MIRA/MURA Bites & Insights Speaker Series - Allison Williams - A Social Prescription Intervention for Carer-Employees

Unpaid carers who also balance paid employment face many challenges. These “carer-employees” make up 70% of unpaid carers in Ontario. Research has shown that these carer-employees can also experience a range of negative health outcomes. Social prescription is an accessible option that can support the health of carer-employees who have limited time and resources to care for themselves. Drawing from research funded by Petro-Canada CareMakers Foundation, this talk will highlight social prescribing programs for carer-employees that our team is evaluating in Hamilton, Ontario as part of a larger discussion of the impacts of caregiving and opportunities to support caregivers.

Allison Williams
Dr. Williams is a Professor in the School of Earth, Environment & Society, in the Faculty of Science at McMaster University. She holds a Tier 1 Canadian Research Chair in the Care Economy, Aging and Policy and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Trained as a health geographer, Dr. Allison Williams has more than three decades of research experience studying unpaid care work, from home-based palliative family caregiving in both rural and urban contexts, through to the space-time tensions carer-workers encounter in juggling both paid employment and unpaid care work.

About the Bites & Insights Series
As we age, many of us want to know what we can do to stay healthy and live well. However, with an overwhelming amount of information available, it can be challenging to determine where to focus our efforts to achieve the greatest impact on our health and well-being.

Join researchers and experts from the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) for Bites & Insights, a community talk series designed to share practical, evidence-based ways to stay healthy and engaged in the activities you enjoy as you age. Each session includes time for audience questions and open discussion. Light refreshments will be provided.

Hosted in partnership with the McMaster University Retirees Association. This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada's New Horizons for Seniors Program.