What is a Young Carer?

Official Description “A Young Carer is a young person under 18 years of age who is significantly affected by caring for a person with a long term illness or disability including mental health and substance misuse or who is elderly or frail”.

The person receiving care can be a parent, a sibling, grandparent or other relative.

Our Service

The project covers Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale. Due to changes in funding from October 1st 2011 BPR Young Carers can only support Young Carers of someone with a mental health problem and/or a substance misuse problem in these areas. Barnardos will be providing a generic Lancashire wide service, for more information please contact them directly, on 01254 504930. The services we offer at BPR Young Carers are tailored to individual needs, confidential and free. We have a package of services that the Young Carer can choose from. Our direct support can include:

• Group Sessions (all Tiers)
• One to One Support (depending on Tier)
• Respite Activities (depending on Tier)
• Residential Trips (depending on Tier)
• Workshops, for example: sports, drama, arts & crafts and street dance (all Tiers)
• Advocacy and liaising on their behalf (all Tiers)
• Opportunities for training and learning, for example: 1st Aid, Confidence Building and Adventure Service Challenge
  
  

Not everyone wants to be part of a large group, or take part in activities, they may only want to talk to someone. They can get as involved with what we do as much as they want. The project is for Young Carers so it can be tailored around what they want.

Tier System

The support provided will depend on what Tier the Young Carers are in. The Tier is decided by the Young Carer and their key worker at the initial assessment, one-to-one support and through writing an action plan. The level of support will be different for each Young Carer and it can change at any time if it is felt that more or less support is needed.

Tier 1 - This is the Tier that will receive the most support in various ways

Tier 2 - This is the middle Tier and Young Carers will receive invites to some activites, but it will not be as much support as Tier 1

Tier 3 - This Tier will receive the least amount of support because it is felt that it is not needed as much as other Young Carers

Agencies We Work With

As part of multi-agency working we work with a range of professionals and services to ensure that we provide the best service to Young Carers. We will do what we can to make things a little easier for the Young Carer, whether it means getting help around the home or finding them an activity to get involved in. We work with:

• Social Services and Family Support
• Education and Schools
• Mental Health Teams for Adults and Children
• Drug and Alcohol Service
• Young People's Service (YPS)
• School Nurses
• Home Start
• Youth and Community