Hi everyone,
My name is Damien and I moved to YMCA after I became homeless and had nowhere to go. I was living with my mum but when I was 15, I found out who my biological dad was and wanted to get in touch with him. My mum wasn’t happy.
When I said I wanted to spend more time with him, she kicked me out. It was scary at 15, because I really wasn’t sure what to do or where to go, but I found some places to sleep at my friends’ houses on their sofas. Sometimes I would have to sleep on the streets too, it wasn’t good!
My real dad was living in a small one-bedroom flat, so it was tough but he eventually agreed to let me stay there instead. I was actually there for three years while I studied at college, but when I turned 19, I stopped receiving my bursary. Without the money, I couldn’t afford the tuition fees, so I had to leave. When my dad found out I wasn’t in college anymore, he evicted me. I was homeless again for another two months and 10 of those nights were where I had to sleep outside.
There was an Outreach team working in my area that found me sleeping rough and put me in touch with YMCA. My autism can make it hard for me to meet new people, but YMCA told me about lots of things I could get involved with while I was living here (in my very own room), so I thought I would always arrive on time and give it all a go.
I have enjoyed all of the activities put on for residents, and I’ve even started some myself, like a chess club where I teach others how to play. I have also encouraged some other residents that have autism like me to attend a support group which I already go to. I’ve also arranged some trips for us to see our local area and recently I helped out at some charity fundraiser coffee mornings. I also applied for the residents’ representative position; I think it is all really helpful for me and for my CV.
At my YMCA, we have a Positive Placements scheme which matches you with a mentor. I was put forward for it and got matched! My mentor helps to support me in my journey towards education, employment or training. I feel a lot more confident since being matched with my mentor. I tried to explain to them that my autism makes speaking to new people feel like a brick wall and I feel uncomfortable speaking over the phone, but we worked together on that and I recently stood in front of a room of potential new mentors to tell them what I got out of the scheme as a mentee. The coordinator later said that I didn’t seem nervous at all and all of the attendees thought hearing from me was the best part about the training day, which felt great. I really felt like I had made a lot of progress.
I am looking forward a lot more to the future. I feel more confident and I have some career plans I need to look into because I would love to be a paramedic one day, but for now it is great. YMCA has helped me through some tough times and really helped me get on my feet. My keyworker said I was a really good example of a young person with aspirations, determination and focus. I am looking forward to writing to you all again and letting you know how I have been getting on.
Thanks for being Roomsponsors, it’s really great what you do and how much you’re helping YMCA to help people like me. I am not sure what I would have done otherwise.
Damien