Young Adult Carers

Carers Support is committed to offering assistance to individuals aged 18 – 25 who are taking care of a family member or a friend requiring their crucial help. Does this resonate with your situation or someone you know?

Support Available

Am I a Young Adult Carer?

If you're between 18 and 25 and provide essential care to a family member or friend dealing with illness, disability, mental health issues, or addiction, you are a Young Adult Carer. This could involve caring for a parent, sibling, or grandparent, offering physical and emotional support, as well as handling practical tasks like medication collection, meal preparation, and household chores.

Watch two of our Young Adult Carers share their experiencesof realising they were a carer and learn about some of the support available. The videos have been produced by the YMCA Downslink group. You can find more useful resources on their e-wellbeing site here.

Home Page - e-wellbeing

Support for Young Adult Carers

The welcoming and friendly Carers Support team have huge experience in helping with the challenges often faced by Young Adult Carers. Our Wellbeing Workers understand that every person is an individual and will support in a way that is most appropriate for you. Here are some ways we can support you:

One to One Support

We offer 1:1 support to discuss your caring role and how this is impacting you. We understand your caring role can affect your employment, education and social life. Together, we will discuss what support you need. You will be supported by a Wellbeing Worker in your local area.

Counselling

If you feel you would benefit from speaking with one of our counsellors because of the impact of your caring role, we can help you access 6-8 free sessions. Counselling is a great way to explore your emotions, experiences and challenges in a safe and confidential space.

Finances

Are you struggling financially? We have a Health & Wellbeing grant that can pay for anything that promotes your wellbeing. This grant is simple to apply for and can be used flexibly. It’s a great way to finally treat yourself to something you deserve.

Citizens Advice

WSCC Housing Support

Carers Support Health & Wellbeing Fund

Benefits Advice

Benefits can be difficult to get your head around and it may improve your financial situation if you understand the benefits you are entitled to. We can arrange a one-to-one appointment with our Benefits Advisor to ensure you are receiving the right benefits.

Benefits Advice Service

Support Groups

Our support groups are an opportunity to meet with other Carers in a similar situation. Support groups often involve an activity, time to talk with the team and a chance to connect with others.

Community social groups are a great way to meet other young adults.

My Future Groups - Aged 16 -19?

My Future is a group for young people who are in a caring role, aged 16-19. It’s an opportunity to meet other young adult carers and join in with some fun activities, such as bowling, cooking, going to the theatre, eating out, escape rooms, movie nights, and more.

My Future is a safe place to share and talk about your caring role, where staff and volunteers will be available to chat with you about the impact caring may be having on your life and can signpost you to further resources or equipment that’s needed to make your caring role easier and safer.

Carer Assessment

If you are providing care to an adult, you may be entitled to a full Carer Assessment regardless of the number of hours of care and type of care you provide.

A Carer Assessment aims to find out how caring affects your life, physically, emotionally and mentally and explore what services and support you would benefit from. It is also an opportunity to discuss if you are able or willing to carry on caring.

Wellbeing

The Mix – online support for under 25s

E-Wellbeing

West Sussex Wellbeing

Drug & Alcohol Service

Important Downloads

Click on any of the below links to download

Social Group Timetable

Your Rights as a Young Carer

Health Booklet for Young Adult Carer

Why Register with Us?

Registering with us as a Carer opens the door to a wide range of free support to suit your needs, including:

Tailored information and support to help you with your caring role
Opportunities to meet other carers who may have similar experiences to you
Workshops which provide training and learning on topics such as welfare benefits
Information about local and national organisations. Regular newsletter

If you would like more information about any of these services, please call us on 0300 028 8888 or email info@cswebdev.blueboxonline.co.uk