Support for young adult carers
Caring comes in all shapes and sizes. We might be doing a family member or friend's laundry, cooking meals, or sorting the weekly food shop.
Perhaps we're helping them with personal care such as bathing, getting dressed, or using the bathroom. Or reminding them to take their medication, driving them to regular hospital appointments, or doing their life admin.
If we're 18-25 and find ourselves doing some of the above, we're most likely a young adult carer and this guide includes support available to us. From support from our workplace to how the local council can help and more.
Perhaps we're not caring for someone yet but can see it coming ahead. Check out this short guide which is helpful if we want to be prepared.
Under 18? We've list specific support for young carers here.
As carers, there can be a number of larger responsibilities that fall on our shoulders. Managing finances, organising short breaks (known as 'respite') and paid carers, or just trying to find out what support is available.
Below is a section of guides that can help get us started. For those of us who aren’t new to caring, we might find out about some benefits or support options we didn’t know existed.
Caring for a family member or friend can feel especially challenging for those of us who are young adult carers. Whether we’ve been caring for a long time or not, the chances are that taking on so much responsibility for someone else is not how we had hoped to spend our early years of adulthood.
We might be watching our seemingly carefree friends going out, heading off to university, or starting new jobs. While we find ourselves focusing on caring for a friend or family member (or juggling both!).
Even if we are feeling good right now, our mental health is something we should always keep in mind and work to protect. The most important thing is to reach out when we need to, and not to try to handle it alone.
Some useful short articles below:
Helpful support organisations
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If you are having feelings of ending your life, you can contact Young Minds or Samaritans day or night
While looking after someone can feel consuming, it is important to make time for our hobbies, relationships, getting outside, and connecting with friends. Sometimes, a mental rest from caring is what we need and can have a great impact on our mood.
This is what keeps us mentally and physically healthy, and able to continue with providing care.
For those of us looking to head off to university, already there, or studying remotely so we can stay with the person we look after - caring and studying can feel overwhelming.
Young adult carers from our community have shared their tips on managing the balance of getting the most from our university experience while still caring for someone.
Whether we are about to start our first job, shifting to our first career type role, or have been working for a while and finding the balance hard, seeing how other carers have handled the world of work can be helpful.
No matter what our caring experience is, seeing how other carers navigate the role can help us to feel less alone. These stories from young adult carers in our community cover the highs and lows of caring, and might even give us a few tips to try in our own lives.
Mobilise is for anyone looking after a friend or family member who is aged 18 or over. We have a range of support services and content available to everyone. Together, we want to help those that care learn to thrive.
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Join the Mobilise Hub to connect with other carers and find tips and support
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Join Cuppas
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Mobilise LIVEs - Sign up to the free app to view the time table
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Mobilise courses - Sign up to the free app to view these
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Guide to caring email course
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View our full library of content
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We might be eligible for one to one support calls if our local authority uses Mobilise
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Follow us on Instagram or sign up to our weekly emails to stay in the loop with what support we have for carers
“They support carers from 18 to 65+ no one problem is too big or too small. Carers all have different backgrounds and people we care for, but we all have 1 thing in common which is what helps young people like myself mix with all the other carers within Mobilise. They're friendly, helpful and sometimes cheeky but I have not a bad word to say about them.”
- Young adult carer in the Mobilise Community
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