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 Young Carers Action Day 2023

CymraegEnglish

Young carers survey report 

Read the report here

READ our Open Letters 

Open Letter to Prime Minister

Open Letter to First Minister of scotland

 

 

Watch The Lowry's 'Heavyweight Champion' film, made for Young Carers Action Day 2023. 

'Heavyweight Champion' is all about the fight and power of being a young carer. If you are an identified young carer, you stand shoulder to shoulder with other young carers. If you are unidentified, sometimes you have to fight alone. Made by The Lowry Young Carers group in partnership with Lung Theatre.

WATCH THE FILM HERE

Sign our Young Carers Pledge 

For Young Carers Action Day - Wednesday 15 March 2023 - we are asking MPs, organisations and individuals to pledge their support for young carers and young adult carers.

SIGN THE PLEDGE HERE

 

Watch Scottish Government’s message to young carers for Young Carer Action Day 2023

Kevin Stewart MSP is the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care. For Young Carers Action Day he has recorded a message to young carers and young adult carers, stating the Scottish Government's commitment to ongoing support for them.

WATCH HERE

 

Carers Trust Wales Youth Council - Make Time for Young Carers

Carers Trust Wales’ youth council members share their experiences of what it means to be a young carer or young adult carer, the impact on education and work and their mental health and the changes they want to see to support other young carers in Wales.

WATCH THE VIDEO IN ENGLISH

WATCH THE VIDEO IN WELSH 

Rosario's story 

"Balancing education or work is hard let alone doing this on top of caring with little time to recharge or means choosing between caring and other goals and enjoying life. I am writing this blog intending to share my story and point of view to help Young Adult Carers and to help others understand and better support them."

READ ROSARIO'S STORY 

 

Resources

Our Young Carers Action Day (YCAD) 2023 resources are now available for download! These are to help young and young adult carers, their friends, and professionals who might interact with young carers get involved with this year’s YCAD.  

Download our new Campaign Pack to help us call on decision-makers to support young carers and young adult carers for Young Carers Action Day! 

DOWNLOAD OUR new CAMPAIGN PACK 

Please download and share these resources with your friends, family and colleagues so we can spread the word about Young Carers Action Day 2023!  

If you have any queries or would like more information about Young Carers Action Day, then please email youngcarers@carers.org

Download our YCAD resources

How did we choose our theme: 'Make Time for Young Carers'?

Over the past few months we’ve chatted with hundreds of young carers at festivals in Hampshire, Wales and Scotland.  The one issue that kept coming up was just how important their health and wellbeing is to them.

We know it’s easy for young carers to start feeling overwhelmed because of everything they need to do for their caring role on top of all their schoolwork and revising for exams. What young carers told us was that it doesn’t need to be this way. They think the things that would make them feel less overwhelmed, healthier and happier are:

  • improved support in schools
  • more access to breaks,
  • better access to counselling support
  • and more financial support.
 

We also spoke to the young adult carer interns who worked at Carers Trust over the summer, and local carers centres that make up the Carers Trust Network. These discussions backed up what we’d heard elsewhere: young carers need adults to make more time for them so they can get the support they need to balance their caring role with their education and training.

But what does ‘Make Time for Young Carers’ really mean?

‘Make Time for Young Carers’ highlights two things that are really important for young carers:

  • the need for professionals and responsible adults to make more time to listen to young carers explain the challenges they face as young carers, so they can better understand the support young carers actually need.
  • Once they understand the sort of support that’s required, responsible adults then need to make time to put that support in place.

Sometimes it only needs ten minutes to change a young carer’s life

We spoke to a young carer called Mariam about how she’d felt overwhelmed at school because she had to spend so much time when she got home looking after her mum who couldn’t move without feeling severe pain. Because of the constant demands of her caring role, it was really difficult for Mariam to get her homework done. As a result, she always felt unprepared, stressed and behind with her schoolwork.

All that changed when a teacher approached her. The teacher asked the right question: not why Mariam hadn’t handed in her homework, but instead if there was anything that was making it difficult for Mariam to get her work done. That one simple question, and the teacher’s willingness to make time to listen, was what Mariam needed. She was able to explain why she was struggling to get her homework done; and the teacher, who now understood the challenges Mariam faced, was able to help Mariam make a plan for prioritising what needed to be done, so she didn’t feel so overwhelmed.

As Mariam says,

“that ten minute conversation changed my life because it helped me understand how important it is to get support, and how just a bit of support can really help me as a young carer to manage everything I need to get done.”

My Young Carers Action Day 2023

Are you a young carer and a budding blogger or video-maker? Or perhaps a poet or artist looking to share your creative flair? If the answer to that is yes, then this page is for you!

This is where we are sharing and showcasing great content we receive from young carers or young adult carers in the run up to Young Carers Action Day on March 15 - we’d love to hear from you.

Submitting content is easy. You can email your submission, or any questions you have, to youngcarers@carers.org

My Young Carers Action Day content