Befriend a young carer

Local charity Be Free Young Carers (check them out here) is looking for positive volunteers who can provide regular support to young carers through their Befriending Service. These young people (between 8-17 years old) care for family members who have a long term illness or disability. Young carers often describe their lives as isolated, with few or no friends, and high levels of anxiety and stress as they cope with their caring responsibilities. They urgently need friendly, patient and caring befrienders to provide relaxed and informal support.

The charity will carefully match befrienders with a young carer that they will meet with for 2-3 hours at a time, on a weekly or fortnightly basis, for a period of 6 months. During this time the young carer will have someone who they can trust to listen and give them space to off load, chat through their experiences or just let off some steam through physical activity.

The young carers all currently live in Vale of the White Horse, South Oxfordshire and Oxford city. While not essential, having a valid driving licence and access to a vehicle would be useful in rural areas.

All Befrienders are required to provide two references, allow us to carry out an enhanced DBS check and complete our training and induction protocols.

There is no financial cost involved in becoming or being a Befriender. All reasonable expenses, such as travel and activity costs for both the Befriender and the young carer, are covered. The is a maximum budget that is permitted to be spent each meeting, this does not include the Befriender’s travel expenses.

If you'd like to find out more, contact Hannah at Team Oxford