News

We’re really pleased to be able to share two big updates from Your Own Place. Firstly, a big thank you to the National Lottery Community Fund for awarding us three years of funding. This funding means we can continue delivering money, housing, tenancy and employability workshops, alongside one-to-one support, across communities including Norwich, Thetford and […]

The Your Own Place team work incredibly hard behind the scenes, delivering values-led workshops and working with people in the best way for them. To showcase the impact of their work and what insights this brings, we ask a member of the Your Own Place team to share what they have recently been up to. […]

Each quarter a member of the Your Own Place team is going to share an insight into their role at Your Own Place and what they have recently been up to as part of it. This quarter Facilitator and Office Manager, Bianca, reaches her fourth year at Your Own Place and has taken time to […]

Each quarter a member of the Your Own Place team is going to share an insight into their role at Your Own Place and what they have recently been up to as part of it. This quarter Facilitator, Caroline shares about her experience in navigating the realm of online delivery in a world where Zoom […]

Following on from her interview welcoming Zoe as our new CEO, facilitator Emily reconnected with Zoe, six months on, to hear about her reflections on becoming Chief Executive Officer of a social enterprise. Hi Zoe! Before we get started with the serious reflective questions, some quick-fires for you: What’s your most-used emoji? 😂 Fruit or […]

Each quarter a member of the Your Own Place team is going to share an insight into their role at Your Own Place and what they have recently been up to as part of it. This quarter our Chief Operating Officer (COO), Jess Luce-Rackham shares about her experience of organisational and leadership change. Over the […]

Emily caught up with Rebecca Claydon, Customer Voice Lead at Freebridge Community Housing, to find out more about Rebecca’s background, top tips for championing customer voice and, what we really need to know, what weapon she’d use in a zombie apocalypse! “Rebecca meets with either me or Beth (facilitator at Your Own Place) on a […]

“I’m a massive believer in homelessness prevention and a massive believer in early intervention. Insecure housing and homelessness creates trauma – trauma that prevention can avoid. If we invest in prevention, it pays dividends.”

Emily is a full-time facilitator at Your Own Place. She joined the company in the post-Covid haze of April 2021. “This week it’s been confirmed for me that it isn’t all an elaborate prank. Rebecca White, CEO and Founder of Your Own Place CIC is moving on to pastures new. As a team we’ve grappled […]

Waking up at 5am, my immovable exercise hour at 6am, probably a quality coffee in the sunshine (the past is always sunny) and then the usual day of team support, planning a workshop of some kind, signing off a report, doing some finance, troubleshooting and meeting a potential customer, likely after the fifth chasing email. […]

An Election coming might be a time to rethink foodbanks. Many people have found their stride working or volunteering in foodbanks over the last few years.  It’s a boom industry. In turn, (and we’re delighted to have played our part training Trussell Trust volunteers as well as visitors to foodbanks), people have got so much […]

Emily is a full-time facilitator at Your Own Place. She’s currently working on a variety of projects, including facilitating flexible workshops at different Supported Housing Schemes in Colchester, and supporting individuals accessing Food Hubs in and around Norwich. Walking back into the training room at Emmaus Norfolk and Waveney, I am filled with joy. I […]

Well now you can with Train the Trainer dates now available from July With our flexible Train the Trainer offer there is now the opportunity to embed the Your Own Place tenancy sustainment and money support approaches and knowledge in your organisation as well as have access to a vault of resources, workshop plans and […]

Throughout our ten years, Your Own Place has been driven by people, values and impact. The Board of Non-Executive Directors is now seeking to appoint a new CEO to lead this social business into its next decade. We know that CEO/founder shoes can feel like big shoes to fill, we also know that when people […]

On 31st August this year Rebecca, CEO and founder of Your Own Place CIC, will be leaving to pastures new, leaving behind an organisation that has impacted 1000s of lives in its quest to prevent homelessness – near and far.  Working as a trading social enterprise, Your Own Place counts all sectors among its friends, customers and […]

It’s time. Your Own Place has made the not-so-difficult decision to leave X, formerly known as Twitter. Personally, when I started out in 2013, I enjoyed Twitter. It was a place of connection, learning, ideas and positive novelty. We even picked up customers and partners who interacted with our work. We have seen this be […]

We’re recruiting We’re seeking a new full-time Facilitator to join our dynamic, flexible and passionate small team. We all connect over building non-judgemental relationships and making a difference in communities – does this sound like you? In brief, you will facilitate 1-2-1 and group Money, Housing, Tenancy & Cost of Living sessions with trainees. These […]

Years ago, when designing and delivering our early prototype workshops, I devised an exercise where we drew someone and then cut them (the sheet of paper!), in half.  One half was the landlord and the other half was the tenant.  Participants were asked take the role of tenant or landlord. Together we snipped words out […]

Your Own Place CIC and The Trussell Trust’s Norwich food banks have forged a transformative financial inclusion partnership, weaving a safety net for vulnerable communities using food banks in Norwich. By combining Your Own Place’s expertise in financial inclusion workshops and support with the Trussell Trust’s extensive network and commitment to eradicating hunger, we’ve created […]

