Young carers learn first aid skills

Young people in Shropshire who provide care for family members have been learning vital first aid skills, thanks to a Red Cross project.

The Red Cross’ young carers group in Shrewsbury recently met for a first aid training and fire safety day, where they were given fire safety tips by a local fire officer and taught valuable life-saving skills by peer educators.

Volunteers Nicola Davies (18) and Guy Frankfort (19) provided the first aid training throughout the day. Speaking about the young carers project, Nicola said: “The group is all about helping children who otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to act like children and giving them a chance to get their childhood back – to run about, scream, have fun and not have to worry about their responsibilities for a few hours.”

Big responsibilities

Rowan Ellson-Arias, project co-ordinator, sees first-hand the huge difference that the project makes to young lives. She said: “Some of our kids have to do so much at home – for example, caring for parents with manic depression or substance misuse problems – and have an extremely tough caring role.

“So when they are here, they just want to hang out with other young people and enjoy themselves. And they are the friendliest bunch – it’s lovely to see them running around and having fun. It’s a very worthwhile project.”

New friends

Young carer Gemma Brady (18), whose mother is terminally ill, is a regular at the project. She said: “I’ve been coming along for two and a half years now and we do all kinds of things: horse riding, assault courses, hill-boarding, mountaineering, orienteering. We mainly do lots of outdoors, physical activities.”

She added: “It’s such a relief to meet other people in the same situation. Before, I thought: my goodness, I’m on my own, no one else has to care for someone. But now I’ve made some really good friends.”

Rowan added: “We have a first aid day every year. It’s particularly good for these kids as they do hold positions of responsibility in their homes. We also find that they automatically take on these responsibilities elsewhere – for example, at school or when out with friends. They become a person who truly would be there in an accident or emergency for whoever needed help.”

The project offers support to young people throughout Shropshire aged up to 19 years who provide a significant caring role for ill or disabled family members. It is estimated that there are more than 800 young carers in the area.  

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