Oh dear! The other day I actually heard myself describe Guildford YMCA as “providing 133 units of housing”. I had slipped into industry speak! Now I'm not naive enough to think that we provide 133 young people with a home, at least not as I would understand the term 'home'. But neither do we treat our residents as 'units'. It might be that some Housing Associations refer to their work this way but not the YMCA!

We have a diverse group of young people living here. Most of them are under 25 years of age; some are here because they have no other home and a growing number are under 18. Some need a lot of support, others not much at all. Some stay for a few weeks. Most stay for several months. Some for 2 to 3 years.

James (22) has been with us for 9 months. He has Aspergers Syndrome - a form of autism that affects how a person makes sense of the world and relates to other people. Social situations can be a source of high anxiety.

He says, “I was absolutely petrified when I first moved in to the Y. It seemed so big with so many people around but my key worker helped me a lot. I saw her every day to begin with, sometimes twice a day, and she really fought my corner to make sure I was in contact with all the right people.”

James then joined the YMCA’s Prince’s Trust Team; “The worst day ever was the Monday morning of the third week when we left Guildford for Dartmoor. I was absolutely dreading it. Things didn’t get much better when we arrived, and by Tuesday evening it felt as if the whole thing was falling apart. But then on Wednesday we suddenly began to work as a team and I started to push myself. We did all sorts of different team challenges. By Friday I was exhausted. The final challenge was really demanding and I could hardly believe what I’d achieved. That week was the real turning point for me.”

James went on to stretch himself in many ways as the course progressed and when it finished he leapt at the chance to become a volunteer at a youth café in Park Barn. Since then he has also been accepted as a volunteer for the FISH (Fun In the School Holidays) scheme for three weeks in August.

How could I ever refer to James as a ‘unit’!!