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You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
Hello,
Thank you for your letter.
It sounds like youre coping with a lot right now and Im really glad that you decided to write to me. There are lots of reasons that you might be finding things hard if youre looking after your little brother a lot.
Young carers are children or young people who look after a member of their family who cant care for themselves. Caring for someone can be hard especially when youre not an adult and particularly as you are trying to revise for your GCSEs.
It sounds like your teacher understands a little about what youre going through. Its a really good idea to think about getting some extra support. Talking about how youre feeling and what youre worrying about could also really help you.
Theres lots of different support available for young carers. If youre unsure whether you qualify for the project, you could go along to meet them anyway. Doing this might help you make up your mind and decide if its something that youd like to do more often. You can find out more about this on our page about young carers.
It might be that they could arrange to give you a break from looking after your brother so you can do your revision, see your friends or even just have some time to yourself which is really important too.
Its okay to want things for yourself as well as looking after your brother.
If you would like to talk with other people who are also caring for someone, you can take a look at our message boards for young carers.
If youd ever like to talk to a ChildLine counsellor about how youre feeling, there will be someone here to listen you can ring our free number 0800 1111, have an online 1-2-1 chat or you can send an email.
I hope you get in touch with us again when youre ready.
Take care,
Sam
You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
You can ask me about anything you want, there's nothing too big or small. I read every single letter but I can only answer a few each week. My replies are published here on my page.