Support Young Carers in Achieving their Dreams by voting for the Young Carers Development Trust this November

This November, the Young Carers Development Trust are one of four charities participating in our monthly charity poll. They will be competing to win 20% of My Favourite Voucher Codes profits, hoping to get the most votes from the public in order to win! Find out more about the Young Carers Development Trust below, and see how your vote can help young carers accomplish their dreams. 

The Young Carers Development Trust helps young carers to achieve their goals, access opportunities and explore their life ambitions. Many young carers miss out on opportunities to learn, socialise and accomplish their dreams due to their caring responsibilities. This is why the Young Carers Trust supports young carers by helping with their caring duties whilst providing a range of education opportunities, social activities, workshops and events. 

What Is a Young Carer? 

A Young Carer is defined as a person under 18 who helps to look after a family member or friend who is ill, disabled, has an issue with drug or alcohol use and/or has a mental health condition that requires support.

Young carers often have to dedicate a significant amount of time to their caring responsibilities. They take care of practical tasks such as cleaning, cooking and shopping as well as taking on the emotional support role for the person they are caring for. There are often physical and personal care needs that the young carer takes on such as helping the person walk or get out of bed. They also provide financial assistance such as managing household budgets, help to administer medication and care for animals and/or siblings. 

Due to all of these daily duties, many young carers miss out on the chance to follow their dreams or experience normal social development. They often miss out on school, work, social activities and other important life events. On average, 48 school days (10 weeks) are missed or cut short each year due to their caring role. Furthermore, 39% of young carers stated in a survey that no one at school was aware of their role as a young carer. For those whose peers were aware of their role, 60-70% had been bullied for their caring position. From isolation to a lack of future prospects, the life of a young carer can be very difficult. That's why the Young Carers Development Trust seek to help young carers have the experiences, opportunities and fulfilment that they deserve in life. 

What Do the Young Carers Development Trust Do? 

The aim of the Young Carers Development Trust is to empower young carers to reach their full potential. In 2012 after finding that only one registered young carer in west Wiltshire had gone onto university, the Trust formed, eager to improve this disparity. YCDT has grown enormously since 2012, taking on more young carers to support each year. This support takes form in a number of ways: personal one to one support, signposting, online webinars, their YAC Aspirations Conference and practical help needed to equip young carers in furthering their educational development. For example, this can be provided through tuition in subjects they may need extra help with or counselling to help manage complicated feelings which come with being a young carer. Below are the main ways that YCDT empower young carers to achieve their ambitions.

• Development Mentors: The Young Carers Development Trust supports carers on a one to one basis through their team of volunteer Development Mentors. As young people go onto higher education many have the guidance of parents or guardians when making tough decisions or needing access to extra help. Due to the nature of a caring role, this isn’t always possible for young carers. Therefore Development Mentors can provide much needed support and guidance, bridging the gap between the level of support young carers and their peers have. YCDT’s Development Mentors are adults with life experience, empathy and understanding. They work alongside young carers to help them figure out their ambitions in life, have the confidence to explore their dreams and access resources and opportunities. They support carers from GCSE age to the first year of university or equivalent. They help with access to equipment, tuition to support all the missed learning, visiting and applying to educational institutions. Development Mentors also assist in applying for funding, and wider development.

• YCDT’s Young Adult Carer Aspirations Conference: The YAC Aspirations Conference is one of their biggest events for young carers. It is an annual event where young carers come together to participate in a variety of useful workshops on topics such as carers rights, funding and grants and applying for university. These workshops provide practical support on how to apply for jobs, university, grants and funding. It also helps with life skills such as how to manage your mental wellbeing as a young carer. They had their first in person conference in 2022, where young carers could learn about the resources available to them through these workshops, as well as discussing their goals in person with the YCDT team. It was highly successful with young carers providing feedback on now having a better understanding of the rights they hold as a young carer. They also learn about the pathways into higher education and were able to connect and share their experiences with other young carers. These workshops have also been uploaded online and are available via the resources page. YCDT is looking forward to holding their next YAC Aspirations Conference next year.

  Online Resources: They have a variety of online resources for young carers to help with education, employability and life skills from their previous conferences. They began uploading these conferences in 2020, however due to the Covid19 pandemic, all of their resources were online webinars. This means that if a young carer comes across this charity in December, they can access the webinars online rather than waiting for the conference next October. They have a variety of webinars dating back to 2020, on topics such as grants and funding for carers, mental health support, support for carers leaving home, carers rights and many more informative videos. They also have inspiring talks by YCDT Ambassadors (young carers that have finished the YCDT program and now represent the charity) who have been able to accomplish their goals, discussing how they were able to achieve their aims as well as sharing their personal stories.

  YCDT brings young carers together through activities such as regular trips to local attractions and museums to gather the young carers they support together, this gives them a much needed break from their caring role and also gives them a chance to meet other young carers and tackles that feeling of isolation that can often come with a caring role.They also host charity events and regularly develop new ways of giving young carers the opportunities they deserve. You can find out more about their latest events by visiting their News page.

How Can I Support Young Carers Development Trust? 

This month the Young Carers Development Trust is taking part in our November charity poll! That means that if they get the most votes by the public, they win 20% of our profits for this month. You can help them win this donation by voting in the poll on the right hand side of this page (or at the bottom of the page on mobile). 

You can also support them through donations and sponsorship opportunities. Both of these you can learn more about on their Support Us page. There is also the opportunity to become a Development Mentor yourself, and volunteer to help young carers to achieve their dreams one on one. 

All donations go towards helping to provide mentoring, education and life-changing opportunities to young carers. Every penny for the Young Carers Development Trust helps to enable a young person to achieve their potential. 

How Can I Contact the Young Carers Development Trust?

The easiest way to get in touch with their team is by sending them an email at info@ycdt.org.uk or giving them a call on 07368366660. Their team is also active on social media, so you can send them a message on Facebook or Instagram. 
To find out more about this fantastic charity, visit their website at https://www.ycdt.org.uk/.

Have Young Carers Development Trust done enough to convince you? If so, you can go to our Homepage to cast your free vote for them in the poll. The poll is open from 1st November 2022 to 30th November 2022. Make sure you get your votes in, and share the poll with loved ones to make sure the charity that has your heart wins. Whilst your at it, why not try out some of our money saving voucher codes? These enable you to save money online and add to the amount donated to the winning charity.