The 2013 National Recovery Framework uses the term ‘family and support people’ which includes family members, partners, friends or anyone whose primary relationship with the person concerned is a personal, supportive and caring one. [2] This relationship includes both biological and non-biological connections which gives rise to terms such as ‘family of choice’ or ‘family by acceptance’.
Family members, significant others, supporters or carers may identify in ways which include more formal language (carer, caregiver) or informal terms (mum, opa, aunty, cousin). Individuals may also name those who support them in a variety of ways. The terms ‘family’, ‘family member’ and ‘families and supporters’ are used to represent those ‘whose primary relationship with the person concerned is a personal, supportive and caring one’. [3] This relationship includes both biological and non-biological connections which gives rise to terms such as ‘family-of-choice’ or ‘family by acceptance’. Therefore, it is best to check with the person to establish their preferred term.
The term ‘carer’ is commonly used in the physical health, aged care and disability sectors and increasingly used in the mental health sector. There is no single definition of a carer (Clements, 1996). In this work, the term carer is used to refer to people who provide practical and emotional support to a person with mental health issues on an unpaid basis, such as relatives, partners, friends or neighbours. A carer may or may not live with the person they support, and they do have to be identified by the individual with mental health issues to be their ‘carer’ (NCCSDO, 2008). [4] The WA Carers Recognition Act 2004 defines a carer as someone who provides ongoing care or assistance to a person due to the person’s disability, chronic illness, including mental illness or frailty. [5] This is not done in a paid capacity.
‘Carer’ is not a term used in the alcohol and other drug sector and “connotes an identity that is not necessarily desirable to drug users and their family members”. [6] The terms ‘families and significant others’ or ‘families and social networks’ are the more common descriptors in the alcohol and other drug sector. The singular term ‘carer’ may also narrow focus onto one person and may thus fail to recognise the importance of kinship connections and extended family support in Aboriginal, indigenous and extended family support in Aboriginal, indigenous and ethnic minority cultures. [7]
Regardless of the term used to describe individual family members or significant others, the expertise on which designated Family and Significant Other roles are founded is that of the collective experience based on social and human rights movements.