From Caring to Confidence: How Amadou Found Support and a Voice

Amadou is 16 years old. He cares for his mother who has fibromyalgia and arthritis and suffers from severe depression. Her condition started to develop three years ago and has increased in severity.

Amadou was providing a range of care for his mum - shopping, preparing meals and helping to get his two brothers to school. Working with Amadou, we found that his main concern was that he wanted to find more care for his mum. This would not only help her be more comfortable but also to allow him some time for himself.

Our support worker collaborated with social care to get additional support for Amadou’s mother, including a care package and adaptations for the house to help her do things for herself. This helped to reduce the level of care being provided by Amadou. and gave him more time for other pursuits.

“That support for my mum is definitely needed ... so thanks for that.”, he told us.

Amadou also wanted to explore employment options to get a part time job to help provide financially for the family.

Through our knowledge, experience and contacts we were able to support Amadou in securing weekend and evening employment at a local shop,

“I'm doing good, thanks for checking on me. Just yesterday I got employed in Bristol, thank God.”

Amadou had told us that with the extra time freed up from caring for his mum that he’d like to pursue a physical activity, such as a martial art. To meet this need, our support worker referred Amadou to Empire Fighting Chance.

Here, he was able to participate in a 20-week mentoring programme which supports young people to work through emotional issues whilst developing physical skills and confidence under the guidance of a boxing coach, who is also a trained mentor.

Amadou texted us to say “In terms of boxing I'm really enjoying it, my mentor is a really cool guy and it feels like I'm in a safe space when boxing with him, so, yeah ”.

Amadou feels that the one-to-one support we provided has really helped. He feels empowered by being able to contribute to the household financially and through his boxing mentoring course. He also appreciates that our work with him has led to an easing of the pressure and stress he was feeling when we first saw him. Overall, this has allowed him to engage with a wider range of activities of benefit to him now and in the future.

Amadou’s newfound confidence has led to him joining Young Carers Voice to advocate about young carers’ issues and influence services working with children and young people to improve their support to young carers. From a sense of isolation to advocating for his peers, Amadou has come a long way in a short time.