Liz Langwade
Senior Young Carer Worker (maternity cover)

My name is Liz Langwade and I have worked at the carers centre since Sept ’08. I work in the young carer team doing one to one case work, having fun at Laffs (laughs, advice, fun, friendship and support) youth groups and all of the fun trips and events we put on. I will also soon be starting work in the schools in York, raising awareness of young carer issues to parents, teachers and young people.

I have a BA (hons) in Journalism and Marketing – please look out for my skills in the young carer newsletter, only joking! In the two years before joining the carers centre I worked for a high street bank in various locations across North Yorkshire. I have also worked with young people and travelled all over the USA, where I qualified as a lifeguard and swimming teacher and gained experience teaching platform diving, sailing and kayaking.

In my spare time I like to (try) keeping fit, laughing as much as possible and never missing an episode of Coronation Street.

Vanessa Emslie
Young Carer Activities Co-ordinator

Hi, my name’s Vanessa (better known as Ness) and I’ve been working at York Carers Centre since January 2010. As the Activity Coordinator for the Young Carers Service I’m responsible for organizing the monthly Laffs (laughs, advice, fun, friendship and support) groups, activities and residential trips for 8-18 year olds.

I graduated from the University of Exeter in 2008 with a BA (HONS) in Drama but turned down a part on Coronation Street for this job (only kidding). I am also a qualified playworker and have worked with children aged 5-11 for the past 3 years and with a variety of young people in many different settings. Last year I backpacked around New Zealand for 3 months and then took part in a challenging voluntary programme called Global Xchange, which was fantastic. As part of this programme I volunteered in Wales for 3 months working with homeless adults and people with mental health issues and then went to Zambia for 3 months where I worked with victims of domestic abuse.

In my spare time I enjoy swimming, being outdoors, going to see live music and watching 24! I’m really enjoying working at the Centre alongside a team of hardworking and dedicated colleagues and spending time with the young carers. If you have any thoughts or ideas for activities in the future, please let me know!

Jess Greenwood
Young carer worker

Hi, I’m Jess and I'm going to be working with some of the younger young carers (that's a mouthful!) doing 1:1’s, going to some groups, raising awareness and lots of other things I'm sure. I'm really looking forward to it! I was previously employed by Global, so I’ve got quite a lot experience of working with young people and families in York.

Hayley Robson-Grant 
Young carer worker

Hi, I’m Hayley and I will be spending most of my time working 1:1 with young carers. I have lots of experience working with young people as I come from Connexions (at Castlegate) and have also worked in youth clubs for 6 years. I’ve met a few young carers already at a LAFFs group and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest soon.

Sharron Smith
Senior Young Carer Worker

Sharron is currently on maternity leave. My name is Sharron and I have been working at the Carers Centre in York for just over 8 years now. My role is to co-ordinate the Young Carers Service forunder 18’s and I also supervise the work with 18-25 yr old carers. I do also offer one to one support to a number of young carers and enjoy having the face to face contact with carers, as well as the opportunity to develop the service as a whole. My job is fun, challenging and very difficult all at the same time, and I believe that it is this which has helped me stay so long.

I enjoy the way in which the work at The Carers Centre allows us to work with individuals around their needs, thus being able to be flexible and also to offer long term support where needed. I also enjoy working within an extremely dedicated team, who are all very passionate about the work they do.

I originally trained as a youth worker and also as a nurse, then went off travelling to Australia and various other places, and in the past have worked in children’s activity centres, both abroad and in the UK. I also have Diploma’s in both Reflexology and Indian Head Massage, but don’t get much time to practice them.