Young Carers Club Creates Slime and Friendships at Bwlch

A group of young people around a table creating craftsYoung Carers Club Creates Slime and Friendships at Bwlch

At the Carmarthenshire Crossroads Young Carers Service, we are always delighted to share the wonderful activities and events our young carers participate in. Recently, a small group of our young carers attended the Young Carers Club at Bwlch, and the evening was filled with creativity and laughter.

Joined by the Reaching Wider Team, our young carers engaged in a fun and interactive slime-making activity. These activities are always a hit, providing a much-needed break and a chance for the young carers to relax and enjoy themselves. It was heart-warming to see everyone having so much fun, staff included.

More importantly, these sessions are a valuable opportunity for young carers from around Carmarthenshire to form strong friendships and support networks. These bonds are essential for their well-being, offering emotional support and a sense of community among peers who understand their unique challenges.

After the club, we received a lovely message from a parent that truly warmed our hearts:
“[young person] loved club tonight. Thank you.”

We are incredibly proud of our young carers and grateful for the support from the Reaching Wider Team and the broader community. Together, we can continue to make a positive impact on the lives of these remarkable young people.

The Carmarthenshire Crossroads Young Carers Service is dedicated to providing young carers with the support they need. Young carers often take on significant responsibilities at home, which can be overwhelming. Our service offers them a safe space to unwind, connect with others, and enjoy their childhood.

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Proudly supported by The National Lottery Community Fund
National Lottery logo Cronfa Gymunedol Community Fund
funded by BBC Children in Need

Dementia support with Admiral Nurses

Dementia support with Admiral Nurses

Dementia UK - Helping families face dementia logoHywel Dda University Health Board logo

Hywel Dda University Health Board, in partnership with Dementia UK, provide a specialist service for carers of people living with dementia who are experiencing difficulties as a result of their caring role.

The team covers Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire with a focus on delivering person–centred and relationship-centred dementia care.

The West Wales Admiral Nurse Service provides practical advice and emotional and psychological support from diagnosis to post-bereavement, helping people to learn coping strategies and come to terms with the diagnosis. The service can help carers to navigate health and social care systems; provide education on dementia, signpost carers to other services and support carers to develop coping strategies.

Admiral Nurses support people at difficult times in their dementia journey, including when the condition progresses, or when tough decisions need to be made, such as a transition into residential care.

Part of the role of an Admiral Nurse is to deliver specialist interventions to carers and one particular intervention we offer is the Strategies for relatives programme (START), this intervention aims to provide carers with coping strategies and has been proven to reduce depression and anxiety for family carers of people with dementia when measured at eight months and two years after they had received the intervention. We have delivered 106 individual START sessions either 1-1 or in a group setting.

One of the carers who recently attended a START group said this:

The START programme made me feel very supported and cared about. The Admiral Nurses were kind and very helpful. They treated us with compassion and understanding. I cannot rate them and the START course highly enough. Meeting other carers was really helpful too. We got along really well and supported one another. It’s so important not to feel you are the only one caring for someone with dementia. It’s good to feel you are not alone and that is what the START programme did for me. Thank you.

If you are a carer of someone living with dementia and would like to be referred to the service, please contact your health or social care professional who can make a referral for you.

More information about the charity Dementia UK can be found here: https://www.dementiauk.org/

Charlie Duhig
Admiral Nurse Clinical Lead.


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96 Queen Victoria Road
Llanelli
SA15 2TH
0300 0200 002

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Carers Trust Crossroads West Wales is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales No. 6199277