CARERS RIGHTS DAY 2023: MEET LUCAS, A YOUNG ADULT CARER FROM UXBRIDGE

Thursday 23 November 2023 is Carers Rights Day, an annual observance dedicated to raising awareness about the rights and challenges of unpaid carers in the UK. This year, we are sharing experiences from our recent creative:voices project with young adult carers in Uxbridge.

Did you know that there are at least 376,000 young adult carers in the UK? Young adult carers are young people aged 16–25 who care, unpaid, for a family member or friend with an illness, disability, mental health condition or addiction.

We designed creative:voices to alleviate feelings of isolation and enhance wellbeing, enriching carers’ sense of belonging in their community and increasing their confidence in themselves and their abilities.

We chatted to young adult carer Lucas (18) about his experience on creative:voices in Uxbridge, West London. Lucas explained how he got creative with other carers on our six-week animation project delivered by our professional filmmaker Linda Mason.

LIFE AT HOME

“I care for my mum, and I’ve been a carer for about four or five years now. My mum has something called Lyme disease where she can struggle to walk. It’s quite complicated. I started taking on caring responsibilities because my dad is at work, and my brothers have moved out.

“Sometimes it’s stressful when you want to do stuff and can’t because of your caring responsibilities. I think it’s worth it, though, for the benefit of my mum.”

i felt proud when i completed my animation.

lucas

BOOSTING CREATIVITY

“I took part in Create’s six-week stop motion animation project. I had different ideas and created a few different animations, adding sound and using different objects to create the stop motions.

“Creativity is boosted when you’re getting ideas from other people, and when there are other people taking part together. You get in this bubble with lots of creativity, which you can then use for other projects. It’s a good way to express how you’re feeling and distract yourself from life. I’ve realised I am more creative than I thought I was. Once I start thinking, the ideas start to flow. It’s made me more confident because I’ve found other things I can excel and do well in.

“I felt proud when I completed my animation. I showed my parents what I had created because I felt pride.

Create projects enable you to express emotions you may have bottled up.

LUCAS

working with others

“It’s fun working with others because it helps with your creativity when everyone collectively comes together. Everyone got along well. I liked working with [Create’s filmmaker] Linda. She was really good for ideas and helping out. She got my brain working.

“Projects like this help carers because they help you get away from stuff and they enable you to express any emotions that you may have been bottling up. You express emotions that you can’t express through anything else.”

This project is funded by The Smiles Fund, awarding funds from Comic Relief and Walkers.