Summary
Time for Me for Young Carers is a school holiday respite activity programme for young carers from across the Oban, Lorn and Isles area. Having time together has provided young carers with respite, peer support, school transition support, increased health and wellbeing and confidence in caring roles.
What Time for Me – Young Carers across Oban, Lorn and the Isles did
With input from our young carers we planned a programme of 9 day trips for young carers across the year and 3 residentials. The advent of covid-19 required that we adapt our plans. We were able to deliver 3 day trips, with young carers getting the opportunity to take part in visits to Glasgow and Edinburgh. During the October holiday our first visit saw 15 young carers enjoying time away from caring with friends, taking part in an interactive and educational tour of Dynamic Earth, followed by exploring the amazing world of optical science and illusions in Camera Obscura. One young carer said “I feel like I have just been on a mini holiday”. The second visit was to Inflata Nation and then to see a film. The last face to face trip we were able to run before lockdown saw us take 13 young carers back to Glasgow for swimming, softplay and cinema. Lockdown prompted us to find creative alternatives to in-person respite activities. We looked to replace trips with virtual activities that would deliver the benefits we wanted to achieve. Throughout the holidays we have used online platforms to hold craft activities, science experiments, virtual treasure hunts, a photography club, knitting bee, quizzes, a talent show, games and online cookery ‘master classes’ with the young carers themselves giving cookery demonstrations. When restrictions have allowed we have worked in collaboration with Hebridean Pursuits to deliver outdoor activity sessions for small and family groups. We have been unable to provide residential visits but have tried to deliver positive respite experiences despite this. We purchased a Zoom licence, photography equipment, prizes and action cameras to film virtual activities and scavenger hunts, in order to support us to deliver these experiences. Use of online platforms has enabled more young carers to take part in activities together. They have remained connected in and virtual access has overcome barriers of geographical location. The young carers have had direct input into planning and delivery of sessions which has been a real boost to their confidence. We are continuing with a blended approach to delivery as we look to resume face to face work.
What North Argyll Carers Centre has learned
Dealing with unexpected challenges or opportunities:
Lockdown forced us to radically rethink our carer support delivery methods. We had to find creative solutions to continue to keep our young carers connected in and engaged and to meet the objectives we had set for this project. We embraced new technologies to facilitate that and quickly realised that there are many benefits to be gained from offering online groups and events. Young carers can participate from home which means that physical location is not a barrier. Numbers for each event are not limited by places on minibuses. The young people can participate for as long or as little time as they feel able and can join or leave a session if necessary so there is greater flexibility. Consultation and instant feedback can take place easily. Sessions can be recorded and saved with carer consent, so that soundbites and video clips can be collected. We will retain this method of working in our ongoing practice as we feel it that a blended approach should be integral to our offer.
Developing new short breaks activities and project planning and budgeting:
Future planning will include online, virtual events and activities as well as face to face, in person events. Necessity has been the mother of invention and we will continue to think more creatively about what respite means and how it can be delivered in a variety of ways, rather than the traditional model we have used in previous years. Though we have always consulted young carers about the activities they would like to see, we will use the last year’s experiences to inform us better and will draw more on the creative thinking of our young people. There may be more option to involve our older young carers more in planning and delivery of activities, building their confidence and leadership skills. We will build in contingency planning and flexible means of delivering respite activities which can meet changing guidance, as we know that covid is not going away. We will continue to aspire to deliver a broad range of options but need to balance this against being realistic about what the future holds.
Targeting carers most in need of support:
We have seen over the last year how enforced social isolation has magnified the challenges faced by some of our young carers. All have found the lack of face to face contact and separation from extended family and peers difficult, but for carers who have been bereaved and those supporting people with ASD and neurological disorders the distress they have experienced has been very acute. Our workers have felt this separation too and have been very aware of young carers who have been reluctant to engage with online activities or seemed withdrawn. Some have been absent all together at times. Working within the guidance we have made garden visits to young carers we have been particularly concerned about, providing tailored activities to involve them and their siblings as appropriate. Videocalls have proven a surprisingly successful means of delivering 1:1 support to young carers. We made use of them during lockdown as they offer a degree of face to face contact. Some young carers advised that they found them preferable to meeting up at school or a café as we have done previously, because they can be conducted from the privacy of a bedroom where the young carer feels secure and more able to speak freely. Over the duration of this funding we have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work in collaboration with an outward bound organisation to provide respite activities for family groups we identified as needing this additional input. In partnership with another youth work organisation we have secured additional funding to continue this work and have activities with small groups and families planned for the coming year. These can be targeted to those most in need of support.
How North Argyll Carers Centre has benefitted from the funding
This has been an unusual period of time. We would normally be able to comment on how our project developed and how we expanded provision and reached new carers but this year we have been constrained by the restrictions in force and unable to deliver the activities we described in our original bid. Our learning has come from how to overcome the challenges we have faced in order to continue to deliver our service and meet our commitments. Our expansion has come from the use of new methods to deliver events which has meant that these events can be made available to a greater number of young carers across the most remote areas of the communities we serve. There have been unexpected and unanticipated benefits to changed ways of working. The fact that we have adapted has strengthened our reputation and our innovative work has been recognised, having received an award for our intergenerational work through the knitting bee which has proved so successful in bringing young and older carers together for wellbeing and mutual support.
