Young Carer’s Award for Step Forward Psychology Service

Mersey Care’s Step Forward Psychology Service has become the first health care team in Liverpool to win the city’s Young Carer’s Award, set up to recognise the importance of collaborative working to identify and support young carers.

The team has been working alongside Barnardo’s Action with Young Carers and received an award that was set up to support the implementation of a template Memorandum of Understanding designed to improve joint working between adult and children's social care by the Carers Trust called ‘No Wrong Doors for Young Carers’ (NWD).

Jane Humphreys, Advanced Psychological Practitioner at Mersey Care, explained, “We’re absolutely delighted to have been given this award which we see as recognition for our work with Barnardo’s to help support our young carers and make people more aware of the role they play in health care.

“We see our role as providing support, guidance and expertise to the many young carers out there who may be looking after people– they are the real heroes.”

As the country prepares to mark Young Carers Action Day tomorrow (12 March), some of the support Mersey Care and specifically the Step Forward Psychology Service provide for its young carers includes:

• An adoption of a Young Carer’s Strategic Plan developed with carers to provide them with more support, advice and signposting them to useful services, with an additional young carers pathway within the Step Forward Psychology Service
• The development of a comprehensive webpage – ‘Caring for our carers’ –which provides information on support links for young carers, information about the triangle of care between the patient, health professional and the carer, the carer’s charter and much more
• Young Carers Awareness so all new staff are made aware of the carers/young carers pathway and the importance of recognising young carers. Regular team meetings take place to share updates on young carers and news or academic articles about young carers are shared regularly
• Staff training is provided by Barnardo’s Action with Young Carers and a video is being made that will reinforce the messages.

One in five children and young people have a caring role yet some wait more than 10 years to be identified and supported, which prompted the development of the Liverpool Young Carer’s Award.

It seeks to recognise and celebrate good practice around identifying and supporting young carers across health, education and community settings. Taking this approach to understanding the needs of young carers enables staff to identify and support young carers early in health care, also preventing difficulties escalating where higher levels of support are needed.