Together European Partnership Project

It is important that families communicate openly with one another to ensure that young carers and their families are heard and valued, with access to support, advice and resources to enable them to live fulfilled lives. 

Carers Trust Scotland was part of an Erasmus+ funded Together: A Whole Family Approach for Young Carers project, with partners based in Belgium, Germany, Greece and Italy. The project aimed to raise awareness of young carers and to support them and their families.

The main goal of the project was to develop, test and disseminate three outputs:

  • Awareness raising material to inform children and adults about how important it is to cooperate and be supportive with each other when there is a caring responsibility in the family.
  • A training workshop for young carers and their families, facilitating open dialogue around the caring relationship, the impact this may be having on the young carer and how the whole family can support one another.
  • An e-learning programme for professionals on promoting a whole family approach when supporting young carers.

Our ultimate goal was to have a positive impact on families in order to support young carers; reducing the negative impacts caring responsibilities can bring and improving young peoples' well-being, social inclusion and community engagement.

Let’s Stay Together: Awareness Raising Resources!

We are delighted to share our awareness raising resources below. The Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance and members of our Young Carer and Adult Carer Advisory Group have helped shape these resources. 

These resources aim to help young carers, their families and practitioners to adopt a whole family approach, where family members (including the person being cared for) are encouraged to communicate openly about the caring relationship. We believe that all carers, regardless of circumstances or age, should be able to enjoy a fulfilling life alongside their caring relationship.

Together: A Whole Family Approach for Young Carers supports practitioners by providing practical steps, guidance and useful resources. It is designed to support and complement the work practitioners already do across Scotland in supporting young carers.

Caring Within the Family: Starting that conversation, together are conversation cards that support families to initiate open and meaningful conversations about the impact caring roles are having on the family. They also signpost young carers and their families to useful resources and services.

Download the Together: A Whole Family Approach project poster. To help raise awareness of this work, the poster can be displayed in shops, cafes, health centres, carer centres and schools etc.

Download the Together: A Whole Family Approach project bookmark

Together: We Are Stronger

As part of this project, we developed and piloted a whole family workshop. These workshops aim to facilitate open dialogue around the caring relationship, the impact this may be having on the young carer and how the whole family can support one another.  

 

Check out our guide to access workshop plans and resources.

Together: We Care

The final phase of this project consisted of an online training course, which is freely accessible on a dedicated online platform.

This programme aims to support practitioners in developing their knowledge and confidence in adopting a whole family approach.

Please click the link to access the course https://togethereuproject.eu/training/

 

To find out more about the project, visit www.togethereuproject.eu.

Read the Together: A Whole Family Approach March 2021 Newsletter 

Read the Together: A Whole Family Approach November 2021 Press Release

Read the Together: A Whole Family Approach March 2022 Press Release

You can also contact Paul Traynor, ptraynor@carers.org and Nicola Bell, nbell@carers.org for more information.