The Big Picture

In this final episode for the season, the Carers NSW Young Carer team takes a look back at previous episodes and hears from our young carer podcast superstars who share some final messages for audiences to take with them when interacting with young people. The team invites listeners to think about the big picture in their work or community, so we can strive towards a society that recognises, acknowledges and is inclusive of young carers.

For support as a young carer, check out Carer Gateway or call 1800 422 737 to find out what’s available in your local area. Carer Gateway is a national model of carer support available to any carer across Australia.

The Carers NSW Young Carer Program can also assist young carers living in NSW find the right support for them. Contact the Young Carer team by calling 02 9280 4744 during business hours, or email yc@carersnsw.org.au.

Subscribe to Carers NSW monthly YC eNews to stay up to date with opportunities and updates from the team, and follow the Carers NSW Young Carer Program on Facebook.

For more information about Carers NSW, please visit the Carers NSW website.

To learn more about the Carers NSW Young Carer Inclusion Network, please contact the Young Carer team.

Transcript

Natalie:

Welcome to the last episode of season one of YC Bytes, a Carers NSW podcast focusing on young carers.

Sarah:

Young carers are children and young people, 25 years and under, who help care for someone living with a disability, mental illness, drug or alcohol dependency, chronic condition, terminal illness, or who is frail.

Natalie:

Carers NSW would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians, countries, and language groups of New South Wales on which we all live, learn, and work. We are recording this podcast on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. We acknowledge the wisdom of Elders past and present, and pay respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of today.

We are very lucky today to have Elena Katrakis, CEO of Carers NSW, introduce today's episode.

Elena:

Thanks, Nat. It's my great pleasure to introduce this final episode of YC Bytes called ‘The Big Picture’. If you've been following along, you might have noticed that each episode in this season has been focused on one area of a young carer's journey. Whether you work with young carers, support a young carer personally, or if you, yourself, are a young carer, it's our hope that by bringing together all the different pieces of information and all of the different experiences that the different young carers have shared with us so far, that you'll be able to see the big picture when considering young carers in the community. At Carers NSW, we know that young carers are invaluable and they do extraordinary things in looking after the person that they care for, so it's really, really important to support young carers, to have them identify that they are young carers, and get support for themselves.

Thanks for listening to YC Bytes, and I hope you enjoy this episode.

Natalie:

For our final episode of the season, we wanted to provide you with a short summary of what we've heard so far, while inviting you to reflect on everything you've learned, take a step back, and think about young carers who you might be engaging with from right across New South Wales.

Sarah:

Yeah, and we know many of the challenges that young carers might face across different transition points in their journey, a few of which we've touched on this season. But we also know that young carers are individual people with their own unique experiences, interests, and identities.

Natalie:

For this reason, when Sarah and I go out into the community and speak with professionals and service providers about young carers, we will always encourage educators and other people working with young carers to ask lots of questions and not take a one size fits all approach to the young carers they work with. We can understand the big picture and the general needs and experiences of the population of young carers in New South Wales. Now, the next step for anyone listening and anyone working with young carers in the community is to apply this knowledge that we have, be curious, and engage with young carers one-on-one.

Sarah:

If you feel like you ever want support in applying this knowledge in practice, I guess, when working with young carers, please feel free to reach out. We're always happy to have a chat and help with that.

In this series, we've had great conversations with a group of passionate young carers and professionals who really highlighted why it's important to identify, acknowledge, and celebrate young carers.

Natalie:

We sure have. And now, we're going to take you right back to the beginning of the season at episode one, where we started off by discussing the hidden nature of young carers and the importance of identifying as a young carer.

Sarah:

Devika, a young carer herself, spoke about the benefits of helping young people identify with their caring role.

Devika:

Being there as a support person that someone can reach out to. Just being there to kind of listen and accept everything as is and not judge anyone on what's going on is the most important thing for us because all we want to do is be accepted for who we are.

Natalie:

Devika also spoke about how helping the wider community better understand young carers can be such a crucial part in a young carer's journey in accessing support and making sense of their circumstances.

Sarah:

We then spoke with Finn, a young carer, and school psychologist, Tommasina, who focused on the experience for a young carer at school.

Natalie:

They discussed young carers juggling their caring role and their study, as well as accessing support and acknowledging how important this is for young carers.

