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Young Carers Day 2014
Carers Week is from June 9th-13th, with Friday 13th dedicated entirely to young carers. Find out more by watching the video below.
*Clarification: Carers Support Centre works across South Gloucestershire AND Bristol, not just South Gloucestershire as stated in the video.*
Throughout this week Rife will be promoting the stories of young carers on our social media outlets.
Young Carers quotes:
“Some of us have exams coming up and sometimes [being a carer] takes your mind off concentrating in lessons”
“There’s things always my mind”
“Things can happen when you’re in school without you knowing. Suddenly, the person you’re looking after isn’t there any more”
“…that’s what kinda goes through your mind at school and why you can’t concentrate”
“If the person I’m caring for has to go to hospital it might not be local, so right after school i’ll be going to see them”
“Because my mum is mentally ill people think I’m messed up too”
“[Mum] doesn’t like talking about it because of the discrimination that I’ll get”
“I’m more open about it because…it’s just life isn’t it?”
Us: “Have you ever been bullied?” All of Young Carers: “Yes, lots.”
[On bullying] “It was all the way through primary and secondary school”
[On not being bullied in college] “I didn’t tell them I was a young carer, so they don’t actually know”
“Because people don’t know about young carers they tend to say stuff in school which is hurtful to us”
“We have to learn older abilities before we are actually at that age”
“You learn adult stuff – like how to cook – earlier than other people”
“I already do the cooking” – aged 12
“You become a lot older mentally, so when your friends are stressing about stuff you’re like ‘that’s not a big deal'”
[On the positives of being a YC] “You can do these sort of things that other people can’t do yet, which is a skill”
“It can be frustrating, because you’re not always in touch with your peer group”
[On age group] “…you’re mentally further than them, so they’re talking about stuff you really cant relate to”
“We wish we could tell everything about it but you know that you cant because your body wont let you say it”
“The people I can talk to at school are my best friends or a certain teacher, anyone else I can’t say without emotionally breaking down” – aged 12
Links mentioned:
Info about National Carers week – http://ow.ly/xQFuL
Carers Support Centre – http://ow.ly/xQG2P
Bristol Black Carers – http://ow.ly/xQFBn
Connexions is no longer in operation, however some schools have a Young Carer’s Lead – which is usually teacher or figure within the school, who has specialised training in Young Carers – or an Education Officer, both of whom are available for you to talk to. Ask an adult at your school to help you find out who this person is.
The Carers Support Centre has a crowd-funding campaign; they need your support!
Add the EighteenPlus Young-Adult Carers-Group on Facebook!
Fancy a chat? Tweet me @jonbehere
Are you a young carer? Do you any experience of looking after someone else? Tell us your story via twitter @rifemag
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