Why CaramoCare?

Firstly it’s a special service - something really unique which serves a whole lot of families’ needs. It needed a name to reflect that.

Years ago I caught an episode of Queer Eye - I didn’t think it would be my sort of thing. Most people would instantly assume that was because it featured 5 proudly gay men changing people’s lives. Not at all! Not remotely at all! I’ve never taken to these ‘personal makeover’ shows which always seemed a little fake and contrived. The hosts seemed to fly in and impose a look on the person they wanted to help and then flew away just as fast.

This might have had lasting results though in most cases it was really quite superficial. I can’t imagine many kept that initial excitement going.

Queer Eye is very different. The essence is that each of the Fab Five (and they are absolutely Fab!) has an area that they focus on such as dressing (Tan), hair & make-up (JVN), living or working areas (Bobby). The two more unexpected ones are Antoni who helps prepare food which is deeply meaningful to the person and their life with the people important to them, and Karamo (spolier alert: this is where CaramoCare comes in!) wholes what could be some psychological support and positivity. It’s much more than that, he digs deep to surface pain and then helps guide the person to trust and honesty and then a real acceptance. His style is not like we think of psychologists - it’s warm and direct and supportive. Most of all it gets results!

All of the Fab Five work together and all of the people they support (a mix of men, women and many from the LGBTQ+ community) are always the most caring of people. Often they run services for others in the community or animals for example.

I often find the same in my Solution-Focused work - it’s the young people who are most caring that have most needs themselves. It’s stunning how often the young people want to work in the caring professions. Often the jokers of the social groups too I’ve noticed!

So that in a nutshell is why CaramoCare - an homage to the Fab Five and most especially Karamo Brown