Supporting the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Young Carers

800,000 young carers aged 5-17 care for an adult or family member in the UK (Children’s Society, 2023). In the January 2023 school census, 38,983 pupils were recorded as young carers. This is a significant under-estimation because 79% of schools recorded having no young carers in their school census return. The latest research suggests that around 10% of young people are young carers – which would equate to at least one million young carers across the UK and at least two young carers in each class.

Young carers look after a relative with a disability, illness, mental health condition, or drug and alcohol problem, providing physical help, taking on domestic responsibilities and providing emotional support. The anxiety caused by worrying about a relative or dealing with bereavement has a huge effect on young carers’ emotional wellbeing, with 38% having a mental health problem (Carers Trust, 2016). One in three young carers said that their caring role makes them feel stressed. Research also shows that 23% of young carers in the UK said that their caring role had stopped them making friends. (Action for Children, 2023) However, less than half of young carers (44%) feel they get enough help with their emotions and feelings (Carers Trust, 2019). In 2017, Barnado’s stated that, regarding carers aged under 8, ‘unfortunately there is very little support provision available for this age group.’

Thanks to generous funding from The Rayne Foundation and Investec we are working to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of young carers by training professionals at Young Carer Services to run our evidence-based Skills for Life programmes for 5-12 year olds.

We are delighted that staff from 10 Young Carers services across the UK have already completed training and we have some spaces remaining for new services to be involved.

We are able to offer a limited number of fully funded training sessions (online via Zoom) and programme resources to Young Carers Services who sign up before November 2024.
If you are a Young Carers Service who is interested in running our Skills for Life programmes, please contact liz.bowles@partnershipforchildren.org.uk to find out more.

Through consultation with trained Skills for Life staff from young carers services and young carers themselves we have also created social and emotional learning activities for young carers. The free activities are designed to help those working with young carers to promote their social and emotional development by helping them to process feelings, communicate effectively, cope with their anxieties and difficulties, practice selfcare, build strengths and resilience and deal with change and loss.

Quotes from Young Carers Services taking part in this project:

“Children have discussed and learnt how to acknowledge, name and deal with their emotions. They have formed new friendships and have become supportive of each other.”

“Excellent tool, helps the children to process events within their life and build resilience.”

“Brilliant programme and the visual support of the workbooks are fantastic for the children to see their progress.”

Information and Resources: