Our Community Hero in the Spotlight for May is MYTIME Young Carers – a local charity with the mission to level the playing field for young carers by providing them with the support, friendship, and opportunities that every child deserves.
The children and young adults they support range from 5-25 and MYTIME exists to champion and empower them to reach their full personal, academic and professional potential.
MYTIME Young Carers’ aims are ambitious, but they are determined not to rest until these become realities:
- Improve the lives of young carers through targeted programmes
- Raise extensive awareness of young carers and their needs
- Be leaders of change, using their expertise and data about the needs of the UK young carers community to guide decision-making and offer an expert voice in the field
- Provide a voice for young carers within government and wider society
MYTIME run three main programmes to support those hard working and amazing young carers in our region:
- Memory Making – MYTIME runs fun and enriching activity days throughout the school holidays which include an activity such as rock-climbing, ice-skating, paddleboarding or outdoor adventures and a meal out. In addition to the activity days, MYTIME also run residential retreats for young carers at their accommodation centre on the Purbecks. MYTIME also run an online Youth Group three times a week where young carers can take time for themselves and get involved in a range of activities such as arts and crafts, cookery and magic skills.
- Employability Programme – young carers develop a unique skillset at a very early age and represent an incredibly helpful, committed, responsible and compassionate community, yet they are twice as likely as their peers to find themselves out of education, training or employment between the ages of 16-18. Young carers are often lacking in self-confidence and self-worth and MYTIME’s Employability Programme exists to address these issues and to support these young carers into work or further education. MYTIME run 8 week courses in which career opportunities are explored, a professional CV is produced, interview skills are taught and areas of work experience are identified. Beyond the course, specialist MYTIME staff will keep in touch with the young carers and offer any support and assistance they might need in applying for work.
- Level-Up Programme – through this programme MYTIME work with schools to ensure that young carers have access to the additional support they may need in school. The aims of this programme are:
- To raise awareness of young carers within their school community
- Equip schools with the tools and the know-how to support young carers more effectively, both academically and emotionally
- ensure that young carers have everything they need to achieve their full academic, professional and personal potential in education and beyond.
For more information about MYTIME and how you could get involved please visit www.mytimeyoungcarers.org