Having a supportive village is important for all young people. When you’re in year 8 and you’ve been a carer since you were six, it’s particularly important.

The Raise Foundation, a supporter of the It Takes a Village campaign, provides mentoring programs for young people in high schools and in the community. The mentoring provides a community of support around young people.

One of the Raise Foundation mentees wrote this heartfelt message about life as a carer.

It’s not very easy to be a carer at home from the age of 6.

It’s even harder when your single parent has bi-polar, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Not only do I look after myself and my brother, who is only two years younger, I have to take care of my mum as well.

On a daily basis I have to prepare the good for the family, clean the house and do laundry. I also have to get myself ready for school every morning.

And it is hard when you have a Mum who spends the majority of her time on the couch and is scared of leaving the house.

In addition, my brother also has behavioural problems and is very hard to manage and talk to.

For me, I think of it as just another thing to put up with while still going through school.

I wish that everything could be simpler and I wasn’t the one who had to take care of everybody.

I would like to be able to come home to a clean house, a happy Mum and dinner on the table.

Thank you Raise Foundation for providing me with a mentor to talk to on a weekly basis.

Although this doesn’t get dinner on the table, it helps me to think about myself and what I want to do.

To find out more about the great work of Raise Foundation head to www.raise.org.au