In the final week of the school holidays young carers from across the county came together to take part in a special Caring Counts - our health and wellbeing programme - in partnership with the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.

This time the day session was designed to support young carers moving up to secondary school, and to learn about the Five Ways to Wellbeing through a series of activity-based workshops.

The group discussed their concerns about starting secondary school, what they were excited about, some tips and tricks for navigating the transition, how to get support as a young carer and how to look after themselves along the way.  

Thanks to the HAF programme, they also took part in archery, t-shirt painting, making fires, toasting marshmallows and a big BBQ!  The staff were brilliant, and it was great to have such a good team to help the young carers to feel at ease and have a fun time.  

"I've had the best day ever!" said one young carer.  

The young carers described the day as ‘fun', 'cool', 'enlightening', and ‘an amazing opportunity’.  

Activities like this where young carers do not know each other in advance can be daunting for them to attend,  At the end of the day we asked how they felt before they came and the replies were ‘worried/ anxious’, 'excited', 'scared', 'confused' – afterwards the responses were ‘happy’, 'good’, 'calm', 'energised’.   It's good for young people to know that they can step out of their comfort zone, and it will be OK.  This can help them feel more confident with their next big step of starting secondary school!

A massive thankyou to everyone associated with the HAF project for making the day so special.

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