WE CARE, CALL US NOW ON
WE CARE, CALL US NOW ON
“They call it a breakdown in family relationships and I guess that’s what it was. I was bored and I had just finished school. I had started college and work for the first time, I also felt settled in Fleetwood and I made some good friends. My Dad and Step Mum were moving to Scotland and I felt like I was starting my own life here and I didn’t want to give it up. At the time I was working in a local hotel and they gave me a room which I was grateful for but it was a small room with a hard bed and a sink. I was also struggling to live and work in the same place as they were calling on me all the times to do things. A friend at college recommended the YMCA to me as this is where she lived and told me that they were supporting her to get on with her life. She also told me she had her own flat and had some really good friends there. So I went into the YMCA and found the staff really friendly and helpful I moved in shortly after .”
When I lived at the Foyer I was at work and college and struggled to get on with life but I made some fantastic friends here. My friends and staff at the YMCA gave me all the support I needed. I found myself getting into a quite a bit of trouble with my rent, I bought alcohol for people under age and I got into flights, but the support I got from staff put me on the right track and Learnt the value of things I had and how easily they can be lost. When I was living on my own for the first time and being so young I found people giving me money and mobile phones however credit cards and contract phones are not free money! My support worker helped me to set up re-payment plans with these companies and even took me into a bank to cancel my card an arrange re-payment. While I was here I went to YMCA Lakeside and this was a great experience for me, I enjoyed the break and developed some good friendships. My support worker showed me how to write a CV and helped me do a job search within a week I was working in a bar at a local holiday park. They gave me and a friend a caravan on site and this was my first step to independent living. The YMCA gave me the support I missed at home without taking away my independence.
8 Years on I am now living in my own house with a friend I met while I was living in the YMCA and I am still close friends with a few others. I have also now trained as support officer with the YMCA and now get the opportunity to offer other people support.”