Author: Debbie Watkins

Our counselling service, YMCA Dialogue, has responded to the COVID-19 crisis by enabling all of its counsellors to work online. So, all the young people using our service can still have sessions and get the help they need. But, more than that, our counsellors have also been sharing their advice on how we can all navigate these difficult times and look after our mental health.Below, Lape Odebode, Girls and Young Women’s Counselling Coordinator, shares her thoughts on the importance of hope.

Hope.

There is hope…I’m holding onto hope…we need to stay hopeful…

These phrases may be quite familiar to some people reading this, maybe you have even used the phrases yourself. Hope is such a key need for our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, and in the world of counselling and psychotherapy hope is something that we try and maintain for our clients.

The last couple of weeks in this global pandemic have involved adjusting to a new way of life and work and this includes a new way of providing therapy, receiving supervision and engaging in peer support.

Technology has become a great ally with various apps helping us to continue meetings, and the traditional yet significant phone call is acting as a vital resource to stay connected and maintain the flow of hope.

In thinking about how to ‘hold onto hope’ during these times, three ideas come to mind:

1. Reconnect with your ‘why?’

Why do you do what you do, provide support, develop services and support those in need? (Simon Sinek has a great TED Talk on this)

2. Look out

Looking out helps us to keep our compassion alive. Never underestimate the value of an encouraging text or uplifting email-especially during this time when we are having less physical contact with others!

3. Look in

Looking in and healthily responding to our needs helps us to refuel and re-energise to keep doing what we do! You may want to develop a new interest, or simply continue to embrace your regular self-care rhythms. Our inner worlds have a huge effect on how we navigate through the changing outer world.

Hope.

There is hope…I’m holding on to hope…we need to stay hopeful…

All these statements are true for me right now, and I’m hoping that reconnecting with my ‘why?’, looking out, and looking in can help me, and us, navigate through the weeks ahead.

Lape Odebode,
Girls and Young Women’s Counselling Coordinator, YMCA Dialogue.

We’ve launched an ‘Emergency Isolation Pack’ fundraising appeal in response to pressures created by the COVID-19 crisis. Every year, we provide a safe home for around 1,400 vulnerable young people in Sussex and Surrey and we need your help to keep the safe during the pandemic.

Our CEO, Chas Walker explains why your support is needed more than ever:

“The young people we house and support are being directly affected by this crisis. Many of them are losing their jobs in the Gig/zero hours economy, when they are already on low wages, without savings or parents who can support them financially. They are also experiencing significant delays in accessing universal credit, so are without any funds to support themselves. Our young people are also being infected by the virus with over 7% self-isolating in our housing schemes. Without family support they are more reliant on us than ever to support and care for them at this difficult time.

Our dedicated frontline staff are working 24 hours a day to support them through the COVID-19 crisis. But, some are struggling with their mental health and now feel particularly scared and anxious. They are worried about running out of food and other essentials, and many feel lonely and forgotten.

We’re providing our young people with ’emergency isolation packs’ to ensure they have the food and essentials they need, particularly if they find themselves without any money or are self-isolating without family to support them.”

We’d also love you to post messages of support and encouragement on our on social media channels using the hashtag #Here4U and tagging @ymcadlg.

Chas explains why:

“For those that are financially able to, donations will make a huge difference to the young people we look after. However, we understand that some people won’t be able to do this, and we would encourage them to show these young people that they aren’t alone and leave messages of support for them on our social media channels by tagging @YMCADLG. We want to show them that they have not been forgotten by their community; that we are all in this together.”

Coronavirus has also meant that we’ve had to adapt our other crucial advice and counselling services. We’ve worked rapidly to move these services online. This will ensure  that the vulnerable young people we work with can continue to access the help they need. The pressures on families and young people, from both self-isolation and social distancing, is having an impact. Already, YMCA Youth Advice Centre (YAC) has seen an increase in young people presenting as homeless with COVID-19 being cited as the reason that they’ve had to leave home. Our director of children and young people’s services, Rachel Brett, has urged families to seek mediation. (READ MORE on this story).

Many thanks for your continued support through these difficult times. Click here if you would like to DONATE

Our chaplains and their volunteers offer support to residents and staff every day, and, although currently they may not be able to there in person, they are still just a phone, or even a ‘Zoom’ call away. Read their reflection on social distancing or should we say, ‘love at a distance’.

