Small Shoulders, Big Hearts: YCA Partnership Shines a Light on Young Caregivers in Niagara
The NOHT-ÉSON is pleased to welcome the Young Caregivers Association as a new partner organization, following endorsement by the network’s Planning Table on May 7.
For Cayleigh Sexton, Executive Director of the Young Caregivers Association, the partnership represents an important opportunity to strengthen awareness, collaboration and support for young caregivers across Niagara.
“Young Caregivers Association supports young caregivers between the ages of five to 25,” Sexton said. “A young caregiver is anyone who supports someone who might be a parent, grandparent or sibling who has a chronic illness, physical disability, intellectual disability, mental health concern or addiction.”
Through its programs and services, YCA helps young caregivers connect with others who understand their experiences, take a break from caregiving responsibilities, and access clinical supports when needed. Programs include social and recreational opportunities, one-on-one counselling, clinical groups, life-skills programming and school-based supports that help young caregivers build coping strategies, emotional regulation skills and confidence.
“All of our services and programs are free,” Sexton said.
Although the Young Caregivers Association has a growing provincial and national presence, Niagara remains central to its work. Sexton noted that more than half of the organization’s new intakes in the last fiscal year came from Niagara. YCA’s main office is located on Ontario Street in St. Catharines, and the organization works closely with local partners, school boards and community organizations to identify young caregivers and connect them to support.
One of YCA’s key Niagara-based initiatives is its in-school program, offered in partnership with the Catholic and public school boards. The six-week program helps students build coping skills while recognizing that they are not alone.
“Principals, child and youth workers and social workers help identify young caregivers, and we run that six-week group where they’re able to build different coping skills,” Sexton said. “They also understand there are other students in their school that have caregiving responsibilities.”
Outside of schools, YCA offers weekly in-person social recreation programs for different age groups, including children and youth ages five to 12 and older youth up to age 25. These programs can focus on practical life skills, such as cooking on a budget, grocery shopping or building a résumé, but they also create space for young caregivers to simply be kids, connect with peers and step away from caregiving responsibilities.
In one example, YCA brought young caregivers to Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls through a summer program, recognizing that many families may face financial or accessibility barriers that make those experiences difficult to access on their own.
YCA also works with partners to develop programs that respond to specific caregiving experiences. Sexton pointed to collaborations focused on mental health, addictions and sibling resilience as examples of how the organization draws on the expertise of others while bringing its own young caregiver support model to the table.
While Niagara is home base, YCA also provides services across Hamilton, Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk, and offers virtual supports to young caregivers across the Ontario Health West region. Through national grant opportunities, the organization has also piloted programming in British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia.
“We try to find champions in this space and help train them and build the infrastructure to support young caregivers in their capacity,” Sexton said. “We have the model that we’ve proved works across the country.”
YCA’s interest in joining the NOHT-ÉSON network is rooted in the reality that young caregivers often do not self-identify. Many children, youth and young adults see caregiving simply as part of family life, even when those responsibilities affect their mental health, education, social connections and development.
“It’s really hard for them to self-identify,” Sexton said. “We really need others in the space who might have that client in front of them to ask, ‘Do you have a child or youth in the home? Do they help support you?’”
By joining the NOHT-ÉSON network, YCA hopes to increase awareness of young caregivers across Niagara and build stronger pathways between health and social service partners.
“I think mainly it’s to build collaboration and capacity for young caregivers across Niagara,” Sexton said. “An increase in awareness for young caregivers across Niagara would be a key outcome.”
The partnership also aligns with YCA’s renewed strategic focus on quality partnerships and system integration. For Sexton, joining the NOHT-ÉSON is an opportunity to work alongside other organizations to better understand where each partner can contribute and how the system can better support children, youth and families.
“Niagara is our home office,” Sexton said. “It’s where we live and breathe a lot of the time. It’s nice to be welcomed into the table and to use others’ knowledge to build more capacity in Niagara.”
She added that stronger collaboration benefits not only young caregivers, but the broader network of organizations working to support people across the region.
“There are a lot of key players,” Sexton said. “The more we work together and figure out the areas where we can support, the better we can all support everyone across Niagara.”
For more information about the Young Caregivers Association, visit the organization’s website. Partners interested in collaboration opportunities can connect with Chrissy Sadowski, Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement Manager, at chrissys@youngcaregivers.ca.
