Leeds Young Carers Support Service

How our service can help

We work with organisations in Leeds to identify young carers and ensure they get appropriate support. We also promote advocacy for young carers to ensure they have a voice and the chance to influence services and provision in the area. Here’s a little more information about the things we do:

Information and Advice

We provide information and advice to practitioners, young carers and their families, so that young carers are getting the right level of support.

Awareness Raising

Our “Community Engagement Practitioners” deliver training to local organisations to help them identify young carers, break down barriers, assess their needs, offer support and promote services and activities available to them in their local community.

Specialist Support

For young carers whose needs cannot be met through universal support, targeted support or early help services we provide specialist individual support, where the individuals’ needs are assessed and we draft a plan with clear, achievable outcomes.

What makes us a Specialist Service?

• We only focus on the young carer – not the whole family
• We have a wealth of knowledge and skills to identify and support the needs of young carers
• We have knowledge of physical and mental health illnesses and the negative impact this might have on a young carer
• We help to empower young carers to reach their potential in areas such as emotional wellbeing, education, social skills and relationships
• We deliver specialist group work to enable young people to meet other young carers and make new friendships
• We identify if young carers have any additional needs and help them access specialist support. This can include, for example, specialist support or counselling relating to substance misuse, child exploitation or domestic violence & abuse
• We offer a variety of activities throughout the year for young carers
• We use a wide range of resources and tools to help young carers that help to:
o Learn coping strategies to help in their caring role
o Build resilience, confidence and self-esteem
o Identify triggers for anxiety, depression, anger and frustration
o Widen their support and social network