Visible | A creative collaboration between Young Carers X Ziggy

28th July, 2023    |    By  headsapce    |     318

Discover the digital exhibition – visible.org.au How can we shine a light on something that often goes unseen? How can we inspire a different conversation about youth mental health? Visible is a creative collaboration between young Australians experiencing mental health challenges and artists. These partnerships have produced an insightful collection of creative expressions. We’re on a mission to change how mental health is seen and spoken about across Australia. Our stories. Our worlds. Made visible. Visible is an initiative by the Australian Youth Advocates for Mental Health, co-ordinated by headspace and supported by a cross-sector steering committee comprising of Batyr, Beyond Blue, Black Dog Institute, Butterfly Foundation, Consumers Health Forum of Australia, Mind Australia, Orygen, ReachOut and SANE Australia.


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Visible | A creative collaboration between Young Carers X Ziggy

Because our experiences are so different, being a young carer is like we all have a thread tying us together—not necessarily similar experiences, but similar feelings.

So, I’m 19, and I care for my 24-year-old sister who’s diagnosed with BPD, which is borderline personality disorder.

I started caring from the age of seven for my two brothers, who are on opposite ends of the autism spectrum, as well as my mum, who’s also going through mental health and physical health battles.

Multiple people in my family and I care for my older sister and my mum, and I’m also a past carer for my dad.

Thank you.

For me, being a young carer is being emotionally available for people and managing life for the person you’re caring for.

Foreign Bank: “It’s… I think kind of dead right now.”
“Oh no, it’s 100%! That’s good.”

I constantly feel like I always have to be available for everybody around me. I always have to attend to their needs and, in a way, charge them up. So, I’m the power bank.

It’s as if you’re living life for yourself but also for the other person too, if that makes sense.

Yeah, mine would be my notes on my phone—a massive part of my carer journey. Anytime I felt overwhelmed, stressed, angry, anxious, or any emotion, I would just write it down in my notes and then have a smile on my face, you know?

I think there’s a lot of stigma that being a young carer is something people want to hide, but at the end of the day, everyone lives a different life. I feel like being a young carer has shaped me into the person I am today, and I wouldn’t change it. Honestly, I wouldn’t.

Mine is a little chameleon holding a balloon. Someone, I think it was Nami, mentioned a chameleon last week, and I just really liked what it represented—how everyone’s different and can adapt.

For me, being a young carer means that I should be sharing my story to help other people. At first, I didn’t know that I was a carer, and I didn’t know what I could do about it or what supports I could reach out to. Now that I’m older and know of these supports, I want to be able to share them with others.

And then I put a little balloon because I feel like carers should be celebrated. So, yeah, that’s what I did.

I’m really passionate about art and expressing myself through creativity. I felt like, especially when Ziggy said about us being like superheroes, that was something I found very difficult to hear.

I think I really want to advocate for young carers, and I’m really passionate about that. I think bringing the two things together is just a really great way to put it out there.

But, like you said, about being the backbone of the community, I think that’s a really big thing because I’m like, “Yeah, we help.”

It was really nice to actually listen to everyone’s stories. We kind of became really comfortable with each other, and it became very organic. We found a lot of common, shared experiences, and I think that was really nice.

So, the main points I have are duality, adaptability, recognition, and celebration.

I think I forgot that I was actually working with a group of young carers, and I think that in itself was already comforting to walk into. I think these were kind of like the four points that I reckon would be a really nice foundation to start this artwork.

I chose to get involved with Visible because it’s something cool, something that’s different, and something that I know is going to help people.

I didn’t think that being part of this project would have such an impact on me. I feel so connected to everyone, and I’m a pretty closed-off person, so I feel really inspired.

Yeah, I’d really love to change the whole stigma, and I would also like young carers to be heard.

The biggest thing for me that I’ve learned right now is to tend to my own lack of battery first in order to get my power bank charged up again so that I can be a loving daughter, sibling, and all the other awesome things I do in life.

So, if you know anybody going through any health challenges, mental health challenges, or aging in their life—especially the younger ones—chances are they are young carers.

There is support out there for them, and they don’t have to do it alone. The first thing to do is let them know that, hey, maybe you are a young carer.

How are you doing?

Video for Visable