
Young carer on the pressures of looking after a family and how to get support
A boy from Jersey is raising awareness of the pressures involved in being a young carer and what support is available to others in a similar situation.
Leon Surcouf, 14, started looking after his step-mum following her cancer diagnosis, and says that it was taking a toll on his mental health until he joined the Jersey Youth Service.
Leon explains: "When everything happened, I went through a bit of a dark time because obviously it was not a great thing to be told, and so I wasn't feeling the best.
"At school, I just felt a bit tired and I didn't want to put any effort in because I felt there was no point. But after going to the Youth Service and having one-to-ones, you realise a lot of it can be taken off your shoulders by talking to somebody."
What is a young carer?
A young carer is someone under the age of 18 who provides support for a family member who has a disability, illness, mental health condition, or drug or alcohol problem.
This can involve practical tasks, emotional help, and personal care.
In Jersey, 16% of young people care for a family member or friend, according to the 2021 Children and Young People's Survey.
To support those young carers, Jersey's Youth Service offer free clubs, activities, advice and counselling support to those aged between 12 and 25.
Youth worker Jo Dove says: "It's a safe space for young carers to get some time for themselves, to be in a supportive environment, talk to a youth worker if they want to and be with young carers who really know what they are going through.
"It can be really difficult and they might be worried about that. Having a space like this is important to just have a break from those responsibilities. Everything is free and we do free transport as well to remove any barriers."
Young carers in Jersey talk about the importance of the Youth Service
Explaining how his day-to-day support helps his step-mum, Leon says: "Helping around the house can sometimes help her have a bit of time to rest.
"It means she gets a bit of stress off her back, so when there are things to do, she doesn't feel like she has to do it. She needs time to rest, so sometimes it's nice to give her some time to."
However, he adds it can be challenging: "There is quite a lot of emotional sides to it, with your mental health. It is quite a big role sometimes.
"For some people, it is a lot more emotional, but obviously, everyone deals with it differently."
Since meeting others like him at the Youth Service, Leon says his life has significantly improved.
He explains: "The people there are going through similar struggles. When you're at school, no one knows what you're dealing with and you don't always want to talk about it.
"But there you have people who know what it's like, so they know that everyone deals with it differently.
"Having people around you who are going through the same thing is quite comforting. You know you aren't sticking out, you aren't the only person there who is going through something.
"It is a lot less about teaching you how to deal with things; it's a hangout spot where you can make lots of friends and have fun. It's a nice space to not have to think about what is going on at home, it's just time for you and yourself."
Leon's father, Mark, adds: "He has come a long way since joining the service. He was going down the wrong road at one point, and we were quite concerned about him.
"We think it was the pressure with everything going on but since becoming involved, he has really upped his game; he has gone to the top of his sets [at school] and is just doing really well."
In a message to other young carers, Leon says: "There are a lot of people, I think, who could do with the support, but have missed the opportunity because they don't know about it or don't want to go because they feel it would be awkward.
"But I want people to know it is a good thing, and they aren't going to go there and be constantly asked what is going on at home or talking about it."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


ITV News
16-07-2025
- ITV News
Young carer on the pressures of looking after a family and how to get support
ITV Channel's Lewis Andrews meets 14-year-old Leon and gets a rare insight into life as a young carer A boy from Jersey is raising awareness of the pressures involved in being a young carer and what support is available to others in a similar situation. Leon Surcouf, 14, started looking after his step-mum following her cancer diagnosis, and says that it was taking a toll on his mental health until he joined the Jersey Youth Service. Leon explains: "When everything happened, I went through a bit of a dark time because obviously it was not a great thing to be told, and so I wasn't feeling the best. "At school, I just felt a bit tired and I didn't want to put any effort in because I felt there was no point. But after going to the Youth Service and having one-to-ones, you realise a lot of it can be taken off your shoulders by talking to somebody." What is a young carer? A young carer is someone under the age of 18 who provides support for a family member who has a disability, illness, mental health condition, or drug or alcohol problem. This can involve practical tasks, emotional help, and personal care. In Jersey, 16% of young people care for a family member or friend, according to the 2021 Children and Young People's Survey. To support those young carers, Jersey's Youth Service offer free clubs, activities, advice and counselling support to those aged between 12 and 25. Youth worker Jo Dove says: "It's a safe space for young