YMCA DownsLink Group

We're over the moon to announce that we have FOUR incredible young people through to the finals of the national YMCA England & Wales Youth Matters Awards 🎉 Each of our finalists has overcome barriers to be where they are today and thanks to your votes, they are getting the recognition they deserve. 🤩 Keep an eye out on our socials as we bring you alongside our nominees on their journey to the prestigious awards evening in November... And it goes without saying, all of our nominees are winners in our eyes. Thanks again for all your votes!

Supporting homeless people in Brighton & Hove 🙌 A few weeks ago was the launch of the 2024/25 campaign of #MakeChangeCount Make Change Count is #Brightons combined fundraising campaign that provides much needed funds to local charities who support and prevent #homelessness. Make Change Count does three things: 👉 It offers a great alternative for people who want to give change to people who are rough sleeping, but recognise that their money can do more. 👉 It facilitates the help that is needed to give a homeless person the best chance to get off the streets and into safety. 👉 It supports vital charities in the city who work together to provide effective support. People need help and support to adapt to living in new ways. Helping people away from rough sleeping takes time and compassion. The money raised through this initiative goes directly to supporting those who are experiencing homelessness and helps get them to a place of safety! The charities involved in Make Change Count include: YMCA DownsLink Group, SUSSEX NIGHTSTOP , The Clock Tower Sanctuary, Brighton, BHT Sussex, YMCA BRIGHTON, Social Interest Group Equinox and Off The Fence Trust Limited Project Antifreeze You can make a donation through this link - https://buff.ly/4gGG1Cc

🌟 We're hiring: Clinical Lead 🌟 We have a fantastic opportunity for an experienced practitioner to join our experienced and supportive counselling team to coordinate and deliver an innovative and clinically excellent mental health and wellbeing service. You will provide dynamic leadership; motivating and inspiring clinical practitioners in our Dialogue service to ensure the highest quality counselling service is delivered to children and young people. Find out more here: https://buff.ly/3TDmyIs If you would like any further information or an informal discussion about this post, please contact Laura.James@ymcadlg.org. Deadline: midnight 26 September #hiring #CharityJobs #ClinicalLead #YMCAJobs #Sussex

Did you know our WiSE (What is Sexual Exploitation) service delivers training to a wide range of professionals including Education Staff, NHS, Police, Social Workers and Community groups and services. Their training consultant delivers training around sexual and criminal exploitation, consent and more. Exploitation is constantly evolving with the advancements of technology, societal issues and a changing workforce. Constant and up to date training is needed to combat it. WiSE training is vital because exploitation is a complex issue and requires a holistic response from professionals who need a good knowledge around the issues young people face. You can find out more about out our WiSE service through the link 👉 https://buff.ly/3OUX8Ut

Meet Almu 👋 Almu is one of our Support and Advice Workers at our Youth Advice Centre (YAC) in Brighton 🤩 Our youth advice service is one of the services we offer where young people can go to access all kinds of support without judgment. Find out more 👇 Being young is hard and the transition into adulthood can be tricky. especially if you don't have the support you need from family. For many young people, they don't have the reliable people to turn to for support and advice; they don't have a safe home to go back to or any financial support. All young people need a safe place to go to get help and support – a door that’s always open with no access thresholds and no punitive sanctions. They need to talk to people they can trust, people who understand their circumstances, who don’t judge them or stigmatise them for their circumstances and background. They need advice which addresses the whole person and which recognises the complexity of their issues and their trauma. And they need that support to be open-ended because it takes time to rebuild traumatised lives. The Youth Advice Centre (YAC) provides advice, support and advocacy to young people in Brighton & Hove (aged 13-25) to help them address current challenges, prevent future homelessness and other crises, and enable them to have a fair chance of being the person they want to be. Our door is open. Young people can refer themselves to YAC, be referred by other providers or just drop in - with any issue. There are no access thresholds and no time limit on the support. Referrals come from a wide range of services including education, social services, community groups, other charities, the NHS, police and the Council. Find out more 👉 https://buff.ly/3WWl0KC