Love at a Distance, by chaplains, Samantha Burton and Elly McKay-Smith

“I have never been more grateful for Social Media and the Internet than I have in the past 10 days. For all it has been used for spreading of fear and misinformation, it has really come into its own as a means to connect people who are distant, isolated, and anxious. In the space of a week, lives have been turned upside down and inside out all over the country, as the things we rely on, the things and people we hold dear have been cut off from us.

And yet…I have seen community groups pop up to help the most vulnerable and isolated in their patch. I have seen rainbows of hope painted on the front windows of families’ houses. I have seen churches all over the country creating live video links of worship and WhatsApp groups to pray together. I have heard of coffee shops and restaurants donating what food they can to vulnerable groups, including our own young people and frontline staff at our supported housing sites. ‘Zoom’ pilates and fitness groups and coffee chats, universities and publishers offering free online resources, teachers still teaching from their homes, Olympic medalists, musicians, choreographers, all creating free online resources to help keep people fit and healthy and creative at home. These are all examples of the community and people coming together, supporting one another in times of adversity.

We are being asked to be ‘socially distant’, but I prefer the term ‘love at a distance’ coined by a Bishop of the Anglican church in Australia. There are many more ways now open to us to show loving support to one another without sharing the same physical space. We are all anxious in these times, and all need this support now more than ever, so I encourage you now, send that text, that email, pick up the phone, whatever means you can and connect, even for a brief moment. Let us decide to show loving support (at a distance) more than ever during this time that is given us.

You are not alone. We are here for you.“

Meet Elly. She’s our amazing chaplain who’s been cooking up a storm in Eastbourne. She’s filled the freezers in our supported housing projects in Eastbourne (Eastbourne Foyer, McKendrick house and Grove House) full of nutritious food.

It’s been a huge team effort and we’ve had help from Eastbourne Foodbank (food donations) and East Sussex County Council’s, Through Care Team (£500), so that we can give our 60 vulnerable young people in Eastbourne a daily hot meal.

The donations have also enabled our amazing staff team to create individual “survival bags” containing essential items such as tea, sugar, milk, biscuits, fruit, cereal and tinned items, in case a young person needs to self-isolate.

We’re very grateful to have such dedicated people working for us and looking after both body and spirit.

We’re delighted to announce that award-winning, food company, Higgidy is supporting this year’s Sleep Easy fundraising event. Our Sleep Easy events running in Brighton & Hove, Eastbourne, Horsham and Guildford on 20 March, challenge participants to spend a night outside to raise money to fund our vital youth services. The events don’t seek to replicate the experience of homelessness but give an insight into the challenges young people face. All the money raised will go towards preventing youth homelessness in Sussex and Surrey.

The Sussex based business will be donating delicious items from their range of hand finished pies, quiches, rolls and frittatas for everyone sleeping out. From classic combinations like ‘Ham Hock and Cheddar’ to more adventurous flavours, such as ‘Roast Tomato and Pesto’, ‘Spicy Sausage and Roquito Pepper’, there should be something for everyone. We will also ensure soup and hot drinks are available throughout the night. The night’s top fundraiser will also win a prize bundle, including a bumper pack of ‘goodies’ from Higgidy, containing pie vouchers, a Higgidy cookbook and homewares.

Explaining why they wanted to get involved Abigail West, Head of People from Higgidy said: “Supporting local causes and our local community is very important to us here at Higgidy, and we are thrilled to be able to support such a worthwhile cause.”

Nikki Mason, YMCA DownsLink Group, Director of Fundraising & Communications said:

“We’re delighted that Higgidy are supporting our biggest fundraising event of the year, as it is great to have the backing of local businesses for what is a real community effort. Partnerships like this make a huge difference to us as they reduce the costs of staging the event whilst offering an incentive to our participants. Ultimately, it all helps in our efforts to tackle the causes of youth homelessness locally.”

To find out more or sign up visit Sleep Easy (https://staging.ymcadlg.org/get-involved/fundraise/sleep-easy/) or if you can’t take part but would like to show your support and donate visit: Just Giving Sleep Easy (https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/YMCADLGSleepEasy