We were really happy to help organise and attend the 2nd face to face meet up of Young Carers National Voice (YCNV) in Birmingham last month.
At the very first meeting of the group back in Feb 2020 little did we know that the global pandemic would mean that Zoom became our meeting place for the next few years!
Young Carers National Voice brings young carers activists from across the UK to campaign on issues that are important to them. It is a collective voice for young carers who want to raise awareness and improve services for all. Over the last three years it has developed three separate campaigns and shared resources on a number of different issues – for example an identification guide for schools to help identify hidden young carers and give education staff the confidence to talk to young people about their home lives and caring responsibilities.
It was brilliant to come together face to face as a group once more and discuss ideas for our next campaign over the coming year. To see all the young carer activists from across the country and hear all their ideas (and their different accents) was so inspiring! This year the campaign is about the impact of caring on young carers’ mental and physical health and what can be done to prevent and alleviate this.
Arthur, one of YCNV members from Gloucestershire, describes how ‘I thought it was a really good meeting up with loads of different young carers and getting our opinions heard – it was so much better speaking in person than through an ipad or laptop” .
If you are a young carer who would like to get involved in helping create positive change for all young carers please get in touch with our Youth Participation Officer lucy@glosyoungcarers.org.uk.