Identifying Young Carers in Substance Misuse Households – Review of Recommendations

Healthwatch Brent followed up the recommendations made in their2018 report: ‘Identifying Young Carers in Substance Misuse Households 2018’. They spoke to the organisations involved in the original report to understand how much progress has been made.

The groups said that the recommendations are still relevant and appropriate following the Covid-19 pandemic. They explained that: “with families being home together during lockdown and with the strain on people’s mental health, it is likely more adults are using alcohol at home.”

The report assesses whether each of the recommendations has been met or whether they need to be changed.  They felt more work still needs to be done to ensure that carer support services are linked in with substance misuse services. More work is also needed to address the barriers that stop substance misuse households from requesting external support.

There were three areas they’d like to see progressed:

• Young Carer Awareness Training for substance misuse workers.
• Young Carer Services to appoint a designated Specialist Young Carers Outreach Worker assigned to work with Addiction Services in the borough.
• A dedicated phone line for young people in substance abuse families to call or increased promotion of Childline