CASE STUDY
Fiona Dowman at Carers Lewisham
SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJECT
The People
Carers Lewisham is a small independent charity which provides
advice, support and information for over 4,500 people who,
unpaid, care for their mentally or physically ill or disabled
relatives or friends in the London Borough of Lewisham.
Fiona Dowman, studying Psychology at the University of
Surrey, was matched to the placement at Carers Lewisham by
Step Enterprise Ltd.
The Project
“As a result of my
placement, I have
gained a greater
understanding of the
impact that mental
illnesses and other
illnesses have on
carers and their
families, have gained
confidence in my own
abilities and
contributed to
pioneering research in
the field.”
Fiona Dowman
In
of her
recognitionts, Fiona
achievementhe London
d
was awarde
Fiona’s brief was to carry out research into the needs of Young
Adult Carers aged 16-24 living in the local area and create a
report from the findings. The report would be included in a
lottery bid for funding to support the Young Adult Carers.
Carers Lewisham had identified that this age group needed
further support and were not currently engaging with their service.
During her placement, Fiona used her psychology background
to encourage the group to engage with the study. Part of this
involved organising and hosting a barbeque which acted as a
focus group and provided valuable information about the
carers' needs and barriers to engagement with the current
service. After eight weeks Fiona provided the charity with a full
report giving evidence of the young group’s need for funding.
The Outcome
“Fiona’s report will enable us to have the hard
evidence we need to seek funding to continue and
develop this work, and will contribute to the
National and UK wide body of evidence about this
group of carers as it will be circulated through our
various national and UK wide networks. Fiona is an
enthusiastic and bright young woman with whom it
has been a pleasure to work.”
Diana Jones, Chief Executive, Carers Lewisham
nce
‘Social Scie erience
Exp
Workplace inner 2009’
W
t
n
e
Stud
of
by a panel
was given entatives
This award
ing repres
judges includ ESRC and Step
from the
Enterprise.
SSWEP, the Social Science Workplace Experience Programme, is funded by
the Economic and Social Research Council and managed by Step Enterprise.
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