On 15th February, five young carers who are members of SYC and Chilypep's young carers' participation group 'VOYCE', which stands for Views of Young Carers Explained, delivered an inspiring and thought-provoking workshop to 14 adult professionals who work in services that support young carers.

During the workshop, participants learnt about:

• How to define a ‘young carer’
• How many young carers there are in Sheffield
• The reasons why so many young carers go unidentified
• The impacts of caring on young people’s education and their health and well-being
• Support services and examples of good practice in Sheffield

Feedback from participants included:

• Thought it was brilliant- full of facts and very powerful
• Fantastic - very inspirational - very well done!
• Professional, informative, entertaining - enjoyed very much
• Really good - better than a lot of professional sessions I've attended

At the end of the session, participants pledged to do a wide range of actions to improve support for young carers in Sheffield. And don't worry...we will be checking to make sure these happen! :)

Many thanks to the young people who delivered the training for working so hard during their school holidays: it was an excellent afternoon. As one participant put it: "Fantastic! Get your voices out to the masses!"

All the young facilitators are now keen to deliver further training to professionals in Sheffield. If you would like training about identifying and supporting young carers, please see our training calendar or contact us.