It is the Creative Breaks funding that has enabled us to deliver this programme of events and activities which promote and support the wellbeing of our young carers. Through contact with our team, respite, peer support and the development of enduring friendships with other young people who share an understanding of what it means to be a young carer, these young people can flourish, grow in confidence and realise the value of the skills and qualities they develop through caring. Without the funds to build capacity within our team we would have been unable to deliver the extensive programme we have offered. This capacity became more, rather than less important when we had to change the means of delivery in response to covid. Though we did not use the staff and sessional hours as originally described in our bid, without the staffing we could not have planned, prepared and delivered the events and group activities we have offered on a weekly basis.
Partnership working has evolved as part of our response to the changing world we are in and links we had with Oban Youth Café and Hebridean Pursuits have developed across the year with plans and funding now in place for collaboration in the coming year.
We feel that our organisation has benefited also from the fact that the learning that has taken place over the period of the funding has further strengthened our young carer team, bringing them closer and encouraging them more fully to recognise their creativity, leadership skills and contribution. This in turn has benefitted the young people they work with. The team has piloted new ideas and found new means to support young carers in order to fulfil the commitments we made in this project and which are fundamental to our practice. The sharing of ideas has not been limited to the Young Carer Team. Knowledge and good practice has been shared across the Young and Adult Carer Support Teams. This knowledge will inform our future practice.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
85% of young carers attending respite activities will feel improved wellbeing
Results
Due to covid-19 we were unable to offer 2 residential visits for young carers. Keen to meet our commitment to improved carer wellbeing, we consulted young carers about activities and events they would like to take part in virtually via Zoom. Plans have evolved as time has gone on but it has been the young carers’ interests that have driven what we have delivered. These events have been additional to our usual weekly afterschool clubs. The focus has been on bringing young carers together for time out to have fun, relax and be children. Virtual access has enabled more young carers to take part in events and physical location has not been a barrier to joining in. As lockdown eased we also carried out garden visits, taking activities to the young carers and their families. Our young carers report that these supports have been vital in maintaining their wellbeing, reducing isolation and overcoming challenges and anxieties around covid-19. Though not as planned we feel we have met our target
Case study
Young carer X took part in our Young Carers’ Photography Group and, through this engagement, discovered a passion and a talent for photography. When the group first started up X was asked if he regarded himself as a photographer. He was quite clear that he was not, and was very uncertain about his abilities. Week on week we have witnessed a transformation as he has continued attending the group. Finding something that he is able to enjoy and excel at has built his self-confidence, self-worth and resilience, and provided him with a significant source of respite, enabling him better to sustain his caring role.
In additional to providing individual respite, X has shared his passion for his new-found hobby and it has become a focus not only for X but for his whole family. Family trips out are now planned to include the opportunity to capture interesting images. He is also now sharing his learning with other young carers through volunteering with the centre, delivering group sessions to a new cohort. In so doing, he is working towards his Youth Achievement Award. At North Argyll Carers Centre’s AGM he delivered a presentation about the group, showing a gallery of their photos and speaking about the impact of taking part. His pride in the images he and his fellow young carers had created was very evident and he spoke with confidence and eloquence.
In the quotation below his mum sums up why the photography group was so significant for him.
“Photography has become such a big part of X’s life... Having that focus, especially through lockdown has been fantastic for him and his confidence”
Outcome
100% of young carers will have had the opportunity to access out of school respite activity programme and will have opportunity to have a life outside caring.
Results
Target met: We ran 3 of 9 planned day trips before lockdown took effect, visiting Dynamic Earth, Camera Obscura, InflataNation, cinema, swimming with 41 young carers. Due to covid we then moved all respite activities to online delivery. We have had weekly lunchtime clubs with cookery and baking demonstrations. Through the holidays we ran afternoon craft sessions including a pumpkin carving competition for Halloween. Art work was then displayed on our Facebook page. We also did online science experiments, ran scavenger hunts and held an online talent show, knitting bee and photography group. For Christmas 2020 a local theatre group put on an interactive pantomime via Zoom. Virtual access to events has enabled more young carers to take part in activities and has meant that physical location has not been a barrier to joining in. The young carers have loved that we had games and competitions with prizes. Parents tell us how delighted their children are when their prizes arrive in the post
Case study
Young carer X took part in our Young Carers’ Photography Group and, through this engagement, discovered a passion and a talent for photography. When the group first started up X was asked if he regarded himself as a photographer. He was quite clear that he was not, and was very uncertain about his abilities. Week on week we have witnessed a transformation as he has continued attending the group. Finding something that he is able to enjoy and excel at has built his self-confidence, self-worth and resilience, and provided him with a significant source of respite, enabling him better to sustain his caring role.