Meet Geraldine and Melissa 👋 They are Support Workers in our Eastbourne supported accommodation and they have decided to take on our charity skydive 🪂 In their role, they see the difficulties that young people face every day and know first hand the positive impact that our work can have on their lives. Together, on 7 September, they'll be jumping out of a plane to raise vital funds for YMCA DownsLink Group 🤩 Please support them as they take on this huge challenge! 🫶 If you have can donate any money - big or small - click the link here to sponsor their skydive: https://buff.ly/3L3dwQu Or, like and share this post! ✨

We're delighted to announce that we have six amazing nominees through to the semi-finals of the national @ymcaenglandandwales Youth Matters Awards 🎉 They now need your votes to get to the final. Swipe to find out more about our inspirational nominees and vote here 👉 https://buff.ly/46PiVoa 📢 Deadline: MIDNIGHT 26 August ⏱ #YouthMattersAwards #YMCA #Vote

Meet the team at our #YouthAdviceCentre in #Brighton! The YMCA Youth Advice Centre offers advice, support and guidance to young people. The team offer expertise on a wide range of topics such as emotional health and wellbeing, sexual health, debt and the cost of living crisis, employment, training and more. We aim to provide young people in the local area with a safe and friendly environment where they can access helpful advice and support 🫶 You can find out more here 👉https://lnkd.in/eixrDs4e Thomas Palser Mary Carmichael Joanne Jarvis

Our East Sussex chaplains hosted their annual BBQ recently. Jayne G., our Director of People and Programmes, was delighted to be invited along to our Eastbourne Foyer for the event and join Elly Mckay-Smith (East Sussex Chaplain) and Brian and Gill (East Sussex Volunteer Chaplains). She shares some reflections: "Any preconceived ideas or stereotypes about who a chaplain might be goes out the window when you meet the team and attend a session. Our chaplains are welcoming, friendly, accepting, fun, easy to connect with and, according to young people in our projects, really easy to talk to. "Chaplaincy sessions are based around a home cooked meal and bring together the residents of our supported houses, many of whom don’t interact together very often. "At the BBQ, there was a mix of easy and everyday chat (like why ‘Alexa’ can’t play modern Afghan pop music) to more serious discussions around future aspirations and friendships. The team fed ten residents (and one cheeky seagull who stole a hot baked potato off the BBQ – ouch!) "Brian and Gill were warm and welcoming. When asked in our 2022 Chaplaincy Review, young people said that they greatly valued the fact that volunteers donate their time to be with them. "Driving back to Brighton, I felt a huge reminder of the essence of YMCA’s work. How the simple act of cooking a meal and sharing food together can act as a catalyst for moments of connection between young people themselves and between trusted adults in the community and young people. "Huge thanks to Elly, Brian and Gill for inviting me along and to all our volunteer chaplains working across Sussex and in Guildford."

We've had a lovely morning at YMCA DownsLink Group as we were visited by three members of YMCA India Our CEO Emily Brock met with Joydeep Rayan Raychaudhuri, the Regional Secretary for the Northern India Region of YMCAs, Sabinay Behera, the General Secretary of #YMCABalasore and Rev. Sudhansu Naik, the General Secretary of #YMCABhubaneswar, to talk about the work we do here in #Sussex and #Surrey and to learn more about the work they do in their respective regions across India. Similarly to YMCA DownsLink Group, we learnt that both YMCA Balasore and YMCA Bhubaneswar focus heavily on working with young people. They talked about how they work with German YMCA to help educate children living in slums by offering tailored computer training for the young people living there. They also told us about the peace programmes they have set up with YMCA of Hong Kong to try to prevent inter-faith crime and violence. We learnt that the youth make up 60% of the population in India and how important it was for them to help these young people access education and employment, so that they can build a secure future.   It was fascinating to learn how #YMCAIndia operates and the differences and similarities that we share. With each YMCA focusing on what their community needs, it is sometimes easy to forget that we are part of a global federation, all striving to support people within the community we serve. This meeting today with YMCA India brought to light the enormity of the YMCA movement and just how important the work that each federation does around the world.