On the occasion of our web-conference "Getting out of stress: the case of a family carer", Laurent WAJS, director of the association "Le Relais des Aidants" tells us about his experience concerning the reception and management of caring for people in caring situations.

" Good morning.
I belong to an association created 4 years ago: The relay of caregivers in Rosny sous Bois.

We provide support to all types of caregivers to solve all types of problems, whether they are elderly people, disabled people, children in difficulty……

We have intervened with 700 caregivers in 4 years. We mainly have our interlocutors on the telephone. Our approach is "cousin" to that of LACT insofar as we do not engage in long-term therapies but in the rapid resolution of concrete problems. But we have diversified according to the requests received.

We work in networks: our prescribers are social workers, caregivers, home helpers, physiotherapists…….They ask us to help caregivers but also because they are exhausting themselves.
The telephone interview, which is generally short, takes place in a very individualized way: we ask our interlocutor what his background has been, his difficulties, so as to refocus very quickly on the symptom.

We have assessment tools at each stage:

• validation of the problem
• validation of the caregiver's motivation to make a change
• validation of its resources
• validation of the implementation of a new behavior

In general, we need 4 to 5 sessions to obtain a tangible result.
But the helper can come back to us because situations of this type are fluctuating. We can also specify that the first call to welcome our association is made to settle a question of organization and that it is only in a second time that the real problem is identified.
We work with a professional in the sector.
The financing of the whole service is taken care of by the city.