In additional to providing individual respite, X has shared his passion for his new-found hobby and it has become a focus not only for X but for his whole family. Family trips out are now planned to include the opportunity to capture interesting images. He is also now sharing his learning with other young carers through volunteering with the centre, delivering group sessions to a new cohort. In so doing, he is working towards his Youth Achievement Award. At North Argyll Carers Centre’s AGM he delivered a presentation about the group, showing a gallery of their photos and speaking about the impact of taking part. His pride in the images he and his fellow young carers had created was very evident and he spoke with confidence and eloquence.
In the quotation below his mum sums up why the photography group was so significant for him.
“Photography has become such a big part of X’s life... Having that focus, especially through lockdown has been fantastic for him and his confidence”
Outcome
85% of young carers across Oban, Lorn and Isles will feel more able to sustain their caring role and will feel greater confidence in their caring role
Results
Our Columba 1400 residential was not possible but we have used our online events to enable young carers to remain connected in. They have used Zoom, the closed Facebook group, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to join events & keep in contact with one another and the Young Carer Team. The option to connect in via video calling and Zoom has provided peer and team support making caring roles more sustainable. It has also allowed the Young Carer Team to identify people who were struggling and offer 1:1 support. Mindful of the effect of increased social isolation and lack of face to face contact, as soon as restrictions allowed, we carried out garden visits with young carers who we identified as finding isolation particularly challenging, taking the activities to them in person. Young carers have advised that they have found that connecting in has supported them to sustain their caring roles and overcome feelings of anxiety and loneliness. We feel we have met the target we set ourselves
Case study
As the covid situation progressed and promise of a return to normal seemed ever further away, we felt it was important to diversify what we were offering so that as many carers as possible could find something that interested them and felt motivated to engage. Focusing on creative pastimes has been a good antidote to the stresses of the pandemic for many people. Both young and older carers had been taking part in and discussing creative projects through online groups and activities.
With extended families separated through lockdown we saw a real value to bringing young and older carers together. Our young carers were finding it very difficult being away from friends and school, and both young and older carers were physically cut off from their usual social groups and wider family connections. We knew the wide-ranging benefits of intergenerational work and wanted to apply these to carer support. Knitting had seen a revival in popularity not only amongst the older generations but also with the younger ones. Our Learning and Development Coordinator and Young Carer Service Coordinator felt there would be value in bringing our adult and young carer groups together and a knitting bee seemed the ideal opportunity to put this into practice. We discussed it with our young carers and a number of them expressed an interest in being involved and, unlikely though it seemed at first, the online knitting bee was born.
Our aspirations for the group have been met. We have observed young carers benefitting from the older carers’ life experiences and the older carers being energized by the young carers presence. Both groups are more resilient. We have felt there is sense of reassurance for all in talking about their feelings and understanding that they are not alone in finding it tough handling the worries and stresses of coping with Covid-19 in a caring role, as people of all ages are experiencing difficulties. As they sit and knit online, telling tales and sharing knitting know-how, all generations can support one another, recognising their similarities and enjoying their different perspectives.
Older carers have formed friendships with young carers, which have extended beyond the group and we have seen the older carers dropping round to visit the young carers to pass on wool and needles. We have seen young carers talking to the group about their interest in working with unusual fibres such as Highland Cattle hair and comparing notes with older carers working with wool from rare breed sheep. We have seen older carers mentoring the young carers and helping them learn. There is an evident sense of self-worth and mutual appreciation displayed by both young and older carers. Comments from the group have included:
‘It’s so lovely to have Young Carers join us, and I loved being able to help by showing them how to do things onscreen’.
‘I’m only a beginner knitter, but I’m learning stuff every week here’.
We deliver weekly our Knitting Bee sessions online via Zoom. The sessions are facilitated by our Learning & Development Coordinator, and our Young Carer Support Worker. The structure is very informal with opportunities to share news, chat and exchange knitting tips. Part of each week’s session is to review progress and agree future plans.
Attendees help each other improve on existing knitting skills and learn new knitting techniques. The group is made up of experienced, regular knitters, those who are rediscovering knitting and some who have just started.
By working together our young and older carers have developed a better understanding of each other and an appreciation of the contribution that each group can make. The opportunity to work creatively together has challenged preconceptions and commonly held prejudices. There has been be mutual learning. The older people have enjoyed the positivity, enthusiasm, sensitivity and empathy of the young people. The young people have gained an appreciation of the fact that the older people they are working with were not born old and that aging does not change how people feel inside. The stereotypes of old age have been challenged and both groups have recognised that no matter their age they share similar hopes and fears and can enjoy each others company. Wisdom is not the preserve of old age and a need for fun and laughter is universal.
Intergenerational friendships create a stronger sense of community and we believe that this interaction with older carers has benefitted our young carers, extending their network of support, growing their self-confidence and making their caring roles more sustainable.
Though not in our original bid, our facilitation of this group has been possible through the Young Carer Support Worker staffing hours identified in the application