Our Approach

Working with young people

At The Y we believe that every young person deserves the opportunity to engage in positive programmes, activities and relationships that support and help them to thrive. In doing this we recognise that young people are all different, have had a range of life challenges and as such no ‘one size fits all’.  In order to support young people to achieve and develop the skills for their future we ensure we have a number of key foundations and cultures within the organisation.

We aim to create an environment of growth and development using a ‘wrap-around’ model followed by positive engagement in education, employment, training and life skills development.

We ensure all staff have a developed understanding of mental health, trauma, attachment disorders, sexual exploitation and substance misuse and are trained on how these impact on the lives of young people and our role in supporting them through recovery.

We ensure young people live in a safe environment and have access to a support workers who can advocate on their behalf and take on the role of a ‘trusted adult’, which many of our young people have not had before.

We treat every young person with respect and dignity regardless of their past actions or behaviours. As part of demonstrating this we will never move a young person’s belongings in black refuse bags, never refer to our accommodation as a Hostel and will only move a young person out of our accommodation prematurely if they pose a significant risk to staff, fellow residents or our facilities.

Our starting point is based on what we know about young people and the support they need to blossom, we aim to consistently add the right support to make this happen.