Do you look after someone? Not sure?
A young carer is someone aged 18 or under who looks after or helps to look after someone. It might be your mum or dad, grandparent, brother or sister or a close relative. This often means doing things like cooking, cleaning, shopping, giving medication or just talking and helping when the person you care about is feeling sad.
Do some of the examples above sound familiar? We are here to help. We know that looking after someone can take up a lot of time and that sometimes it can be difficult to cope. When you spend a lot of time looking after someone else keeping up with school, friends and doing things that you enjoy can be hard to fit in.
Get in touch with us by email or phone if you need a bit of support or want to talk to someone who understands. If you aren’t ready to make that step yet, there are some great places you can go to learn more about young carers below.
Help and support
I think I might be a young carer, who can I talk to?
You can talk to a parent, a family member that you trust, a teacher or trusted member of staff at your school. You can also talk to your doctor. It might be helpful for you to note down some of the things that you do on a daily basis for the person you look after and think about how this is affecting you.
You can also talk to us. We have a team of kind and supportive carer advisers who you can contact by email or phone. They can talk you through what we can do for you and signpost you to places for any support you might need.
If you aren’t quite ready to chat to us, that’s ok, sometimes it can be difficult to open up to people you don’t know.
There are some useful guides to have a look into that might help you in the meantime. Then, when you’re ready, give us a call or drop us an email.
The Children’s Society
Being a young carer (NHS)
Young Minds
