Successful Gloucestershire Young Carers Twilight Conference

The theme this year was ‘30 years leading the way with and for young carers: how together we can shape the future’ and was co-produced with young and young adult carers who spent a day in the October half term planning for the event and devising the six different workshops. 

The afternoon started with a welcome from GYC and our CEO Cheryl Rhodes, followed by a keynote Speech by Andy McGowan from Carers Trust.  He delivered a powerful message about the disadvantages that young carers face and how they should not have their dreams and ambitions thwarted by caring responsibilities.

The workshops were on a range of topics including the journey of caring for a parent with mental ill health, exploring stigma around parental substance misuse, support in education, why it is important to make an effective referral, uncovering the masks of young adult carers and the impact of being a sibling carer. 

The conference ended with Key Messages from all the workshops such as ‘If you don't have the time to make a referral – you are saying that I don't matter!’. We then had a Q&A with young and young adult carers taking the stage to share their views.  A final closing statement brought all 21 young people together to give a final message to the delegates about how they need to be seen and heard, given a voice and choice, identification and support. 

The delegates gave some great feedback about the event with most of them mentioning the power of the young carers' contribution. ‘If only every conference was like this’ 

‘I enjoyed hearing directly from young carers - their honesty, grace, courage and generosity to share is inspiring’.

100% of delegates said they would recommend this event to a colleague so if you missed it, we welcome you to come and join us next year! 

You can find more information about Gloucestershire Young Carers and how they support sibling carers on the Local Offer.

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