the year.
We Get You – We Understand You!
Most, if not all Carers will be faced with the reality of having to make personal sacrifices; it’s the human cost we pay as Carers.
Carers suffer physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and financially and are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in the community living way below the poverty line.
We understand you as we have years of lived experience as fulltime Primary Carers and are more than qualified to make representations and advocate on your behalf.
Carer Snapshot.
The 2021 Census chronicles the number of persons who “provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition or due to old age” at 2,476,306 nationally, with 17,635 in the Toowoomba Region alone.
According to figures obtained from the Commonwealth Department of Social Services (DSS), in March 2024, 306,985 persons nationally were in receipt of Carer Payment (CP) and 646,720 Carer Allowance (CA); whilst at the same time in the Toowoomba Region 2,370 persons were in receipt of Carer Payment (CP) and 4,970 Carer Allowance.
Carers Australia states there are 2.65 million unpaid Carers in Australia providing care and support to a family member or friend; 37.4% of Carers themselves have a disability; there are 235,300 young Carers aged under 25 and there are 533,400 Carers in Queensland alone.
It is estimated that those caring for family members actually save the government – the Australian taxpayer, the community, you – between $77.9 and $126.2 billion a year providing informal/primary care across Australia.
The Toowoomba Region at a Glance.
Encompassing a physical geographic area of 1,295,700 hectares (or 12,957 km²), the Toowoomba Region is located in south-east Queensland, about 125 kilometres west of Brisbane.
The Toowoomba Region is bounded by the South Burnett Region in the north, the Somerset Region and the Lockyer Valley Region in the east, the Southern Downs Region and the Goondiwindi Region in the south, and the Dalby Region in the west.
Our History.
The Darling Downs Warrior Carers Support Group (DDWCSG) started with four members on 11 April 2019. As at August 2024 our online support group membership stands at 452.
Our Mission.
To represent, connect, advocate and lobby for Carers and their families in the Toowoomba Region so their lives can be more fulfilled and enriched.
Our Vision.
To see the lives, care, health, well-being and welfare of unpaid family and kinship Carers in the Toowoomba Region supported, nurtured and advanced.
Our Logo.
Designed by George Helon, our logo features a Stylized Face of a Carer rendered as two reaching out Helping Hands; at the same time indicative of a tired and worn out Carer resting their Face in their Hands.
Rendiscent of the agonized face in The Scream painting by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1893) which is seen as symbolizing the anxiety of the human condition.
Our Motto: “It Takes a Warrior to Care!”
It certainly does take a warrior to care! The resilient warrior: a Jack of all trades (master of none); a brave person engaged in struggle, fight, or conflict! The hunter-gather, the strategist, disciplined; and with the courage, determination and strength to stand-up for others.
Monthly Meetings.
Members are encouraged to attend our meetings held on the first Wednesday of every month in Toowoomba.
Each month we invite a guest speaker to chat with us about their area or service of specialty and how they can help Carers navigate government and provider services and supports, including, but not limited to Carer related issues involving: My Aged Care, the NDIS, DVA, Centrelink, advocacy, Dementia, Alzheimer’s, and advocacy.
Carers from ages 4 onwards are supported and offered resources to help them in their new role of caring for a loved one.
Connect With Us on Facebook:
Darling Downs Warrior Carers Support Group (DDWCSG)
Contact Us:
Membership and General Enquiries
Sue Waters (Founder and Facilitator)
Media Enquiries
George Helon (National Carer Advocate / Media Spokesperson)
DISCLAIMER NOTICE: Please Read Carefully!
All content and information provided by the Darling Downs Warrior Carers Support Group (DDWCSG) has been compiled in good faith by volunteers as a public service for the benefit of carers, their families, support groups and other interested parties.
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure and supply reliable, accurate and up-to-date information, facts and references to other materials and resources, etc., it should be noted and understood what is contained and provided here by the DDWCSG should in no way be seen, taken, or used as a substitute for individual and/or specific enquiries to the relevant service authority or provider.
In the compilation and provision of the content for this page, the DDWCSG relied on the accuracy of information, materials and resources available at the time of writing.
Links are included here for information and reference purposes only and their inclusion does not constitute any product endorsement, or recommendation of service quality or standards.
As there are often discrepancies between some of that information, materials and resources available, neither the DDWCSG, nor any of its volunteers give any guarantee as to the accuracy and conclusiveness of the said content, and no responsibility is accepted whatsoever for any resultant errors contained herein, or for any impairment, disability, death, loss, or inconvenience howsoever caused, that may be suffered by any individual, corporation, institution, or other body.
Revisions:
Originally published 13 August 2024. Revised: 14 August 2024; 15 August 2024.
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Copyright (C) George W. Helon: Australia; 2018-2024.
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