CREATE PARTNERS WITH HONEYPOT TO EMPOWER YOUNG CARERS DURING LOCKDOWN

honeypot young carers

We have formed a partnership with The Honeypot Children’s Charity to reach out to increasing numbers of young carers who have been isolated during the coronavirus pandemic.

Starting this week, Carers Week, we have joined forces to bring online creative projects to dozens of young carers from England and Wales. Four projects have been planned initially over the next four weeks: photography, dance, music and drama. The workshops, which are being run by our professional artists, will give the young carers respite from their everyday lives, boost their self-esteem and creativity, and give them a chance to connect with other young carers.

There are an estimated 800,000 young carers in the UK, and more than one third of them report that they suffer from mental health problems. A recent study found that children and young people are likely to experience high rates of depression and anxiety during lockdown and long after it ends. Young carers are particularly vulnerable, and creativity can provide them with a vital lifeline: a chance to express themselves, build skills and enhance self-esteem, aiding wellbeing.

Honeypot provides a long-established and wide-reaching network of thousands of engaged young carers through much-loved respite breaks, digital inclusion outreach services and fun face-to-face outreach days. During its 24-year history, more than 20,000 young carers have benefited from Honeypot’s support services to date.

In 2019/20 our professional artists delivered creative projects with 410 young carers across the UK, providing them with a creative and social outlet away from their caring responsibilities. We were recognised with the prestigious Children & Young People Now’s Young Carers Award for this vital work. We were extending the programme in 2020 when the coronavirus struck, forcing all our workshops to be postponed.

Just 14 days later, following rigorous planning, consultation and trial runs, we launched a new delivery method – Create Live! – through which we are now delivering our programmes virtually. Workshops in photography, visual art, drama, music, dance and other artforms are now being rolled out to young carers and other vulnerable children and adults across the UK, reducing their sense of isolation during the pandemic. This is the first time we have partnered with Honeypot.

Our Chief Executive Nicky Goulder said: “We are so excited about working with Honeypot to reach new groups of young carers with the power of the creative arts. We have adapted quickly to the pandemic, and our online workshops are proving incredibly successful at empowering, upskilling and bringing the joy of creativity to some of the most isolated people in our society during lockdown. Young carers need us now more than ever, and we are delighted to be extending the reach of our work through this important new collaboration with Honeypot, which will bring young carers together at a time when they need this most.”

Honeypot CEO Simmi Woodwal said: “Always aware of the need to maximise the impact that contributions from voluntary donations will have on improving the lives of young carers, Honeypot seeks to avoid duplicating expenditure, by partnering with organisations who have the expertise to deliver engaging, life enhancing services. In Create, I am confident that Honeypot has found an excellent new partner. Our two organisations harmoniously share goals and objectives of boosting the social and emotional resilience of young carers through life enhancing engagement in activities that develop the children’s confidence and self-esteem while reducing their anxiety and stress levels. I look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Nicky Goulder and her marvellous team at Create.”

Photographs taken by young carers on a Honeypot/Create photography project.