July 2022 Newsletter - Young Carers
In this update
- How the NHS works and is changing
- Carers Week 2022
- Hamoaze House
- Young Carers Consultation - Carers Week
- Half term activity - Hamoaze House
- Schools' transition work
- HOPE for Carers Programme
- Health and Care Bill
- The National Marine Park Big Blue Splash
- Help teach community group life-saving ski
- New online hub for cost of living support
- Asda Foundation
- Celebrating equality and diversity
- Hidden Harm - Hamoaze House
- Share your stories with us
Welcome to our latest newsletter, which we hope you find useful and informative. If there's a colleague or another provider in your network that you think would like to receive the newsletter, please feel free to forward it onto them.
Please let us know if you have anything you would like us to share or publicise in a future issue.
How the NHS works and is changing
An animation to share with carers
This animation produced by The Kings Fund provides a quick and simplified summary of the changes happening in the NHS.
We wanted to share this in case it's helpful for carers or staff.
Carers Week 2022
We had an amazing week celebrating Carers Week 2022 by getting creative with homemade lava lamps, being arty with glass painting and enjoying some chill time playing games and having a go on our brand new arcade dance machine!
To top it all off, we had an exciting visit from the Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Sue Dann!
This was a wonderful experience for our young carers to learn more about the Lord Mayor and her role in the city as well as share their stories with her about life and experiences as a young carer. This was a great way to celebrate Carers Week and a truly memorable experience!
Hamoaze House
Hamoaze House Trampoline Club takes place s on a Monday and Tuesday starting at 3.45pm and lasting for one hour. The cost is £2.50 per child; the age range is from 5 upwards. Parents/carers are encouraged to stay and enjoy the session.
We teach the basic techniques of trampolining while also making sure there is a fun element. Half the session is skills teaching and the second part of the session is made up of fun games. Once the group have achieved the basics, they will learn more advanced moves and join these moves up together to perform a sequence.
Details can be found on the Hamoaze House Facebook page, including contact details. Do contact Sam or Aaron on 01572 566100 or email sdyer@hamoazehouse.org.uk.
Regarding Food Hampers, we offer a wide range of tinned, vegetables, soups, fruit, meat, fish and sauces. Also, pasta, rice, crisps and biscuits, toiletries and some cleaning materials. We often collect food from supermarkets, so it is also possible for there to be perishable foods, bread, milk eggs and fruit available.
People can just pitch up and ask, or we can take a referral from a worker. Alternatively, we can take a request from a worker. If somebody can tell us about their cooking facilities, we can attempt to give food that will be useful. for example, if somebody is in B&B, we will look at pot noodles, easy opening tins and things that do not need cooking or warming up.
The telephone number for Hamoaze is 01752 566100.
We also have some funds via the Household Support Fund to help adults, families with children and people receiving pensions to support household costs, such as energy, warmth and other essentials, water sanitary products warm clothing etc.
Young Carers Consultation - Carers Week
To celebrate Carers Week, we invited a small group of young carers to come together. They took part in painting some ideas for a logo that represents our service and we consulted them about what they think we do well and some of the things they would like to see more of. It was great to hear about the things they feel our service stands for and how we support them. Their feedback about improvements or things we could do more of was to spend more time doing fun activities, getting out and about more to escape their caring role and have more time with their 1:1 worker. The young carers spent some time talking about how having the service has helped them and that just having someone to talk to can make a difference.
To respond to young people's feedback, we are planning a series of summer workshops and activities and will be contacting all children and families so they can book these before the schools break up. We are also responding to their feedback by including some of their thoughts, ideas and opinions around how schools support young carers well into our transitions project in Plymouth schools.
Half Term Activity - Hamoaze
During May half term, Barnardo's and Hamoaze House came together to offer a fun and active day for a group of young carers aged 12-17. The day began with trampolining on an Olympic size trampoline and Frisbee golf. As the sun was shining, we also managed to enjoy a picnic lunch together before we continued with some fun and engaging team games. Young people thoroughly enjoyed the day and said they would like to do something like this again. The staff at Hamoaze were incredible and managed to engage every young person. They created a programme of the day which was flexible to the needs of those in attendance and listened to what they wanted to do. It was a day full of fun, laughter and enjoyment.
Doing a joint activity meant young carers got to experience another service and other professionals, which allowed them to build up links and networks with other trusted adults. For some young people, Devonport is their local area, and they now know more about what community-based services are available to them within a short distance. Since attending this session at least one young person has decided to be more active and has been back to Hamoaze to access services. This young person likely wouldn't have accessed this if they hadn't met the team and built up a relationship with them beforehand which is a positive outcome.
Schools' Transitions Work
We have completed some consultations with staff and young carers in schools and some outreach sessions for groups in Year 6. If any school would like to book a session before the end of this term, please email bycs@barnardos.org.uk. Our focus is on primary schools this term and secondary schools after the summer break, and we plan to share some initial learning around what works in terms of enhanced transitions for young carers to Year 7 in the early autumn.
