Topic: Young Carers – Applying the concept of resilience to our practice – Faye Atherton, Head of Services at Blackpool Carers Centre, and Tara Bragg, former Young Carers Champion at Blackpool Carers Centre
Resources: You can download Faye and Tara’s slides.
Summary: Around 1 in 12 school age children are carers for members of their family due to illness, disability, mental ill health or substance misuse. Many go through their school years unrecognised as a young carer. They often do a day’s work before they even get to the school gates and all of this impacts on their attainment in education, their aspirations, ability to form lasting friendships and their development as a child. For many children they have known nothing different, they are proud of their role as a carer despite the sacrifices they make. Young Carers support is increasingly important in identifying children earlier in their roles as carers, ensuring that families are informed of choices and support that can help to make life better. Young Carers services also provide the lifeline of respite, giving children time to be a child, explore play opportunities and friendships and make lasting positive memories. This session details what supports are available for young carers and their families and explores what we have learned from applying the concept of resilience to our practice.
Biography: Faye Atherton is the Head of Services at Blackpool Carers Centre. Faye has a long background in supporting children and families. This has included working with teenage parents, child development through play, and supporting complex families involved in substance misuse, through leading family support and respite provision for young carers.
Tara Bragg is the former Young Carers Champion at Blackpool Carers Centre. Tara has been a carer for as long as she can remember. She cares for her father who has numerous health conditions and also for her 2 siblings who have complex needs. Tara went through her education remaining ‘under the radar’ as a carer, as she describes it, ‘never being asked the right questions’. When Tara was 19 she came forward for support. Support opened up a new world for Tara as she started to believe that she could have her own identity outside of being a carer. Since then, Tara has completed an internship year of paid employment as a Young Carers Champion, raising awareness locally and nationally about young carers and the need to support their development, education and emotional wellbeing. Tara has remained in employment with Blackpool Carers Centre and now provides administrative support across the organisation.
Who might be most interested: Everyone is welcome, including practitioners, students, parents, carers, community workers, volunteers, public sector workers, young people, service users and people with lived experience of mental health problems.
Key Readings:
Blackpool Carers Centre – http://www.blackpoolcarers.org/
This event took place on Thursday 26 July 2018.
The Resilience Forum is for ANYBODY (with a pulse!) involved with or interested in resilience research!
