About us

Skye & Lochalsh Young Carers History

2000
We set up a support group - 6 initial members came to the first meeting. We developed our ground rules and the plans for how the project would work. More members joined and we decided on the name of Skye & Lochalsh Young Carers Project. We got a grant to help the project develop over the next 3 years. We made information packs for young carers and helped develop policies so we had a say in how our project should be run.

2001
We got our first project base in Portree, it was an office above the Bank of Scotland building. We were very busy fundraising and spreading the word about what its like for us being young carers. We started getting training in subjects like stress management, First Aid and Moving and Handling. Our numbers by this time had grown so much we had to split into two groups.

2002
We now had computers, e-mail and internet access set up in our office base. We got money to set up healthy snacks which everyone loved!  As well as lots of training courses and sessions we were doing challenges to help us develop our skills and confidence. Our Skye and Lochalsh Young Carers Information Packs were launched during the Queen's visit to Portree and there was the launch of the Young Carers Guidelines for Hospital Staff - they went to every hospital in the Highlands. We set up regular respite outings which became an important part of the project work.

We became the winners of the Public Involvement in Health Award which was supported by the King's Fund.  This was a National Award with 59 projects from accross Britain competing for it.  Two of our members and two workers went down to London to hear the results being announced and recieve the award (and the shopping and sight seeing were brilliant too!!).

2005
Some of our members started doing extra First Aid training with the Red Cross and we continued with our work of raising awarness by attending conferences and meeting people from the Scottish Executive.
Lots of local groups now help us with fundraising and in so many other ways, and of course we’re always busy trying to fundraise for ourselves.

2006
Some of us appeared on TV this year with De-a-nis and the Children In Need appeal.  We have started producing more awareness raising and training materials, our poetry book is finished as well as our 'Friendship' and 'Dealing with Blame' training programmes.  We have now started work on our 'Alcohol' training pack for service providers as well as this website which two of our members are very busy putting together!

2007
We now have 58 members and we are really busy with respite outings, support group meetings, lunch time drop in and activities. Our workers support us at the groups, provide one to one support and attend any school liaison meetings etc to make sure our views and feelings are listened to and taken aboard. Funding is always a problem, our 3 year grants have run out and we are also looking for ways to make up the shortfall in core funding due to increasing demand and costs.
However there is now some GREAT NEWS!

The Big lottery has awarded us £267,866 over the next 5 years for our ‘Transition Mission’ Project to increase and develop young carer support. This means we can develop the ways in which we are supported.  We can now have weekly support groups for all the primary aged young carers instead of fortnightly and we will also have more staff cover.  We will be able to develop and deliver special training programmes and work with other agencies like the Red Cross and the Fire Service to explore new and better ways of supporting young carers.

2007 Red Cross Humanitarian Award goes to S&L Young Carers

The extraordinary achievements of four of our young carers were recognised at this year’s British Red Cross Humanitarian Citizen Awards.

The annual Awards were set up to recognise the achievements and celebrate the contribution that young people aged 25 and under make to the lives of others.

At an exclusive ceremony in London on the 17 November 2007, the overall winners - selected from more than 70 nominees – were announced.  It was the ‘Overall Group Award’ which was given to four of our young carers who volunteer with our own Young Carers service and the British Red Cross.

The four: Robert MacLean (17), Nicola Strachan (15), Craig MacDonald (17) and Ben Oakes (16), were recognised for their support work with other young carers and their dedication to volunteering, which includes teaching first aid to classmates and travelling throughout the highlands of Scotland to provide first aid cover.   

The four said: "We didn't know we were even being nominated and to find out we've now won means so much to us.”

Ross Bartlett, youth manager, was full of praise for them. He said: “No one is more deserving of this award than these four. They each have significant caring responsibilities for relatives at home, but still make their precious time, empathy and skills available to others in need.”

http://www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=43676