Sarah:

Yeah, and it was great to hear Finn validate reaching out to others when you need to.

Finn:

More than okay to ask for help from someone else, lean on someone else because you can't deal with everything all the time by yourself. It just becomes too much, and then you can't really help others if they need it.

Natalie:

In episode three, both Kelsie, a young carer, and Associate Professor Myra Hamilton helped us understand what it can be like for young carers who are finishing high school, gaining independence, and going out into the big wide world. There are so many skills young carers gain from providing care, and it was important hearing how this was beneficial for Kelsie when she moved out of home.

Kelsie:

So I think there were so many transferable skills that I already had from being a young carer that when I moved here, I was able to implement and it wasn't too much of a struggle to learn how to live by myself. I also found that when I first moved here, I went into catered accommodation. And I actually found that really weird because I've been so used to cooking. I almost felt really lazy for having someone else cook for me. Now that I live in an apartment, I think it's much better for me and what my needs are.

Sarah:

We also touched on transferrable skills, and young carers Nina and Paris spoke about their strengths being beneficial as they entered the workforce.

Nina:

Being a carer has definitely strengthened my communication and advocacy skills. I feel like I am really good at communicating my wants and needs. I am great at defending myself. I am good at standing up for myself, I would say.

Paris:

I'm a lot more confident and able to push for what I need. And I would also say, in a similar vein, I'm a much better negotiator.

Nina:

I feel like it makes us very patient as well.

Paris:

Yeah. And I think, also, those are all the skills that are necessary to be a good leader as well. I would say that I'm a better leader because I have been a carer.

Natalie:

It was really great to listen back and hear some of the key takeaways from each episode of YC Bytes so far.

Now that we have a bit more of an understanding of who young carers are in the community, the next step and what comes next for us listening to this podcast series is how to apply what we've learned and support young carers to the best of our ability.

Sarah:

We often talk about young carers accessing support and why it's important for them, and we now want to provide you with some tips about how some young carers would like to be supported in practice.

Natalie:

We really want to continue shining the light on our superstar young carer guests in this episode, so we have invited Devika, Finn, Kelsie, Nina, and Paris back to the microphone to share some tips with you on how to best support any young carers you might know.

Devika:

For us as young carers, acceptance is super important. So the ability to just be non-judgmental and listen to us and our stories allows us to become more comfortable and ask for help when we need it.

Finn:

We’re just like everyone else. Sometimes we need a hand, while other times we can push past things. So in as simple and layman terms as possible, I think it would just be being there, being a support network, and not treating us like we're either fragile or like we aren't important.

Kelsie:

I think it's important to remember that providing a student with some compassion and empathy and following up with practical support can make a massive difference in that student's life.

Nina:

I'd like teachers to know that every young carer's journey is different, and it's really important to foster a relationship with a young person to understand how to properly support them. This could be through things like extensions on assignments or excusing absence from class when caring responsibilities have to take priority in a young carer's life.

Paris:

I want people to know and remember that young carers are multifaceted humans and it is so important to consider that we would have our own things going on, and that we are very likely falling into other categories of diversity. That all needs to be considered. And honestly, something as simple as a, "Are you okay? Do you want to talk about the trauma of being a carer?" or, "Are you having a tough day?" or, "Do you want to talk about the amazing things?" Checking in on us, as well as the clients that they are caring for or responsible for, is just as important.

Natalie:

As we've just heard, young carers are more than likely looking for lots of different types of support. We know that young carers are doing great work for the people they care for, but they certainly don't have to do it alone. We invite you to think about what you can do to better support the young carers in your community.

Sarah:

As we wrap up this episode, we wanted to stay a big thank you for tuning into this season of YC Bytes, delivered by your hosts from the Carers NSW Young Carer Program.

Natalie:

We hope you have enjoyed our conversations about identifying and supporting young carers as they navigate their way through school, tertiary education, and employment.

Sarah:

And a big thank you to all our guests who have generously shared their time and expertise with us throughout this season.

Natalie:

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

If you are keen to know more about supporting young carers, please reach out to us here at Carers NSW. Sign up to receive our monthly YC eNews, or join our Young Carer Inclusion Network. You'll be able to find our contact details and additional information in the show notes.

That's all for this season of YC Bytes. Take care, and we look forward to speaking with you soon.