Funds secured by YPI students at East Dunbartonshire’s Boclair and Douglas Academies provided much-needed respite experiences for local young carers.

In the summer, a group of seven young people spent a week at outdoors centre Ardvullin enjoying a host of activities. Pictures from the trip can be seen here.

Jennifer Roe, Chief Executive of Carers Link, said:

“It’s really important for us to forge connections with the local community throughout East Dunbartonshire to raise an understanding of the services we offer and why they are such a lifeline. We’re hugely grateful to the young people for choosing us and working hard on presentations which really told our story well so that they secured this amazing funding for our young carers.”

Effie McGhee, Blair Hamilton, and Louisa Allanach’s presentation showed the day in the life of a young carer and focussed in on the impact of the charity and funds. They said:

“We chose to support Carer’s Link because we felt that not many people knew the full extent of the challenges that young carers might face and we wanted to be a voice for them. Another reason that we chose this issue is because we are also young people, so the differences in a young carer’s life to a young person who doesn’t have that responsibility on their shoulders was very apparent to us. From this experience we have learnt how to work as a team, build on our empathy and our communication skills.

“It feels really good knowing that we have made a difference and helped others who were in need of support and help.”