Carers given online lifeline TV cash allows support to carry on despite lockdown
Stirling Carers Center said a grant from a TV appeal helped young carers to connect virtually during lockdown isolation.
The centre usually offers face-to-face support sessions and day trips for carers of all ages.
Its young carers support team visits schools throughout the area to provide respite and peer support for kids as young as seven who care for relatives with additional needs.
But the coronavirus lockdown meant the work usually carried out in person by the centre was no longer possible.
After receiving a £2000 grant from the STV Children’s
Appeal the centre has been able to move its support services online. It used the grant to invest in a number of new laptops.
Social media is being used to give young carers creative ideas for keeping themselves busy at home and the team has been out and about around Stirlingshire, delivering arts and crafts packs put together with additional money from the Children’s Appeal grant. Centre CEO Sarah Erskine said: “The Covid-19 pandemic brought with it a range of difficult challenges for the centre and the speed with which we needed to transition our services for unpaid carers of all ages to new virtual platforms was unprecedented.
“Young carers in particular have felt the implications of the lockdown, with the impact of isolation from peer groups, friends and their wider families increasingly felt with every passing day.
“The fact that our services have successfully transitioned online gives young carers continuity, connections to peers, a listening ear and the oneto-one support that is so important to each of them.”