carers to get some time for themselves, to be in a supportive environment, talk to a youth worker if they want to and be with young carers who really know what they are going through. "It can be really difficult and they might be worried about that. Having a space like this is important to just have a break from those responsibilities. Everything is free and we do free transport as well to remove any barriers." Young carers in Jersey talk about the importance of the Youth Service Explaining how his day-to-day support helps his step-mum, Leon says: "Helping around the house can sometimes help her have a bit of time to rest. "It means she gets a bit of stress off her back, so when there are things to do, she doesn't feel like she has to do it. She needs time to rest, so sometimes it's nice to give her some time to." However, he adds it can be challenging: "There is quite a lot of emotional sides to it, with your mental health. It is quite a big role sometimes. "For some people, it is a lot more emotional, but obviously, everyone deals with it differently." Since meeting others like him at the Youth Service, Leon says his life has significantly improved. He explains: "The people there are going through similar struggles. When you're at school, no one knows what you're dealing with and you don't always want to talk about it. "But there you have people who know what it's like, so they know that everyone deals with it differently. "Having people around you who are going through the same thing is quite comforting. You know you aren't sticking out, you aren't the only person there who is going through something. "It is a lot less about teaching you how to deal with things; it's a hangout spot where you can make lots of friends and have fun. It's a nice space to not have to think about what is going on at home, it's just time for you and yourself." Leon's father, Mark, adds: "He has come a long way since joining the service. He was going down the wrong road at one point, and we were quite concerned about him. "We think it was the pressure with everything going on but since becoming involved, he has really upped his game; he has gone to the top of his sets [at school] and is just doing really well." In a message to other young carers, Leon says: "There are a lot of people, I think, who could do with the support, but have missed the opportunity because they don't know about it or don't want to go because they feel it would be awkward. "But I want people to know it is a good thing, and they aren't going to go there and be constantly asked what is going on at home or talking about it."


ITV News
13-06-2025
- ITV News
Ambulance crew's 'neglect' and 'gross failure in basic care' caused man's death, inquest finds
A 39-year-old man died from a cardiac arrest due to "gross failure" and "neglect" by the ambulance crew sent to help him, an inquest has concluded. Coroner Bridget Dolan says Frazer Irvine, who lived in Jersey, would have survived if basic care had been provided, such as putting him in the recovery position. She explains: "The crew did nothing to adjust his position to one in which his airway would be protected, despite Frazer beginning to vomit." The Coroner adds that the advanced life support given to Mr Irvine by the crew after his cardiac arrest was "inadequate in a number of respects" and could have contributed to his death. The two medics involved, ambulance technician Tom Le Sauteur and paramedic John Sutherland, were found guilty of failing to provide adequate care to Mr Irvine under Jersey's Health and Safety Law last June. They were sentenced to a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £500 each in court costs - both men ultimately resigned from the Ambulance Service at the start of this year. The Coroner states that on Friday 18 March 2022, Mr Irvine was "very drunk and had taken some prescription drugs when he called an ambulance asking for assistance". She says he met the two medics "with ambivalence and at times, verbal aggression". Mr Irvine then fell to the floor on the landing outside his flat but concerned that they could face further aggression, the Coroner explains the medics "conducted no physical observations of Frazer before police arrived". However, she adds: "Frazer's level of consciousness was deteriorating and there were clear signs that this was happening. "After the police crew arrived, there was no good reason that steps could not then have been taken to conduct observations ... Yet for at least 12 minutes he was still not placed in a recovery position and nothing was done by the ambulance crew to effectively assess and manage his airway." The Coroner concludes: "There was an unreasonable and protracted delay by the ambulance in providing basic care to him. "This was a gross failure on their part when the need of a patient in their care should have been obvious. "Had Frazer received the care that should have been provided to him ... he would not have suffered a cardiac arrest and he would not have died. His death was a result of neglect by the ambulance crew." Speaking earlier at the inquest, Mr Irvine's mother Linda said: "In those last moments ... I only hope he knew how much he was loved. "They say your legacy is what you leave in people. Frazer will never see his dreams come to fruition. "He was too big a personality to ever be forgotten. His passing has devastated our family, and he is missed every day." Want the inside track on the key issues that will shape Guernsey's Election this June? Listen to Guernsey Votes, an ITV Channel podcast packed with expert guests, local insight and analysis you can trust...


