People often tell us that they didn’t realise we work with every age group, or we can travel anywhere, or we work with other organisations. There’s so much you might not know about Your Own Place and the work we do to prevent homelessness. We’re so much more than a young persons’ organisation, although we do love working with them too! Below we’ve busted some of the most common myths we hear.
“You only work with young people”
Whilst we love working with young people and we do have a Your Own Place Advisory Board made up of fantastic young people who help us stay relevant and accessible, they’re not the only age group we work with. We work with people of all ages to prevent homelessness whatever their background or life experience. Our workshops ensure people have the skills they need to maintain secure tenancies AND thrive in life. Homelessness can affect anyone so it’s important that we make sure as many people as possible have access to our workshops.
“You only work in Norwich”
This is something we hear a lot and it’s simply not true! We travel wherever we’re needed to make an impact. Although we are based in Norwich we travel throughout the east and beyond facilitating workshops in a way that’s accessible for trainees. It’s important for us to break down as many barriers as possible and a big one can be challenges around travelling, whether physical or emotional. By travelling to where our trainees are we maximise engagement, ensuring they walk away with skills for life. We’re happy to work from any venue necessary to help us achieve our mission of preventing homelessness.
“Your workshops are only about skills, not people”
We work incredibly hard to make our workshops about building confidence AND skills. Skills without confidence are no good to anyone so it’s absolutely vital that trainees come away from our workshops with both. This builds resilience to find their own solutions at any stage in life or their tenancy.
We go beyond the usual money talk by facilitating workshops on everything from debt to direct debits to how to get and keep a job. Our unique approach is centred around two things, strength and restoration. Very often trainees already have the knowledge needed to thrive, they simply lack confidence. We help them unlock their potential in a way that they enjoy. Which is why we call ourselves facilitators as opposed to trainers, because we’re not teaching trainees anything new, just facilitating their shared learning. There is nothing more empowering than knowing how to find your own solutions in life.
“You only deliver training one way”
Created to cope with the challenges of 2020, our digital workshops are here to stay. Blended delivery is the future – it’s brilliant for enabling us to reach even more people in the way that best suits them. No one size ever fits all. Which is why our DigiTILS+ interactive Zoom workshops form part of our future delivery plan. Working in the most suitable way for a particular trainee or group of trainees helps us maximise engagement so that they get the most out of each workshop. We’re happy to run them in small groups or 1-2-1, face to face or digital – the most important thing is accessibility and enjoyment!
“Your training is the same as all the others”
The training we deliver has to work for people with different backgrounds and abilities so we’ve created tenancy sustainment workshops that are nothing like anything else available. With no PowerPoint in sight and as little writing as possible, we think we do pretty well at keeping things interesting and interactive, and our trainees agree! Workshops can also be adapted to different learning styles and mild to moderate learning difficulties.
The key thing to know about our workshops is that they’re targeted. They’re designed specifically for those most at risk of losing their tenancy, whether it’s through having a ‘wobble’ because they’re facing difficulties affording the rent, or they’re on the cusp of eviction. The reason why a trainee is joining us doesn’t matter, we concentrate on making a positive impact. This approach helps us achieve our mission of preventing homelessness.
“You only work certain types of people”
Anyone can find themselves at risk of homelessness, all it takes is for circumstances to align in a certain way. We therefore facilitate training for people at various stages of their tenancy, whether it’s before they move in or during the term. Our work with other organisations ensures their tenants have the skills they need to be amazing and maintain secure tenancies for years to come. We also work with those leaving care or prison to ensure they can move straight into a secure tenancy and thrive.
Your Own Place is not just a young persons’ organisation! We work hard to achieve our mission of preventing homelessness regardless of age, background, and experience.
If you’d like more information about how Your Own Place can help you, get in touch via our contact us page or email rebecca@yourownplace.org.uk