HOPE for Carers Programme
We currently have 20 registrations for the carers' course starting on 26 July. There are 60 places available so please continue to promote this opportunity to carers.
Health and Care Bill
The Health and Care Bill has now passed into law and there are some new duties surrounding carers.
More information is available on the HSJ or GOV.UK websites.
The National Marine Park Big Blue Splash
We would like to share with you the exciting opportunity of Big Blue Slash activities that will be taking place across Plymouth's waterfront from 23 and 24 July.
There will be a wide variety of free-to-book activities available from swimming to paddle boarding, rock pooling to wakeboarding and much more to try out and get involved in.
The booking system for these activities is now live. To ensure your school or local community groups can try out these sessions, the organisers have reserved half of all ticket allocations. This is all part of the aim to make sure that everyone in Plymouth can get in, on, under and next to the waters of Plymouth Sound thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. To access your reserved tickets, just visit the below link, pick out the activities you like, and when you register for your ticket on Eventbrite, enter the promo code NMP at the top and you will find your allocated tickets.
As these sessions are limited, we would encourage you to only book the spaces that you know you are keen to attend, and please choose the Community Tickets where there is availability, and if anything changes, please do cancel so that we can open the opportunity for others to benefit from.
If you have any questions, please do feel free to contact Tors Froud, National Marine Park Engagement and Inclusion Manager at tors.froud@plymouth.gov.uk
Help teach community group life-saving skills
St John Ambulance is asking the public to support them with the delivery of the National Coordination of First Response project. The project aims to increase the survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, this is only possible when more people are confident to carry out ventilation-free CPR.
To save more lives, more people should receive training in CPR and using AEDs and know how to respond in emergencies, reducing the bystander effect.
If you are confident in communicating with different groups of people and are passionate about promoting lifesaving skills to the public, then the Community Advocate role is for you!
You'll be:
- Raising awareness of the importance of CPR/AED skills through engagement with targeted communities
- Providing CPR and AED knowledge to local community groups
- Reaching out to community groups and networks
- Tracking confidence levels of learners before and after each session
If you are interested in becoming a Community Advocate or would like to find out more about this opportunity, please contact Community.Engagement@sja.org.uk
New online hub for cost of living support
The rising cost of living means many families are finding things tough at the moment.
Rising household bills can be a real worry but remember help is available for those who are struggling.
We've put together a help hub on our website to help families find the support they need. It signposts a wide range of support - from welfare benefits such as universal credit to where to get help with gas and electricity bills.
The hub also includes information on help with council tax, housing costs and how to access food banks, as well as how to contact voluntary organisations working across the city.
Please share the link on your social media channels and within your personal and professional networks.
Asda Foundation
The Asda Foundation supports charities and not-for-profit organisations which are carrying out projects to benefit the local community and that have the support of their local Asda store.
There are Asda stores in Newton Abbot, Torquay, Paignton, Plymouth, Barnstaple and Bideford, as well as Wellington in Somerset (near the Devon border). You need to contact your Local Community Champion in the first instance if you are looking for support from the Asda Foundation.
Funding can be provided through the following schemes:
- Empowering Local Communities - to support a broad range of activities which contribute towards transforming the community and improving the lives of people in that community. Groups supporting refugees arriving in the UK are also welcome to apply under this grant.
- U18 Better Start Grant - giving children the best start in life, tackling poverty, inclusion and wellbeing.
- Emergency funding - assistance during times of emergency
- Match funding - extra funding for community projects supported by staff at local Asda stores
- Green Token Giving - for small, local, grassroots organisations making a positive impact in their local community. You can nominate and vote online for local worthy causes.
Find out more about this scheme on the Asda Foundation website
Celebrating equality and diversity
Plymouth City Council is committed to celebrating the diversity of its workforce, service users and communities.
View our equality and diversity calendar which sets out the equality and diversity dates which we plan to mark during 2022.
Hamoaze House - Hidden Harm
Written by Ernie Bolster and Jenifer Kiernan
We both work part-time for the Hidden Harm Project which has two key elements: the children are often unknown to services, and they suffer harm in several ways through physical and emotional neglect, exposure to harm and poor parenting due to their misuse of alcohol and illegal drugs by parents and carers. The project takes referrals from all over Plymouth, schools, social care, self-referrals and other agencies that share concerns about the effects on the children. Before we can engage with young people, we have to have parental permission and we meet with parents, and carers in the home to explain our role.
The main purpose of our role is to establish a relationship with the young person that allows them to share concerns, and this can take time, but it is the most effective way of providing help and making change.
For more information, please email Time4U@plymouth.gov.uk
Share your stories with us
Do you have any good news stories or information that you would like to share with the wider Young Carers Network in Plymouth?
Please email Time4U@plymouth.gov.uk with your suggestions.
We'd love to share all the amazing things you are doing!
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This page was last updated on 1 December 2022.
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