How to get involved

If you think you might be a young carer, please reach out to us via email: youngcaregivercouncil@gmail.com. We would love to chat with you about joining the Council and other ways to share your story, get involved, and/or advocate for young carers. There is always option to remain anonymous. 

If you are looking for support, please reach out and we would be happy to refer you to an organization that offers direct support services. Click here to see our National Young Carer Support List and find support in your province or territory. 

The Council is not a crisis support. If you need immediate support, please call the caregiver helpline: 1-833-416-2273 (CARE). If you or someone you support is in crisis, please call or text 9-8-8 or call your local emergency services. 

If you are an organization or institution that supports young carers or is looking to better support young carers, we would love to partner with you. 

We welcome collaborations on projects, resources, and initiatives that centre young carers’ wisdom and leadership. Our partnerships prioritize co-design and participatory approaches that meaningfully involve young carers from project/resource ideation to knowledge mobilization. 

If you are a service professional who supports young carers or families, we would love to collaborate with you. 

We welcome opportunities to co-create resources, workshops, and tools that strengthen support for young carers. Our work centres young people's wisdom and prioritizes approaches that are relational, accessible, and grounded in young carers’ stories and lived experiences.

If you are an academic or researcher interested in young carer scholarship, we welcome opportunities to work together. The YCCC supports research partnerships that honour young carers as knowledge-holders and co-researchers, such as co-design and participatory approaches. 

We primarily contribute to research projects that are taking up novel approaches to understanding young carers, including representing their diversity. For instance, projects with an emphasis on critical race theory, mad studies, and/or disability justice intersections, or which map particular experiences that have not yet been documented in the Canadian young carer literature.

We are interested in the following fields of study but are open to exploring more opportunities outside of these areas: 

Child & Youth Care, Social Work, Public Health, Mental Health and Substance Use, Disability Studies/Critical Disability Studies, Mad Studies, Critical Race Theory, Family Studies, Sociology, Critical Psychology, Education, Community Health and Community Psychology, Gender and Women’s Studies, Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Health, Social Policy, Social Justice Studies, Health Humanities, Quantitative Methodologies, Qualitative Methodologies, Participatory and Co-Design Methodologies, Digital and Multimedia Storytelling, Care Ethics, Care Studies, Gerontology, and more.