Speak Up: Sheffield Young Carers
This year's Speak Up grants all focus on the voices and experiences of children and young people in Sheffield.
Sheffield Young Carers support young people aged 8 - 25 who are young carers and/or are impacted by familial substance misuse. Their Action Group is a group of young people who've been involved in the service and now help to shape the work done by the charity.
They used their Speak Up grant to run workshops and sessions to understand more about the experiences of young carers and cared-for parents. Their findings focus on their interactions with healthcare professionals, and their experiences of being identified as carers.
They have also produced a series of helpful resources aiming to support young carers to be identified at an earlier stage.
Key findings:
- There is a lack of identification of young carers by professionals, despite families having long term contact with services
- There is commonly a fear and distrust of services, with young people worrying that intervention might lead to them being separated from their families or other consequences
- Communication and relationship building with professionals is hugely important
- Parents and young carers need a whole-family approach; focusing just on the individual patient fails to recognise the impact that illness, disability, or substance misuse has on the wider household.
Resources to support young carers:
The group worked together to create a series of resources that could be used in health and care settings. They felt these could be effective in identifying other young people in caring roles:
- 'Do you help someone at home?' poster - for young carers to recognise their own role
- 'Who else supports this patient?' flowchart - for professionals to identify and support young carers more confidently
Read more findings in the full report below, and download the resources designed by the Action Group.
We have sent this report to local NHS decision makers and will update this page with their response.
Read the report
If you need this report in a different format, please email info@healthwatchsheffield.co.uk or call 0114 253 6688.
