Meet Daliya, a young carer from BARNET

During October half term in 2023, Create artist Renata Minoldo led a visual art project with young carers in Barnet. This enabled the young carers to take a break from their caring responsibilities, have fun, learn new skills, build relationships and express themselves.

We spoke to Daliya (12), a young carer from Barnet who took part in the project.

THE IMPACT OF BEING A YOUNG CARER

According to research conducted by Carers Trust (2023), caring often affects the amount of time young carers can spend with their friends. In fact, 40% of young and young adult carers reported that their caring responsibilities significantly impact their social interactions. As a result, 26% of them feel excluded from their friends’ activities, creating a sense of isolation and disconnection.

Create’s projects give young carers the opportunity to connect with others and explore their creativity and self-expression in high-quality creative arts workshops led by our professional artists.

Daliya’S STORY

“My mum has dermatomyositis and it makes it really difficult to walk and she’ll get tired really easily. She has breathing problems and muscle problems as well. So, probably about the time I was 10, I started taking care of her a lot. And I always help her in day-to-day stuff, for example doing the laundry, because it will be quite difficult for her to do it.

I think being a young carer I’ve had quite a different experience to other people my age.

DALIYA

“You have much more responsibility to take care of your parent. And then on top of that you have school work and then you also have to think of yourself. So, it’s a big impact compared to other people my age. If we have homework to do, I have to have that free time to do so, but most of the time I’m taking care of my mum. Sometimes I can be quite difficult.

“But it’s also such a great thing. You’ve learnt something like a chore that’s quite difficult to do at a certain age. So, it’s really great to learn those skills. And I feel like I have a mindset to my future.”

DOING CREATE PROJECTS

“We’ve been creating jewellery and using fabric and different materials. It was nice because I got to use my creativity and imagination. I’ve learnt a lot about using different materials and I’ve learnt wirework as well. I found that I am really good at imagination and learning colour combinations. And I’m really good at remembering things so next time I’ll remember how to do it. I was really happy with what I made. I was actually quite proud of myself.

“I do creative things very rarely. Before I joined Barnet Young Carers, I didn’t really have materials to do arts and crafts. Barnet Young Carers help me quite a lot.”

“The (Create) projects help carers especially in the half term. Instead of sitting at home, we can go out and about, socialise with others. Instead of sitting at home, we can be here doing different activities and having fun.”

“I’ve loved to socialise with other people and share our ideas. It was nice because you can talk to other people, you can have fun. We got to communicate and if someone needed help we could go and help them. I learnt that if we’re stuck it’s ok to ask others for help.”

This project was funded by Sarah Jane Leigh Charitable Trust