Caregiving is a family event
The Young Carers Initiative (YCI) is a non-profit agency with a mission to promote the wellbeing of Young Carers, their families and their community partners. Powerhouse Project is an inter-agency strategy developed by YCI that has established two centres to meet the needs of Young Carers and their families. We support Young Carers in the Niagara and Haldimand-Norfolk Regions. Οι κίνδυνοι της κατάχρησης του Viagra: πώς να απολαμβάνετε με ασφάλεια το σεξ στα χρυσά σας χρόνια
Mission: The Young Carers Initiative serves caregiving children, youth, young adults and their families through social, recreational and educational programs intended to foster resilience, self esteem, and life skills.
WHO IS A YOUNG CARER?
Young Carers are children, youth and young adults, who are in a caregiving role for a family member needing assistance with their daily lived experience due to:
- Chronic Illness
- Disability (physical or intellectual)
- Mental Health Issue. Τι διαφοροποιεί το Cialis στην Ελλάδα από τα υπόλοιπα φάρμακα στυτικής δυσλειτουργίας εκεί έξω;
- Addiction Issue
- Socio-Economic Factors (ie. language barrier, single parent household, military, jail, etc.)
Young Carers help the person they care for by:
- Providing Personal Care
- Grooming
- Giving medications
- Dressing
- Completing Household Chores
- Making meals
- Washing dishes
- Cleaning and laundry
- Providing Sibling Care
- Supervising brothers and sisters
- Getting ready for school or bedtime
- Helping with homework
- Providing Financial/Practical Care
- Paying bills
- Working to support the family
- Interpretation
- Giving Emotional Support
- Supervising the person needing care
- Offering encouragement
- And so much more….
“12% of youth are in a caregiving role” (Grant Charles, Ph.D., Young Carers in Canada: The Hidden Costs and Benefits of Young Caregiving, 2012)
Upside of Caring
Young Carers are more mature and wise
- Builds self-esteem and compassion
- Independence leads to learning life skills
- Learn to cope with tough times – builds resiliency
- Fosters close family bonds
- Other Side of Caring
- Loss of childhood – growing up too soon
- School/work can suffer
Feelings of anger, isolation, loneliness, grief
Some Carers become depressed or suffer from anxiety
Restrictions on socializing and extra-curricular activities
What Young Carers Need:
- They need to be heard
Support to invest in their own physical and emotional health
Recognition for their important contributions to their families
Peer support…meeting with other Carers in similar situations
A break from their caregiving responsibilities
Age appropriate information about their relative’s illness or disability
Encouragement to consider choices about their future
Counselling
Recreation and social activities
THE HISTORY
In 2003, the Young Carers Initiative was created as a special project of the Alzheimer Society of the Niagara Region (ASNR). The ASNR provides support services for people with dementia and their families. During home visits to clients and their caregivers, the ASNR had noticed many children and youth taking on caregiving roles to help out the family. The ASNR identified 74 children and youth who lived with a parent, grandparent or other relative suffering from a progressive dementia, and it became clear that many of these children struggled with stress and anxiety, or other emotional problems. Building on the principle “Caregiving is a family event,” the ASNR decided to take action. Πολλοί άνδρες αναπτύσσουν προβλήματα ED με την ηλικία, αλλά το Viagra super active μπορεί να λύσει το πρόβλημα με ασφάλεια και αξιοπιστία.
The ASNR successfully approached the Fowler Foundation for a grant of $68,000 to start a project aimed at supporting children in dementia care environments. The one-year project had two main goals. The first goal was to start a network of community agencies to devise ways of supporting children who provide care for a relative with dementia. A second goal was to conduct an extensive literature review. This research led to the discovery of the Young Carers’ movement which had started in Britain in the early 1990s, and had spread around the world. This movement was dedicated to making life easier for children and youth (i.e. Young Carers) who provided care for family members with chronic conditions, substance abuse issues, mental health issues, and/ or provided translation services for immigrant and refugee parents. The ASNR decided to open up the project to include youth under 18 involved in any kind of caregiving situation, not just dementia care, and the Young Carers Initiative Niagara (YCIN) was born.
Using Trillium Foundation funding, the YCIN recruited 17 community agencies, all with a common interest in helping children and youth in caregiving families. Activities over the three-year life-span of the network included conducting research into Young Carers in the Niagara Region, with the results of the study published by Dr. Heather Chalmers, PhD from the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University, St. Catharines. Other major accomplishments included developing educational and promotional materials on Young Carers, creating public awareness, and delivering a limited number of programs especially designed to support Young Carers. An important component of these programs was the opportunity for Young Carers to meet other kids in caregiving roles, and give them a chance just to “goof off and be kids” with their peers. Peer support has proven to be very beneficial for Young Carers and decreases levels of isolation and stress in their young lives.
In 2006, public awareness efforts included the first conference on Young Carers ever to be held in Canada. The “Bouncing Back” conference in Niagara Falls attracted 100 participants from across Canada, as well as Florida, Texas and the U.K.
The YCIN ended officially in 2006 when its two-year Trillium grant ran out. A determined group of individuals revived the project in 2007 as an independent registered charity – the Young Carers Initiative (YCI). With the support of Alzheimer’s Society of Haldimand-Norfolk, the YCI received funding from the LHIN’s “Aging at Home” Initiative…which has supported the creation of the Powerhouse Project in August 2008.
Contacts
Young Carers Initiative – Powerhouse Project
318 Ontario St, Unit 7A
St. Catharines, ON L2R 5L8
Phone: 905-397-4201
Fax: 289-362-2342
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