Care for a Carer is the theme of National Carers Week 2026, which takes place from Sunday 11 to Saturday 17 October. It raises awareness by asking Australians who know someone in a caring role to direct some care back at them. In 2025, 61.1% of carers reported low wellbeing and 42.7% felt lonely. Anybody close enough to a carer can change those numbers for one of them.
What is National Carers Week 2026?
Carers Australia is the national body that runs National Carers Week. It asks employers, friends, neighbours, and families to take an interest in the carer as well as the person receiving care. A question about their week, or taking over some of their responsibilities for a short time eases their mental stress.
Each state and territory has its own carer organisation. Grants from them pay for local gatherings during the week, at a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each. Business awards go to employers who make room for staff with caring responsibilities.
The Unseen Carers
Plenty of people do the work of a carer without ever using the word to describe themselves. People who provide unpaid care and support to a family member or friend with disability, a chronic condition, a mental health condition, a terminal illness, or a drug or alcohol problem are carers, and so is anyone looking after an older person who can no longer manage alone.
Caring begins as an extension of a relationship, which is why the word takes so long to attach. A person providing unpaid care describes themselves as a daughter, a husband, or a mate, and every service written for carers stays unclaimed while that is the only description in use. Around 15% of carers feel recognised and valued as a carer within the health and education systems.
What Caring Costs
Caring for someone takes time. Washing and dressing, administering medication, setting appointments, managing money, and housekeeping eat up hours the carer could be using for themselves.
Carers can drop paid hours to make room for the caring, and lose the income with them. Costs for medication, transport, and equipment get paid out of what is left.
In 2024, 32.5% of carers reported high psychological distress. The cost turns up in ordinary places long before anybody calls it a problem, so plans get cancelled at short notice, sleep goes, patience gets shorter, and their own medical appointments are the first thing dropped.
How to Support Carers Wellbeing
If you know a carer, ask them how they are going. That one may be about the person they look after rather than about them. Mention a change if you have seen one, whether that is cancelled plans, a shorter fuse, or their own appointments going unbooked. A specific observation is easier to answer to than an open question.
Offer to take on one of a carer’s tasks, and say which day you can do it. That could be sitting with the person they care for from ten until noon, cooking enough dinner for two houses, or driving their kid to training. Carers with good access to support from friends and family reported healthy wellbeing at 49.2%, against 31.7% for those without it. That support is made of tasks somebody else took on, one at a time.
Some workplaces and community groups host gatherings through the week, and a carer who attends one can meet others doing the same thing at home. Locations and dates for the whole country are listed on the National Carers Week website.
The Australian Services That Care For Carers
Some supports go to the person being cared for. These ones go to the carer, which is this year’s theme paid for out of public money.
Carer Gateway is the Australian Government’s free national service for unpaid carers. Counselling by phone or in person, peer support groups, coaching, short online courses, tailored support packages, and planned or emergency respite are all things a carer can get for themselves. A single call to 1800 422 737 puts them with a provider in their region.
Two government payments exist for carers. Carers whose hours at home leave no room for paid work can receive income support called Carer Payment. Carers doing daily care can receive a fortnightly supplement called Carer Allowance, whether or not they work or study. Both come from Services Australia and can be paid to the same person.
An NDIS plan is held by the person with disability, and it reaches the carer through what it pays for. Support workers, therapy, and equipment in that plan take hours and lifting off whoever would otherwise do them.
Caring For A Carer's Mental Health
A carer can spend years watching somebody else’s health closely while nobody is rostered to watch their own. Care for a Carer asks somebody to take that watch, and goodwill alone will not cover it once a carer’s mental health is what has slipped.
Mental health first aid is what a person without clinical training does for somebody whose mental health is deteriorating in the stretch before professional help begins. Somebody with the training spots the early signs of depression, anxiety, and psychosis, and knows what to say to a person showing them.
Celebrate Carers By Enroling In Mental Health First Aid Training
You don’t need a background in health or psychology to enrol in mental health first aid training. You can come out of it able to stay with a carer through a bad stretch, and able to judge when a professional needs to take over. Enrol in mental health first aid training and take a turn at the watching.
FAQs
Can A Carer Do Mental Health First Aid Training Themselves?
Yes. A carer can take it for the person they care for, and the same skills apply to their own family and workmates. Nothing in the training assumes the person doing it is well themselves.
What Is The Difference Between Mental Health First Aid And Counselling?
Mental health first aid is given in the moment by whoever is present. Counselling is the professional treatment that follows it. One is not a substitute for the other.
What Does Respite Actually Involve?
Somebody else takes over the caring for a set period, either in the home or in a facility. That can be a few hours a week or a block of days, and it is arranged in advance or at short notice in an emergency.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/disability/disability-ageing-and-carers-australia-summary-findings/latest-release
Carers Australia. National Carers Week 2025: New Report Shows Carer Wellbeing Declining. https://www.carersaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/9Oct2025_MR_NatCarersWeek-002.pdf
Carers Australia and the University of Canberra. Carer Wellbeing Survey 2024 Report. https://www.carersaustralia.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Final-CWS-2024-Report-compressed.pdf
Carers Australia. National Carers Week 2025 Toolkit. https://carersweek.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/NCW2025_Toolkit-220925.pdf
Fair Work Ombudsman. Paid Sick and Carer’s Leave. https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/sick-and-carers-leave/paid-sick-and-carers-leave
National Carers Week. https://carersweek.com.au/
