On the basis of interactions with various stakeholders and personal experience as family carers, the proponents have zeroed in on the following commonalities in the concerns of family carers across the spectrum of mental illnesses:

• Family carers are stressed and get burnt-out in the process of providing care. They themselves need support and help.

• Family carers tend to have limited or even dysfunctional social life after a while.

• The most overwhelming concern of families of persons with prolonged illness is ‘What after us?’

• Due to the vulnerability of their loved ones (PMIs), family carers have trust issues, but find it is easier to trust persons/ families with similar concerns.