What We Do

Tide has a strong history of supporting research programmes in different ways, using our combined knowledge and expertise but especially encouraging current and former carers to get involved. We advise researchers at an early stage when they are developing their ideas and as their proposals come together. Once they are approved and funded, we participate in Expert Advisory Groups and support carers to get involved through the Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) processes. We expect carers to be reimbursed for their time and expertise, as well as tide itself, and for this to be costed into research grants.

We also carry out our own pieces of research to test out ideas or gather information. Examples include the survey for our Law for Dementia Carers Project and the survey and focus groups to develop our Living Grief and Bereavement resources.

Enabling You To Get Involved 

We believe in enabling our carers to give of their best; you are the experts in the care of those you are looking after or have supported in the past. Our approach is to provide coaching and mentoring to help you prepare for meetings or workshops, so that you feel confident to speak up, ask questions, and give of your experience. For example, we offer a preparation meeting for the carer members of the PPI group supporting the TIMES research into management of sleep. We also have a module in our Carer Development Programme called ‘Getting involved in research’ which we run occasionally according to need.