Albert is ten years old and lives with his Mum, Dad and older sister. Both Albert and his sister are young carers and access our support service; Albert has been attending since March 2019, when he joined our youngest Peer Support group and has been a regular attender. We are able to offer him the opportunity to have respite from the sometimes-intense situation at home due to his father having depression with auditory and visual hallucinations with PTSD and Scherzo effective disorder.
When Covid-19 hit and we moved the service online Albert did join for the first part and he also received one to one mentoring over zoom a few times while he was at school during the period October to December.
During the Covid -19 pandemic both parents have been unable to work and therefore the family income has been low and they could not laptops for the children. The school have issued one to his older sibling but Albert did not qualify, therefore we successfully applied for a device through the Plug the Gap initiative. Having a chrome book will mean that Douglas can keep up with his school work and stay in contact with us through social media and zoom, which means he does not feel so isolated and can stay in contact with his friends. These things are so important for children and young people who are young carers – it is so easy for them to become isolated from their peers, which can then cause issues at school and with their learning.
To protect privacy, Albert is apseudonym.
