We are celebrating the achievements of one Young Adult Carer who has also gone on to be supported by the ATI project; both of which are funded by the National Lottery Community Fund
George came to Carers Plus when she was 18 years old. She is a full time carer for her Mother, who has a variety of health conditions. The demands of her caring role meant that George did not put herself first, and often struggled with anxiety due to her caring role and her mum's health conditions.
We were able to support George in a variety of ways, beginning with completing a Local Authority Carers Conversation to help George access support with her caring role.
George was encouraged to take care of her own health and wellbeing. She was granted a bursary to help her buy a guitar and take lessons. She developed her creativity and often put her thoughts and feelings into poetry, which was published in The Mix; an online youth page for young people to use for support, advice and peer interaction.
George was also at the forefront of creating the "YAC shack" which was a safe space for young carers to share their experiences. This allowed George and other Young Adult Carers the opportunity to meet other young carers who were in similar situations, and as such was able to develop a network of peer support. She contributed to other activities with other young adult carers and developed confidence in herself and her abilities. She is now developing herself to become a volunteer to help other young people.
After gaining more self-confidence through her interactions with the YAC project, George also joined the Action Towards Inclusion project in August 2020 to get some support to help her become closer to employment. She was able to access some workshops that were delivered by Carers Trust and the Quilters foundation on employability skills. She completed resilience, confidence building and managing relationships courses with the WEA. She did courses to improve her physical and mental health and wellbeing. More recently, George has been working to start her own business with her friend, and they were able to do a Princes Trust course to help with this.
For the future George plans to develop her business, which is to deliver workshops to young people to help them develop their creativity through poetry and stories around nature, using Eco friendly and sustainable products.
George has also been invited to apply for an Internship with Carers Trust and has her interview planned.
George has done all of this at the same time as managing her caring role.
We wish her every success for the future, and her future is looking bright.
Both the Young Adult Carer project and the Action Towards Inclusion project are funded, or part funded, by the National Lottery Community Fund.