“There is no real way to describe it,” he said.

“Things are fine and then they’re out of control. There is no real stability.

“I became a young carer when I was eight years old.”

Although no longer a carer for his father, he said the responsibility had made him grow up fast.

“You see things that most kids don’t normally see and have to take on extra responsibilities around the house,” he said.

The 18-year-old is one of four Warrnambool teenagers who hope that by sharing their stories of caring for family members with a mental illness, the world will listen.

“I always look at it that I’m happy to tell my story if it will help someone else get through it,” he said.

Jayke, together with Jakob Stennett, 15, Eloise Tindall, 16, and Jacob Bates, 19, plans to attend the first International Young Carers Congress at the Child and Youth Mental Health Matters conference in Vancouver, Canada, in May

The group needs to raise $20,000 to make the trip a reality. They hope that telling their personal stories will inspire people to consider the whole family in cases of mental illness and to remove the prejudice often faced by young carers.

The youngsters are supported by the South West Carer and Respite Network and the Sage Hill Adolescent and Kids (SHAnKs), an Aspire, A Pathway to Mental Health Inc program.

Carer network co-ordinator Leanne Mitchell and SHAnKs program manager Peter McMahon said the conference was a unique opportunity for the teenagers to share their stories and give a rural Australian perspective.

They plan to blindfold the audience to remove their visual perception and let them instead use their hearing and emotions.

“We want to remove the assumptions of the audience,” Ms Mitchell said.

“So often a young carer can be judged merely on their appearance or behaviour.

“We want the audience to hear their stories first and not pre-judge them.”