Impact

One former resident came to the YMCA Ealing common in July 2019. He was referred by Ealing council Specialist Support Team/Homeless Person Department.

He was a single homeless person with multiple needs. His support challenges included needing suitable accommodation, having mental health challenges (severe depression and anxiety), needing support with meaningful use of his time and independent living skills.

Due to his mental health challenges, this resident would often severely clutter his flat, which was most times dirty and presenting health and safety risks. He was so demotivated he slept throughout the days and would not engage with support. He hardly cooked using his money to buy takeaways and thereby accumulated rent arrears and relied on food donations. His personal hygiene was also a concern and most times presented as unkept. He was not interested in education or work.

However, he was supported by staff members in diverse ways including registration with a local GP and a referral to Ealing mental health services. He was encouraged to learn independent living skills such as basic cleaning, cooking, budgeting and payment of his rent. The resident had relapses a few times where staff members had to intervene by working alongside him to declutter his flat. However, he eventually turned the corner and started to keep up with his mental health appointments, keeping his flat and himself clean and cooking basic healthy meals. With improved mental health, the resident found a job and had to start to pay part of his HB rent. He cleared his old arrears and was supported to move into private rental accommodation. At the time of his leaving the YMCA his rent account was in credit.

He is in regular contact with the YMCA Ealing common to share his progress with staff members.

Roxeth Gate, Harrow, is a short-term supported housing scheme where housing and support are provided as an integrated package. The team supports young people aged 16+ and provides targeted and universal support. 

The Housing Support Officers at Roxeth Gate (Hamdi, Verlette and Karl) work continuously supporting residents and working together, blending their individual strengths and becoming a very strong team.

The main housing staff: Hamdi has an amazing memory and is still always learning (currently doing his CIH Level 4); he shares anything of relevance with the team.  Karl is the networker; forging and maintaining vital connections with outside agencies. He’s currently working on a resident-led podcast. Verlette stands out for the kindness and support she offers clients. She is the heart of the team. They are all outstanding individuals, but it’s how they work together that makes the YMCA so impactful.  

They are team players supporting each other with a person-centred approach. They always ensure that the focus is on the needs of the residents. They discuss issues together and reflect on situations, ensuring staff get an understanding from different perspectives.  They care about the residents and this can be seen by their actions.  Recently, RG hosted a number of VIP stakeholders, including Bishop Guli, Church of England’s Bishop for Housing and Bob Blackman MP, Co-Chair of the APPG For Ending Homelessness, ensuring that the voice of the residents were heard and demonstrating the positive impact YMCA has within Harrow and London. The Roxeth Gate Housing team are making a real difference to individuals and the community.

The Crime Diversion Project runs at YMCA Hayes. It supports young people facing immense challenges and barriers to reaching their goals. The young people we support are largely involved in complex serious violence, crime, gang affiliation and other challenges. Referred by the Ealing Youth Justice Service, we support the young people, their families, schools, social workers and statutory services to provide holistic and impactful support over 1-3 years.  

To date, we’ve worked intensely with 23 young people, giving them a safe space to belong, feel a sense of community, and provided support and care in a non-judgemental environment. We engage them with 1-2-1 sessions, personal development programmes, sports for development schemes (such as boxing), provide support when in crisis and spend on average 80 hours a year with each young person, giving them opportunities and equipping them to take their next steps to success.

The Hayes Youth Team has supported young people into university and careers, to sustain their education and access mental and physical health services.  

“It was incredible having someone on the end of the line. It came at a perfect time and it’s been brilliant having someone there to help get extra support. I didn’t have the funds to pay for this kind of support. They don’t give up –  they are actually there for my son and family. “ – Parent  

“First time I met George it was easy to be comfortable with him-  he was like a father figure looking out for you and always there for a chat. He was the biggest help.”  – Participant   

Satinder Sehra started his karate class in 2001 at YMCA Hawker in Kingston, grew the class and launched it as an independent club, Khalsa Karate in 2018. Over the 21 years, the club has been a sporting success, nurturing the talents of hundreds of young people within Kingston, many of whom have gone on to represent Great Britain internationally at competitions, including the Commonwealth Games.   

Young people like Sophie who joined Khalsa Karate with Satinder when she was just six after witnessing domestic violence in her home. The club became a positive escape for Sophie and now, at 26 years old, she is 15x England Karate Champion. By her own admission, without the club she could have gone down a darker path in life. Khalsa Karate at YMCA provides local young people a safe space with trusted, positive role models that inspires international sporting achievement. The instructors volunteer their time to the club and often bridge the gap between the young people and their parents and encourage peer-to-peer support.

“Personally my biggest achievement is the work the club has done to support the community, from children with a poor background, to abused children and vulnerable adults, to students with mental and physical issues and many more. The fact that we’ve been teaching here for 21 years shows the value of the club throughout the Borough. So much so that council have asked us to teach and cut crime on several estates by offering classes to help reduce knife and youth crime.” Satinder 

Release Counselling

Our Release Counselling service continues to go from strength to strength and has been expanding across YMCA St Paul’s Group’s centres. Here is an example of it’s impact:

F is in her 20’s. She referred herself to the YMCA low cost counselling service due to experiencing high levels of anxiety affecting her daily living. Her initial assessment was conducted remotely and due to the Covid pandemic, she opted to have her counselling via the telephone. When I first ‘met’ her, she stated that she was extremely nervous talking to people about herself and themes of guilt, low self-esteem and self-criticism were evident from the outset. F had a quiet, timid voice, almost childlike and without seeing her I imagined a very different person to the one I now know. At the initial meeting there was an over-riding sense of responsibility towards her Mum and I could sense that she was uncomfortable with vulnerability. She feared being a burden and despite logically knowing that she was paying for my time, there was a strong concern that she would be wasting my time.

The start of counselling with F was a rocky road and the pattern of her attendance at sessions was erratic for a number of reasons, including avoidance at confronting some of the issues she had disclosed to me. F’s history has included witnessing violent domestic abuse and her life being controlled by her parents. She is incredibly protective of her Mum and feels a constant sense of guilt towards her and her older sister. F now lives with her partner who is unaware of her past – at the beginning she was adamant that it was her ‘story’ to know.

Despite the stop and start of the therapeutic relationship, I remained constantly available and after a while F announced that she’d like try our sessions over Zoom. This was quite scary for us both, but we had broken through a barrier and she wanted to connect more. Utilising group supervision, it was fascinating to reflect the assumptions that had been made with telephone counselling. As the relationship developed, F had the courage to tell me that she had been in a refugee camp when she was younger and remembered the squalid living conditions and traumatically being deported to her home country. Eventually, they arrived in England and she went to a school where she didn’t speak the language, she was over-looked by the teachers, she was bullied and because of high anxiety levels she developed an eating disorder.

Together, we look at how she presents in the counselling space and the effect her past has had on her present. To date, we have only had 13 sessions together, but in that time F has noticed some big changes in her relating. F has had the courage to tell her partner a little about the domestic abuse she has been witness to, resulting in her feeling closer to him; she has started to become more independent from her family and reduce the negative attachment; she has started to have a voice with her friends; she is learning to develop trust in her relationships and appreciate that she is not a bad person. During our most recent session, she told me that she now looks forward to her counselling sessions! Having the opportunity to work with F for up to a year will give us the chance to take things at her pace and look at other areas that affect her life and wellbeing.