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Carers stories
Am I a carer?
Combining education with care
The ups and downs
Looking after yourself
Dealing with bullies
Growing up as a carer
How to communicate
Communicate with friends and peers
Dreaming about your future
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Carers stories

Carers stories

Each young carer will have a different family and caring experience.

Here you can find some stories, shared by young people who used to be young carers. Can you relate to them? Does their story sound like yours?

Thoughts from a Rollercoaster

Living in a home where drugs, criminality, violence and mental health disorders are commonplace can feel like a rollercoaster ride that doesn’t stop. It gets faster and faster with each year that passes and tempting as it sometimes is, jumping off, you think, will end with serious injuries, maybe even death! Regardless, jumping off would mean leaving everyone in the family, not just the one, who in some way or other, seems to be responsible...read more

If anyone asks…

I am in the bathroom. It’s a busy morning and I’ve not had much sleep. I am 14 years old and it’s important to me to look good. My Mum bangs on the door, complaining that I am using too much time. I let her in and continue putting on my makeup. Mum takes off her work clothes after her shift at the cleaning company, changing into her uniform for her next job at the...read more

What does being a young carer mean?

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

Caregiving During Young Adulthood

When my mother's relatively routine spinal surgery went wrong nearly seventeen years ago, leaving her in chronic pain and unable to work, my brother gave up his life as he knew it. We call him "the sacrificial lamb." Like Jesus Christ before him, my older brother laid down his entire life at the feet of the people he loves. At 18 years old, my brother was entering his sophomore year in college. He was doing...read more

I miss the caregiver in me

I was 20 when my mother had a brain stoke while riding her bicycle, broke her hip and was blood transfused, during an orthopaedic surgery,  with infected blood. She got Hepatitis C, which was the cause of her death, 19 years after the day of the brain stroke. I was informed about the stroke while phoning home from a public telephone (there were no mob phones at that time) to tell my parents that I...read more

Who am I?

Video of Feylyn Lewis 

I lie here quietly

When the world outside has gone quiet Perhaps if I just lie here everything will be fine. Perhaps If I just lie here quietly, maybe just maybe, nothing will happen. Perhaps my mind will stop spinning endlessly, perhaps I can trick my mind; my racing thoughts, that I am still sleeping. Perhaps my body will relax and not be so stressed. The world demands so much from me. To be and to act like everyone...read more

I didn’t realise I was a young carer until I was nineteen

My name is Amy and I am fifteen years old. I’m sat on the floor in my room trying to revise for my exams which are next week. Suddenly I hear my mum calling from the bathroom. I wiggle open the old lock on the door and find her sat on the floor feeling a bit unwell and a little upset. I think quickly about what would make me feel better in her situation and...read more

We keep everything for ourselves until we explode

When I was a teenager I kept myself back in order to let my parents devote their energy to my sister and not to me. That’s why I had sometimes the feeling that I could not fulfill myself and that I had not enough room. Even when her screams would get me mad I did not say anything even when her tears would expel me I remained silent. It is hard to complain about our...read more

Caring about a sibling – What about us?

My name is Jessica Lerner and I live in Stockholm, Sweden. I have a brother and he is three years older than me. His name is John and he is one of my best friends. He has lived with cerebral palsy and epilepsy from birth and is in a wheelchair. He needs help with everything in his everyday life. He is usually the happiest person in the room. This is something that fascinates me as...read more

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