Be Free Young Carers
2022 and 2023 Grant Recipients
BFYC has reported back that the ease and eagerness of the children and staff and the support of the staff has been amazing for the project. “It has been really well received with many grateful comments from the SENcos and support staff. It has been incredible to see the immediate positive impact the sessions have been having on young carers.”
Young carers will complete the Warwick and Edinburgh Wellbeing Scales at the start of the sessions, which they will then repeat after the last session. The feedback from schools to date has been overwhelmingly positive, with an immediate impact in some cases. School staff know the young carers well and they have witnessed them being able to relax and have some ‘me time’, illustrated by the quote below.
‘’Thank you so much for coming this afternoon. I can honestly say we all enjoyed it. I have just had one of our year 6 teachers say that one of the boys came back to class and said 'they felt like they were walking on air'.“
“The children who attended the Mindful Movement session really enjoyed it, especially the introduction to yoga. The session was carefully planned to teach the children about key breathing techniques and a variety of yoga poses. The children get the opportunity to practice these and perfect them over the course of the session. Emma was extremely considerate of the children and their needs, creating a safe and welcoming environment. Throughout the session, the children became more confident. The introduction of the book, ‘I am yoga’ by Susan Verde was a great hook and the children loved exploring the book, alongside the 16 different yoga movements. The girls are excited about further sessions with Emma. Thank you Emma for a fab session.’’
Case study of J
J had become withdrawn and suffered with depression due to her caring role at home. She had been in trouble with school and her schoolwork was suffering. We received a referral from school and our Youth Worker went out to register J. She was withdrawn and it took a lot of time for our Youth Worker to win over her trust. Our Youth Worker could see that J would benefit from our usual services, but J needed encouraging. Our youth workers spent the 121 emotional support sessions building up J’s resilience and discussing her concerns, worries and problems. These sessions increased over the usual 6-week period due to the time taken to persuade J to open up. J didn’t get a break from her caring and so our Youth Worker referred her to one of our more experienced befrienders, who met with her weekly and built-up trust. Within the first few months of the BFYC team intervening, it was apparent that J’s mental health had improved. She would open up about looking after her mum, she would talk about her concerns for the future, being bullied at school and having no one to talk these things through with. She felt guilty for feeling this way, the burden of worry when she had been away from her mum while she was at school. Our 121 emotional support sessions and befriending service continued and at the end of the 6 months, J’s parent reported her attendance at school had increased, she was a lot happier going into school and had managed to build friendships. During the last few months of the befriending service, J was encouraged to join in the trips and activities, and she is now a regular member of our 13+ group–the change we, her parents and her school has seen has been drastic. It has taken patience and time, but our team has preserved and supported J. She is now in year 10 looking to study towards her GCSEs.
Project Summary
This project entitled ‘Brighter Futures for Young Carers’ provides weekly 1 to 1 emotional support with a qualified befriender to young carers in the grant area, plus a professionally produced Young carers School Assembly video and Assembly Toolkit for every primary and secondary school in the grant area.
“We currently support over 10 Didcot young carers through our befriending service. This is where they are matched with a volunteer, whom we train, they then act as their trusted adult, meet for weekly outings and give the young carer the break and chance to talk that they need. This service is only offered to our least supported young carers, the most vulnerable and in need.”