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Illustration of young carers - courtesy of the Carers Trust
Young Carers Action Day 2025 is on Wednesday 12 March, and this year’s theme is ‘Give Me A Break’, focusing on the importance of rest and respite for young carers.
Young carers can take on a lot of responsibility making it difficult to find time for themselves. Over time, this can lead to stress, and burnout.
Young carers need to be supported to take time out from caring, to rest, recharge and focus on themselves.
Sixteen-year-old Navid*, from Camden, began caring for his mother, due to her symptoms of fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis. Navid supported at home by cooking, cleaning, shopping and helping his mum to get ready in the morning and evening.
Through his school, Navid was referred to The Children's Society which provides a range of support for children, young people and families, including the Islington and Camden Young Carers Service (ICYC).
The school was worried about Navid’s caring role affecting his attendance and punctuality, due to his severe ankle injury, and felt that he was not able to socialise due to his additional responsibilities at home.
After being referred to ICYC for support, Navid met with Senior Young Carers Practitioner, Christelle Alaby, to begin a young carers assessment. Together, Navid and Christelle explored his caring role and the impact upon his life, including education and wellbeing.
Navid said he'd been a carer “as long as I can remember”. He was assessed as undertaking a high amount of caring responsibility and, although he felt happy to care for his mum, and able to manage his role and his needs, he was feeling some stress as a result, and his school attendance was very low at 55%.
Reflecting on the assessment process, Nabil said: “I was grateful for the opportunity to share my feelings in this way - it's not something I get to do often.”
Christelle reached out to Navid’s school to explore additional support available to him in - e.g. a reduced timetable to accommodate his ankle - and met with him one-to-one to explore his future aspirations and how he might achieve them.
Nabil gained additional support from his school during his GCSEs and was referred by Christelle to the Camden Young Talent Team to help him access education and employment opportunities. Nabil secured a place on a creative course at college, and was supported by ICYC to access grant funds to help him engage fully with the course.
Christelle said: “It was a privilege to support Navid. He was very engaged in our work together and was open about his experience as a young carer. He had big dreams and aspirations but felt isolated due to his own health needs and the additional responsibilities of his caring role. This left him feeling limited in what he could achieve for himself, including building friendships, securing paid work and studying his dream course.
"Through our work together, Nabil received support from his school, passed his GCSEs, and began socialising more. He also built confidence to enrol at a creative college to pursue his dream job, while actively looking for part-time work."
By the end of the intervention, Nabil said he felt “more optimistic and excited about my future.”
After working with The Children's Society, Navid’s level of caring responsibility reduced to a moderate amount and the negative impacts of his role, such as feeling stressed and tired, were also reduced.
Navid said: “This was very helpful - you helped a lot when I needed it, thank you!”
* Name changed to protect identity.
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