This February half term the award-winning charity Create has been working in collaboration with Sutton Carers Centre to empower the lives of young carers from Sutton through the creative arts.

School holidays can be a particularly difficult time for young carers. For many, without school’s daily routine, increased time at home equates to an increase in time caring for a relative. Creative workshops enable these vulnerable children to foster friendships, build new skills, increase confidence and self-esteem and take vital time away from their caring responsibilities to have fun.

Create are currently raising awareness about young carers through a stark and powerful mural painted in Shoreditch. The mural asks in bold red lettering, COULD YOU USE A NEEDLE AT 9 YEARS OLD? The mural can be viewed here.

While most of us never had to find out if we could use a needle at age nine, this is a reality for many young children across the country who act as a primary caregiver for loved ones.  Today Create, the UK’s leading charity that uses the creative arts to empower lives, unveiled a striking street art mural in Shoreditch to raise awareness of the more than 700,000 young carers in Britain, some as young as four years old, who take on an over 20 hours of caring responsibilities a week. Some care for more than 50.

Young carers are a vulnerable group of children who often experience bullying, isolation and mental ill-health. Many are responsible for tasks that adults could find daunting, such as being in charge of family finances and administering life-saving medication on a daily basis. Furthermore, they may not be aware that there is support available for young people like them.

Nicky Goulder, Chief Executive at Create, said: “At Create we understand the impact these responsibilities can have on a child. By developing and running carefully tailored creative arts projects in partnership with localised young carer services, we enable these vulnerable children to foster friendships, build new skills, increase confidence and self-esteem and take vital time away from their caring responsibilities to have fun and just be children. We are deeply committed to enhancing their wellbeing and have seen how the creative arts can empower and upskill.”