For 2026, Young Carers Day falls on March 11th. This day celebrates the incredible strength of young carers and draws attention to the challenges they face.

Young Carers Action Day is also an opportunity to raise awareness and, most importantly, highlight the support available to help young carers. With the right support in place, carers can feel less alone and able to balance their caring responsibilities with other areas of their lives.

What is Young Carers Action Day?

Young Carers Action Day takes place every year to raise awareness and call for better support for young carers. Each year has a different theme, and for this year, it’s ‘Fair Futures for Young Carers’. This theme shines a light on the importance of equal opportunities and ways young carers can access support to ensure they have the same opportunities as their peers.

Challenges young carers face

Caring responsibilities can create difficulties for young people in many areas of their lives.

• Physical health: Being a carer takes up a lot of time, which can leave carers feeling fatigued and burnt out. At the same time, long hours of caring can also lead to young carers neglecting their own health, such as skipping meals.
• Mental health: Feeling anxious, stressed, sad, burned out, isolated or guilty can all take a toll on someone’s mental well-being.
• Educational: Keeping up with homework, coursework, assignments, and revision can seem really difficult when the time and mind are focused on looking after someone else.
• Social: Exhaustion, time constraints, and feelings of anxiety are all reasons why a young carer might struggle to keep up with friends and family.
• Financial: If the person cared for doesn’t work, household income may be reduced. Many young carers also struggle to take on a part-time job alongside care duties and educational work.

How young carers can access support

Talking to a trusted relative or friend

When you keep emotions inside, it can build up into stress, frustration, or even guilt.  Confiding in a trusted relative or friend lets you express your feelings rather than bottling them up, helping you feel less alone and more understood. Talking to a family member or trusted adult means they may be able to offer support, such as sharing some caregiving responsibilities or guiding you to find additional support.

School and education support

Talking to a trusted adult at your school or educational institution, such as a teacher, form tutor, or school counsellor, helps ensure they’re aware of your situation. They may be able to put changes in place, such as homework extensions, flexible timetables, and lesson recording. Schools can also help you get professional support, whether internally (e.g., from a school counsellor) or externally.

Online resources and communities

There are many services out there for young carers, and the support you need can depend on your situation. You might look for activity groups, respite care (short-term care that allows carers to take a break), advice, or counselling. Going to a GP can also point you in the right direction for finding wellbeing and mental health services. You can also find out more about support for young carers in your local area by looking at your local council’s website.

At Child Action Northwest, we offer support for young carers in Blackburn and Darwen, such as the opportunity to take a break, through group sessions, therapeutic sessions, and workshops.

Tips for young carers to maintain wellbeing

When caring for someone else, it’s easy to overlook your own needs, but it’s important to look after yourself. For a young carer, living with their loved one to provide constant on-going support may take an extra toll on mental health, especially if they don’t have much time out.

Here are some helpful self-care tips:

• Physical: Making sure you get enough sleep, eating well, exercising and taking care of your body by showering and brushing your teeth can help you feel better not just physically, but also mentally.
• Emotional: Talking to someone you trust, whether that’s a family member or a friend, can help you express how you’re feeling instead of keeping emotions inside. Connecting with other young carers through support groups or attending counselling or therapy can also help you navigate and talk about your emotions. Some people find that journaling also allows them to express how they feel.
• Mental: Taking breaks allows your brain to rest and recharge. Doing activities that stimulate your mind, like reading, art, puzzles and games, can shift your brain to focus on something else for a while to prevent burnout. If finding time for yourself feels difficult, consider whether someone could share some of the responsibility, even for a short time, such as a respite carer or another family member.

Final thoughts

At Child Action Northwest, we make sure the young carers we work with are supported at home and at school. We work in schools to advocate for young carers, provide respite from daily caring activities, offer therapeutic sessions to support mental wellbeing, hold workshops to build confidence, and more. To find out more about what we do and how we can support you, take a look at our website.

This article has been written by Rosie Buckley, freelance writer
Rosie.buckley@contentncoffee.com