Young Carer Ollie Zooming in on a Brighter Future
YOUNG CARER OLLIE IS LEADING THE WAY In SHOWING THE MANY TRANSFERABLE SKILLS BEING A YOUNG CARER BRINGS.
Ollie a 15-year-old young carer from Southampton helps his parents care for his brother who needs help to do most tasks. His brother has Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome which is a rare form of epilepsy, he has a great relationship with his brother, from playing ball games to watching Bob the Builder. Ollie got to attend a few Honeypot breaks when he was younger, as well as trips outside the house, we asked him about his experiences for Young Carers Action Day.
“The best thing about my time at Honeypot was being around people that have a similar experience as me”
Ollie's view on Honeypot
“A lot of people don’t understand epilepsy, so it can be difficult to share with people who understand. Everyone at Honeypot was understanding and you could telll they really cared. To know that you are not alone and there are other young carers like you was great. We got to share our experiences and just take a break from everything. Honeypot helped me understand my situation better and others in the same boat as me.
I made friends and I am still in touch with one or two of them now. It’s nice to have that sense of community and support network around me!
However, I missed my family a lot, I wasn’t fully used to having time away. It’s difficult to maintain a social life because of the demands of my caring role. When I was younger, I didn’t get the opportunity to go to sleepovers with friends, apart from staying with my Grandparents. Honeypot was the first time I stayed away. The breaks helped me build my confidence to know I can be away from my family for an extended amount of time.
It gave me the confidence to do a trip with the Ocean Youth Trust South, I even did a documentary, it’s on my website! Honeypot enabled me to learn the skills to go away from home and grow in independence, with the confidence to know I can do things on my own.
My brother’s determination and supportive parents have always been a big inspiration in my life. It’s given me the drive to start my own film company OJS films. Despite most of my time taken up by schoolwork and helping care for my brother, I’ve had the opportunity to work with famous actors from Star Wars, BMW garages and even weddings. (That’s an extensive portfolio for a 15-year-old!)
Ollie with his Mum, Dad and Brother
One thing that I find really important is the time for independence as a young carer, and having a creative outlet.
“Life can be really difficult for us, my brother sometimes ends up in hospital for extended periods of time, the latest being 7 and a half weeks in summer. It was difficult as we couldn’t spend much time together as a family.”
I really struggled with not being able to do things my peers got to do, going on holiday or sleepovers at a friend’s house.
“Tom’s mobility issues mean we need to ensure we are close to a hospital, we were unable to go on holiday without one nearby. It can limit us.”
I help my brother walk, get changed, cook dinner, and move him around the house. He sadly can’t do anything on his own so I do all I can to help. My parents are getting older, so they need more help with mobility. Mum now has arthritis in her hands and Dad has sadly been injured multiple times, tennis elbow and knee operations. When Dad is working I have to help out a lot more.
“I’d like to help spread awareness about what young carers do using my skills as a film maker. I want to help people understand what it’s like to live as a young carer and have a family member with disabilities. I would also like to spread the word of charities that support young carers, to increase donations so that they can support even more young carers like me.”
Ollie recently got accepted into the City College of Southampton for a level 3 course in Media; Film and TV, due to start in September. Plus, Ollie has kindly offered to film a documentary for Honeypot, so watch this space!
Many young carers spend fifty hours a week on caring responsibilities, from mobility to cooking, all this has to be managed alongside schoolwork and revising for exams. This makes it harder for young carers to get into university and higher education. A recent survey by the Carers Trust found that over 30% of young carers were stressed as a result of their caring role, 50% of respondents said they were not getting the support they need at school to balance their studies with their caring role, with many falling behind with their schoolwork.
If you would like to support more young carers like Ollie, to create happy memories and build a brighter future, please consider a one-off donation or many other ways you can donate.
This Young Carers Action Day you can help raise awareness about young carers by speaking with your elected representatives. Depending on where you live in the UK, there’s a wide range of people who may represent you, find out who here.
Get in touch with them to ask for a meeting or for them to take a specific action to support #YoungCarersActionDay.