AMSER UPDATE 2024-
After providing over 1500 opportunities and offering nearly 700 individual carers over the course of the last year, we at the Outdoor Partnership are please to announce that we will be providing sessions for young cares to get outdoors and experience more of what their local environments have to offer. if your interested in more information please get in touch with your local outdoor activity development officer or use the contact us tab on our website.
AMSER supports unpaid carers living in Wales to access personalised, flexible and creative short breaks. It will provide breaks that improve carer resilience and wellbeing, and support the sustainability of the carer’s caring relationship.
Who are carers?
A carer is someone who looks after a relative, friend or neighbour who is ill, frail, disabled, has a mental health concern or problematic substance use and who could not manage without that help. A young carer (under 18) or young adult carer (18-25) is someone whose life is restricted because of the need to take responsibility for a family member due to issues as above. The care they provide is unpaid.
Funded by the Welsh Government AMSER (Welsh for TIME) is part of the Short Breaks Scheme for unpaid carers and aims to enable 30,000 carers to take a break from caring by 2025.
Carers Trust Wales leads AMSER and the Short Breaks Scheme nationally, and breaks provided through AMSER are delivered locally by organisations with expert knowledge of the carers in their area.
The AMSER project developed by The Outdoor Partnership is being run by development officers in each of the Welsh regions.
Participants are young carers, and the aim is to offer respite through participation in outdoor activities. Participants will be identified and encouraged to attend by working in partnership with carer services, who can also ensure care provision is available during activity session times.
The programmes, based on themes such as Land and Water will provide access to a range of activities. There will also be a focus on their surrounding areas, environment and safety in the outdoors. They may involve activities that have not been experienced by young people who are carers previously.
Activities are being delivered by local and experienced outdoor providers.
This allows for participation as close to home as possible. The location of the activities is also based on transport routes and options, so there is a realistic opportunity to allow participation following up from the project.
We have already organised sessions in wakeboarding, paddleboarding, snorkelling and climbing activities, and with many more to come, watch this space!
