“During my first two months working as a Young People’s Assistant Project Worker for Sheffield Young Carers (SYC), I have experienced the positive effect that groups have had on the young people in our service. At SYC, we support young carers and young people affected by familial substance use aged 8-25 across Sheffield. When referred to our service, a young person is offered one year of support. From our Young People’s Team, this includes one-to-one sessions, holiday activities and a term of groups.
Since September, I have assisted the 12–16-year-olds group and two 8-12-year-olds groups across the city alongside two Project Workers. These groups run weekly and include approximately twelve sessions across a term, each week focusing on a different topic of discussion.
Elena and two young people playing a ‘friendly’ game of Uno.
The sessions are structured so that each week we start with ‘check in’, where we touch base on how our week has been and remind each other of our names, ages and who we care for/ who in our family is affected by substance misuse. The young people look most forward to the weekly ‘million-dollar question’ at the end of check in. My personal favourite so far was when we asked the 12-16s ‘If you could fill a swimming pool with anything, what would that be?’, to which young people’s answers varied from ‘my family, so that I could always be with them’ to ‘five-pound notes’, which reminded me that you always have to have a balance in life, and left me questioning- why not fifty pound notes? Sessions then include a topic-based discussion, an activity varying from human bingo to squishie decorating and, of course, lots of games.
When I attended my first 12-16 group, I think I was about as nervous as the fourteen awkward, scared and confused teenage faces that greeted me one by one on their arrival. We introduced the group, established some ground rules and played a few icebreaker games. At the end of the session, the ice, and my nerves, had successfully been broken, as young people left chatting away with one another after spending two hours bonding over all the latest topics and trends and their shared experiences of caring and familial substance use.
8-12 groups are slightly different, with less young people per group, as we provide transport. During my first pick up, I was faced with a thirty-minute car journey and a very hesitant young boy who was reluctant to answer my pre-planned set of ‘getting-to-know-you’ questions. When I dropped him home after a similar structured first session to the 12-16s, this young boy was buzzing with excitement and questions about the next group and did not want to leave! Each week, he continues to say ‘this has been the best week yet’ during evaluations.
One footie/anime-mad young person has helped to turn Elena into a football and anime expert!
Having only recently joined SYC, I knew as little about how groups would be as the young people themselves. However, what I have come to learn is that these weekly group sessions have become a safe space for young people to open up, explore their thoughts and feelings around discussed topics and get to know other young people who have shared similar experiences to themselves. The 12-16s no longer have awkward, scared and confused faces when they greet me at group. Instead, the room is filled with smiles, laughter and a lot of chatter that I hear before they have entered the room! Similarly, the ten-year-old-boy, who was reluctant to answer my set of car ‘getting-to-know-you’ questions, has taught me more than I think I will ever learn about the local football team rivalries and anime.
I feel fortunate that my role as an Assistant Project Worker has allowed me to meet such thoughtful, intelligent and inspiring young people. It has been a privilege to provide them with a space each week to have a break from their caring duties and familial substance use worries that allows them to meet other young people with similar experiences and importantly, have fun. I admire the courage that they have shown by attending our groups every week, a step they have taken which is not always easy when you are worried about those that you love at home”.
Two young people celebrating their birthdays with the rest of the group.
If you’d like to write a blog for our website, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re a young carer now, you used to be a young carer yourself, you are supported by a young carer, or you want to discuss important young carer-based topics, all blogs will be considered. Please get in touch with Nick by email - Nick.Hardwick@sheffieldyoungcarers.uk