As part of National Youth Work Week, we are highlighting the transformative role of youth work and how it supports young people’s journeys.
The campaign encourages Claire Rimington to share why working in supported housing brings her so much joy.
Not quite knowing how each day might turn out, Claire takes the opportunity to reflect on the importance of giving young people the security of having a safe and secure home which they enjoy living in.
Youth Development Worker at Plymouth Foyer, Claire said: “Every day is different I really like the direct work with young people.
“Somewhere like Plymouth Foyer can be so beneficial in helping young people find a secure place to call home and to support development when a young person is struggling."
Building skills and memories of a hearty family roast at Plymouth Foyer, Claire explains how moments like these can be really special for young people to come together with the Supported Housing team.
She said: “We’ve started doing monthly cooking sessions with the young people and the first one we did was the Residents Roasts where the young people came together to make a beef roast. I was expecting us to have to do loads and really keep on top of the young people, but it ran really smoothly.
“The young people really took ownership of it and absolutely made of cracking roast! So that was just a nice moment of seeing them all come together.
“For a lot of young people, they missed that time of having a family meal, some of them haven't had a roast since they got here because it's not the kind of thing you cook for yourself so that community and family-feel experience was a nice moment.”
Plymouth Foyer provides accommodation for 58 young people between the ages 16-25. The service has three areas of accommodation, there are 37 homes within the main Foyer along with six homes of emergency accommodation for 16 - 17-year-olds, and 15 homes of move-on accommodation.
LiveWest has over 200 colleagues in its Supported Housing team providing high-quality support to around 1,800 supported housing residents.
We have recently launched our Let's Talk Supported Housing Campaign to continue sharing the voice of our residents and Supported Housing team.
Not only giving opportunities to help young people and parents on their journey to independent living, but Claire also reflects on her own experiences of helping people who are facing homelessness and how it’s boosted her passion to work in supported housing.
She said: “I think Plymouth Foyer is an incredibly important place. In my own time, I volunteer with an outreach organisation supporting women who are homeless, and I think that intervention at this age is so important.
“The skills that we give young people to help them on their journey, and have a happy, healthy and safe life, it's just so important. Without resources like these and without the support LiveWest has in place, I think we'd see a lot more homelessness.
“It's a really positive place as you can see young people grow. Even in the short amount of time I've been in this role, I've seen young people grow already and change. It’s really rewarding.
“We've had a lot of positive move-ons already and I think it's incredibly important that LiveWest offers this as a service.”
Since joining LiveWest in the spring, Claire has seen first-hand the growth and development of the young people she works with and the value of youth work.
The youth development worker feels LiveWest plays a big role in shaping this through supported housing by giving positive environments for young people.
Claire added: “It’s never empty here at the foyer. We've got referrals all the time, we've got a waiting list of young people who were desperate to be here.”