youthhomelessness Final cut

YMCA sleep easy event aims to put on spot light on how easy it can be to be homeless and the rising numbers for youth homelessness.

Transcript

00:00 Hi, my name's Sean McKibbin, I'm the chair of Ripon YMCA. This event is really about

00:14 fundraising to support the work we do, providing homes for young people who haven't got anywhere

00:20 else to stay. And it's also very much about awareness raising, helping people to understand

00:27 what it's like to not have a roof over your head. For us who are doing this, we've got

00:31 somewhere to go to tomorrow night, and there's lots of people who don't. So really, I think

00:37 it's really important to raise people's understanding of this, and Ripon YMCA is very much part

00:42 of the solution.

00:46 We are able to help people get ready for independence and to move on to new accommodation, but we

00:53 wouldn't do that until they are ready and they've had the full support and they're feeling

00:57 more stable and more able to cope. And that's what our YMCA gives them, it's that gap. We

01:03 say two years, it can be longer, but it just gives them that gap to get some headspace,

01:07 to get some support, and just to get away from the immediate situation that they were

01:12 in and perhaps just have a retake on their life and a reassess and just get that guidance

01:19 and support that they need.

01:20 It's about raising awareness for the bigger picture as well, and that youth homelessness

01:27 is real and it does actually happen. It may be hidden, but it is there.

01:34 To then be able to spread that message and talk to other people about it, with a little

01:40 bit of understanding themselves about how it might be and how frightening it might be

01:44 if we weren't in these safe circumstances.

01:49 I had quite a chaotic upbringing. It was just really hard at home and when I got to the

01:55 age of 15 I was bouncing from family member to family member and things were completely

01:59 broken down at home. And I'd heard about the YMCA and I was terrified. I was absolutely

02:03 petrified and thought, what am I doing? But I had nowhere else to go, so it was my only

02:08 option. They just gave me an opportunity and then I'd either fail at it or I couldn't do

02:14 it and then they'd give me another one. And they just keep doing that. I ended up getting

02:18 a job for the local council as a young people's development worker. So it was just that constant

02:23 kind of investment which I like. And I got a chance to find something I loved and I realised

02:29 that I could count the people on one hand who'd helped and supported me get into the

02:33 place I am and I kind of wanted to do that for somebody else.

02:36 I actually ended up going to university, even though I'd never done A-levels, I went to

02:39 university and I left to go to London, never looked back. And I moved back to Harrogate

02:45 and I worked in a children's home. But I always kind of wanted to come back to the YMCA because

02:50 I always, they always had a little special place in my heart because my life was going

02:53 in two directions. It could have gone down a really dark place and it was chaotic. But

02:58 with their support, I actually found a passion and a love and a love for living. And I really

03:05 wanted to give back. How better to give back than to actually do the job that supported

03:09 me in the first place.

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