I am a young carer for my mother, who has lived with severe depression for many years, and more recently for my baby daughter as well. Being a young full-time mother has never held me back from achieving life’s goals.
I was referred to self management uk‘s Staying Positive course in 2013. The course was delivered in partnership with Young Carers Centre Tameside, in Hyde. I was part of a young carers group - we were asked to give this course a go and I’m so glad I did. It has made a huge difference to my life; it taught me how to better manage my time and allow myself to have some time to relax and just be a kid again.
I have learnt so many new skills and I would recommend this course to all young carers. Being a young carer can be very stressful. By managing my time better, I now have more of a social life, more time for myself and I am just able to get out a lot more and enjoy myself.
My mum always says: “Paige, I’ve noticed such a positive difference in you since you’ve attended the course. You are now back to being the outgoing and down to earth Paige you always were.”
All the new skills I gained from attending self management uk‘s course, such as time management and relaxation techniques have helped me to manage being a young mum and still look after my own mum and fulfil the young caring role to the best of my ability. It is great to be able to spend time with others who are in a similar situation to me. I don’t feel so alone now.
To any young carers out there who may find it difficult to cope, my message to you would be to just stick to it, and it always works out in the end. If you have the opportunity to attend a self management uk course, do it; you won’t regret it!
Young People Programme
self management uk’s Young People Programme (Staying Positive) helps young people engage with being a young person and a young carer. This helps minimise the feeling of isolation as meeting other young carers and sharing ideas and skills encourages as well as increases the level of support in the local community.
Over the past 12 months, 34 young people from Tameside and Glossop attended self management uk‘s Staying Positive course, delivered in partnership with Young Carers Centre Tameside in Hyde. The programme is run by young facilitators, who are carers themselves and therefore have first-hand experience of dealing with daily challenges.
self management uk has secured funding to continue this work with young people in Tameside and Glossop. New courses will start in May at the Young Carers Centre in Hyde.
YOUNG CARERS
Figures from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) suggest 244,000 people under 19 are carers, about 23,000 are under nine. Girls are slightly more likely to be carers than boys. Among 15-to-19-year-olds, about 5% of girls are carers and about 4% of boys.
The North West has over 24,500 young carers, a number that has been increasingly steadily over the years.
According to the Children's Society, one in 12 young carers spends more than 15 hours a week looking after a parent or sibling; one in 20 misses school, and 50% more likely to have special educational needs or an illness.
