Background

In Australia, there are over 2.7 million carers that provide unpaid support for family members or friends with needs related to ageing, health, disability and mental illness. Carers NSW is a not-for-profit organisation that works to ensure that unpaid carers have sufficient resources to maintain a positive wellbeing, a healthy personal lifestyle and are still able to strive towards personal goals. 

In recent years, Carers NSW has driven an innovative initiative, ‘The Carer Achievement Pathway’, which specifically recognises the difficulties young carers under the age of 25 have in maintaining consistent education, employment readiness, and personal goal achievement whilst in their caring role. As part of ‘The Carer Achievement Pathway’, Carers NSW sought to implement a Young Carers platform that would specifically connect young unpaid carers from Western Sydney with resources and support channels that would help them keep track of and achieve their personal aspirations. 

Project Objectives

Internetrix was engaged to design and development the Young Carers platform that was:

1. Interactive and appealing to young carers situated in Western Sydney with differing demographics and backgrounds
2. A secure and safe online environment where young carers could connect with other young carers, as well as their program coordinators and mentors. 
3. A portal to track young carer progress. Young carers and coordinators could develop and visually track set achievements and goals. 

Project Outcomes

The Young Carers portal needed to be approachable and interactive for Young Carers, as well as adaptable and functional for program coordinators and mentors. The new Young Carers digital platform provides for a series of benefits for both the Young Carers and Carers NSW.

How did the young carers benefit?: 

1. Access to a supportive and secure environment in which they setup, implement and track personal goals and achievements.
2. The new portal highly improves access to a catalogue of relevant and available resources for individuals including social services, events, and documentation.
3. A quick and safe way to communicate with program coordinators and mentors 
4. A social platform to connect and share relevant information with other Young Carers with similar experiences. 

Key Outcomes for Carers NSW: 

1. Complete digitisation and simplification of the Young Carers program.
2. Greater visibility over coordinator-carer or mentor-carer interactions.
3. Ability to check the pulse on Young Carers and their pathway progression
4. Level of engagement in the program
5. Streamlined delivery upcoming programs / events / services.