BBC News
04-06-2025
- BBC News
Former Buxton school pupil speaks about alleged abuse
Leon was a teenager when he was sent to a children's home now at the centre of allegations of physical, sexual and mental 44, he is one of more than 40 survivors suing councils for damages in a civil County Council, which licensed The Small School at Red House in Buxton, near Aylsham, has received several "letters of action", a formality required before court action can be local authorities are facing legal action for placing children at the told the BBC how abuse was normalised, claiming it led him to commit an act of violence that put him in is his story in his own words. At the time, I was a problem child for my local authority and I was under the impression I was going there [to Red House] because it could offer me an education; it could offer me everything I couldn't be offered where I was it didn't turn out like that, for me and many others.I was a child and I was being physically hurt by an adult and they didn't care about us. We would be pinned on the floor. We would be punched. We would be scratched. We would have our legs tied behind our we were on the floor, you'd have a knee in your side, you'd have a teacher's elbow across your neck and then other kids wanted to jump on you just to be involved because they were teachers' the kids that were helping the teachers were being rewarded, even if it was just an extra £5 pocket money or extra free cigarettes... they were all happy to get I got away with it quite lightly because I was quite a big lad. I had friends in the school, but those friends would soon turn on you if there was an extra five cigarettes a day and the teachers said 'Go and sort them out.' We used to have a telephone booth which had a little counter on it so we were able to ring our parents or social services, but [the calls] were all mum came to the school and I said 'Please take me home with you' and she wouldn't. Everybody thought we were lying - this place was all hunky dory. Well, it wasn't. We were being abused, and very physically abused as so many people - not myself, I'm a strong lad and I carry on - that I'm in contact with that have got a bad life. They don't know any other way of life... They can't leave the Red House is one of the reasons why we have to have closure... because people just can't move on. They're stuck in the past and that's not fair on them.I want someone held accountable for why some of us are the way we are. I've had a really bad life myself, but this stems from the school. It took me a long time to realise wrong isn't right and right isn't wrong.I've done some bad things in my life that I'm not proud of, but when you're being brought up to be that, that's ok. You can be rewarded for that and you don't know any school was shut down in 1998. I was placed back into a children's home in Oxford and by the time I was 16 I discharged myself from care... and I was out to cause misery to every single person that crossed my path, because that's the life I'd been brought up in.I have been abusive to people. I have been arrested for things I'm not proud of being arrested for.I've tried to make amends as the years have gone on but that was the sort of life we were being brought up in.I didn't have an adult figure in my life as a child to show me what was right and wrong. I've been through the justice system up until I was 27. I did my last prison sentence in 2007, and from then I've just tried to keep my head down and hold down a job and just be a normal I not been there [at the Red House], I may have been a different person. My past has come back to bite me on the backside too many times and I don't want to live that life any more.I want to be a normal bloke where people like me and [do] not associate me with being the bad person that I was.I still see my mum... She says when she used to come to see me that the teachers used to say we were off doing this or that, so they couldn't see my mum now believes something happened. She's apologised immensely, knowing she couldn't do anything about it because I was under the care of social taken a lot for her to understand it [and] it helped when I got my social services reports; that she got to see some of the things that happened in the now we are being believed, it's a bit of a relief. 'The allegations are deeply concerning' A Norfolk County Council inspection report, seen by the BBC, said the school was registered as a children's home in August report, based on an inspection carried out in April 1994, said that since June 1992 there had been 16 reported incidents of suspected abuse of children comprised seven incidents of suspected sexual abuse and nine of suspected physical abuse or inappropriate restraint, involving 20 children in a statement, the council said it did not place any of the claimants in the case at Red it had received 14 "letters before action", it said: "The allegations made by former pupils of the independent Small School at Red House are deeply concerning and we have co-operated fully with investigations, which relate to children that were placed there by other local authorities more than 30 years ago."Our thoughts are with all survivors of abuse but as there is an ongoing legal claim we cannot comment further."Red House was operated by Tvind, a controversial Danish-based group founded in the 1960s that has been embroiled in financial scandals since the a company of the same name that provides teacher training told the BBC it was unrelated to the business that ran Red House."We are unable to provide comment as we have no status in relation to the former Tvind School Co-operation, and we are not aware of any legal action," it said. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.