Young Carers

Scottish Young Carers Festival 🥳🎪🎉

Every summer, Scottish Young Carers have their very own festival!

The festival is all about young carers. It is important because it gives them a chance to take a break from their caring role, meet new people and to have fun!

Lucy and Robert from Reach were lucky enough to attend the Scottish Young Carers Festival in 2022. As you can see from our TikTok, we had a great time!

@reach.scot
Today we’re at the Scottish Young Carers Festival 2022! #SCYF2022 #YoungCarers #YCFest
♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz

We spoke to lots of young carers too 🙂

What we heard…

We asked young carers about their support at school.

They shared some of the best ways their schools support them:

“By understanding when I need to talk to them or take a rest due to my carer duties.”

“They understand my situation and are helpful in checking up.”

“They let can help me to learn 1 to 1 and I can have a break if needed.”

“My school run a Young Carers group.”

“My Young Carer Support Worker comes into school.”

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We also asked young carers how school could support them in a way that doesn’t already happen.

Here are some examples of what they told us:

“I would like to be listened to more.”

“Raise awareness of what a young carer is.”

“More quiet spaces for having a breather.”

“Be more aware and allow more time for homework etc.”

“Discount on food.”

“To be asked if I need help, rather than having to ask.”

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The Young Carers Festival is organised by the Carers Trust. The young carers who attend are accompanied by their young carer support workers.

We wanted to know what words the young carers we spoke to would use to describe their young carer support worker.

Here’s what they said:

A word cloud that contains the following words: wonderful, amazing, awesome, aware, good, reliable, understanding, fun, thoughtful, caring, positive, happy, funny, friendly, respectful, kind, helpful, loving, epic, talkative, nice, cool, chatty, supportive, fabulous.

These words show just what an important role young carer support workers play in young carers’ lives! 😊

find out more

The Media Ambassadors are a group of young carers who create films that raise awareness about young carer issues.

Each year they document the Scottish Young Carers Festival.

You can check out their 2022 film below!

Update: SYCF 2023

Lisa and Robert had an amazing time at the Scottish Young Carers Festival 2023. We spoke to young carers about how they find advice and information.

You can see some of the highlights from our day here:

@reach.scot
We had an amazing day at the Scottish Young Carers Festival 2023! 😁 We met lots of amazing young carers and chatted to them about the best ways to access advice and information 🙂 #SYCF2023 #SCYF #scottishyoungcarersfestival #youngcarer
♬ jedag jedug capcut 2023 – afrian af

You can follow updates and find out about volunteering opportunities at future festivals by hitting the button below:

Scottish Young Carers Festival 2023