The Bridge Young Carers Service
Supporting Young Carers in County Durham
The Bridge supports young carers and their families across County Durham. The service ensures that children and young people are protected from inappropriate caring and have the support they need to learn, develop and thrive, to enjoy positive childhoods and to achieve their full potential.
The service uses a whole family approach, which ensures that both children and parents are able to get the support they need, at the right time, ensuring families receive integrated, co-ordinated, multi-agency, solution focused support. By identifying problems early, all services can work more closely together to help prevent a family’s needs escalating and requiring intervention that is more intensive.
All young carers are offered a full young carers needs assessment which identifies the level of caring and how this is impacting on the young person’s life. A Plan is then put in place with the young carer and their family to support to reduce the impact of caring, remove inappropriate and ensure that the young person is allowed the same life opportunities are their peers.
If you would like to access support from The Bridge or are interested in volunteering you can contact us via:
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0191 383 2520 (Monday – Thursday 9am – 2.30pm)
Visit Family Action’s Young Carers webpage to hear about the experiences of a young carer, and to find out about other Family Action Young Carers services.
In 2018 The Bridge received support through an NHS England Community grant to create a short film highlighting work with young carers. You can view a short version of the film below:
Family Action c/o Butterwick Hospice
Woodhouse Lane
Bishop Auckland
County Durham DL14 6JU
Phone: 01913832520
Email: [email protected]