20-year-old Rhys has not known a life without caring for his older brother, who has physical disabilities including epilepsy and cerebral palsy. Being referred to Carers First 15 years ago, at the age of 5, he understands just how beneficial support and guidance is to young carers growing up in ensuring they have equal opportunities to other young people.
Rhys shares how his daily routine consists of helping his brother to take his medicine, shower and dress, as well as helping him to eat at mealtimes. Having his parents there to share the caring responsibilities helps to relieve some of the pressure, meaning Rhys can still have some time to himself.
“My daily life isn’t really affected by caring, it just means I have to delay some stuff. Like if I want to go to the gym before heading out somewhere I have to help my brother out first.”
Rhys is very proud of his involvement in the Young Adult Carer Mentoring Project that ran in Medway from 2024-2025. It aimed to support and guide young people with their educational, career, and personal goals. He expressed how the project allowed him to broaden his horizons and explore potential career paths. He wants to go into the finance sector and, since completing the project, he studied finance for a while at university and speaks on how insight from the project helped with this,
“The mentoring project was extremely useful for me because I was doing the finance degree, and I did group projects. It’s an extra thing I can put down on my CV to help progress my career and show my commitment. It has proved useful.”
It’s opportunities like this that not only build young carers’ confidence, but open their minds up to the career possibilities out there, as Rhys explains how it had “provided [him] with excellent opportunities.” He’d like to use his skills to potentially become a mortgage advisor in the future. He is also interested in taking a swimming teaching course in April, and has had his lifeguard license for four years. He mentions how participating in the Digital Champions project, designed to help get older people online, was a great opportunity to help others and use his skills to provide the type of meaningful support he had received himself from Carers First.
Having attended groups at Carers First since he was 5 years old, Rhys truly understands firsthand the importance of supporting young people who care for someone. He has been a committed volunteer for a couple of years now, helping at the young carer events and groups, which he really enjoys.
The support he received from being identified as a young carer early on in his life has led to many positive impacts. He even secured a part-time job previously as a carer support worker, which he found really fulfilling. Knowing that he has a community of people to turn to who understand and advocate for him has meant that he feels confident to make his own decisions and enjoy life. From going on trips to the Honeypot House, go karting and other exciting events, he feels extremely lucky and grateful to have so many positive memories attached to Carers First.
A shocking 72% of schools recorded zero young carers, leaving so many young people who need support in the dark. Rhys’ story highlights the positive impact of early identification and intervention for young carers. It acts as a meaningful message to organisations and calls for more to be done to support our young carers.
If you or someone you know might be a young carer, reach out to Carers First this Young Carers Action Day.
Click here to find out about the support we offer at Carers First.
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