Your Own Place is recruiting. We’re seeking a new part-time (30 hours a week) Office Manager. You’ll be joining a dynamic and passionate team and playing a vital role in supporting them in their impactful work. Our office is based in Norwich, where we will expect to see you for around half the week. Otherwise, […]

When it comes to business, the right team is crucial. This is especially true for non-executive directors, who provide leadership and guidance to companies. Recently, Don Evans stepped down as chair, opening up the position for someone new. Hannah Harvey, already a member of the board, was chosen to fill the role due to her […]

What are these money workshops? We’re really proud to be taking our confidential and small group workshops to people in work in Greater Norwich. From January, we’re delivering 2-hour workshops in Norwich, where Your Own Place’s facilitators will create a confidential and safe environment to discuss money concerns, experiences and tips. There will be no more […]

After three co-production workshops in early 2023 with team members from Colchester Borough Homes, Colchester YMCA, Emmaus Colchester, Peabody Colchester, and YES Colchester, we’re entering our next phase of the project. These workshops focussed on developing shared values with the organisations involved. Through these workshops, we explored strength- and asset-based approaches, open questions, incentives, and […]

At Your Own Place we support all those individuals and charities appealing to the government not to criminalise rough sleeping in tents or the giving out of tents by charities and others. We acknowledge the issue is complex, as we have seen before and will again at Christmas, in discussions about whether to give cash […]

This World Homeless Day, as we at Your Own Place mark our tenth year in existence, we are needed more than ever. You could say we’ve failed. But I don’t think even our harshest critics would blame this appalling state of affairs in housing and the rise in homelessness, on us.  I support Crisis, The […]

Wishing Your Own Place a very happy tenth birthday.  ‘It’s inextricably linked to you’ is a phrase I’ve enjoyed hearing less and less over the last ten years.  Founders create social businesses that reflect their values, their outlook, their experiences and their place in the world. I’m no exception. But this makes it harder to […]

The key responsibility of non-executive directors at Your Own Place is to provide support, strategic oversight, challenge and scrutiny as well as oversee adherence to the company aims and due diligence. They provide general counsel – and a different perspective – on matters of concern to the CEO.  We think of them as ‘critical friends’ to […]

What is the best way to make a difference right now?  If you’re anything like the members of the team at Your Own Place CIC, it can at times feel all but impossible to support people whose budgets simply don’t add up. Citizens Advice tells us that 47% of people they see are in negative […]

10am – 4:30pm onThursday 19th October 20231st Level Castle Quarter, Norwich  Times are hard.You’re not alone. We welcomed anyone and everyone to Castle Quarter on Thursday 19th October 2023, 10am – 4:30pm, to a free event to address the cost of living crisis. We worked with our Advisory Board to co-produce and event aimed at […]

Some time ago we started to remove the word ‘independent’ from our brand Tenancy & Independent Living Skills (TILS). In social care and supported housing in particular, there is an obsession with ‘independence’. Whether this is wishful thinking around people no longer being dependent on their services is unclear. That ‘independence’ is neither desirable nor […]

It’s a week when Prince William shows a commitment to ending homelessness with ‘Homewards’. At Your Own Place we launch ‘Steps to a Successful Tenancy’, in partnership with Sovereign Housing Association. What the Prince recognised in his figure of 300,000 people, is that this includes people in supported accommodation and other temporary (and often pretty […]

At Your Own Place we work with people of all ages and many backgrounds. What they have in common is a risk of homelessness. This can be as simple as having been homeless before, or something much more nuanced that doesn’t have a label and isn’t perceived or counted. If you’re familiar with Your Own […]

Your Own Place Advisory Board (YOPAB) is a group of people who have experienced Your Own Place’s services – workshops, mentoring or employability support – and who provide lived experience perspectives to inform our work. The aim of YOPAB is to be mutually beneficial. YOPAB is all about co-production, shared influence, building experience and developing […]

Leah joins our team as Online and Co-Facilitator after playing a key part in our Advisory Board I’m Leah and I am joining Your Own Place as an online and co facilitator. I love dogs, dopamine dressing and being outside. Having been supported by Your Own Place in the past and felt the impact, I […]

Long term partners are the best partners.  Which is why we’re thrilled to announce a third year of partnership with Saffron Housing Trust.  Operating out of Diss and Harleston foodbanks, our latest support offer sees us taking our award-winning workshops into local communities. By working in foodbanks we can reach people who most need our […]

It’s Mental Health Awareness Week from 15th to 21st May, so our Chief Operating Officer (COO), Jess Luce-Rackham, has written about how Your Own Place strives to prioritise team wellbeing and to embed values-led team support.  We embed our values into everything we do. From induction through to workshop delivery to partner relationships, our values […]

If you follow Your Own Place or me on social media, you may see and read lots of posts about the team. As a social enterprise preventing homelessness, isn’t the most important thing the work we do and the impact we have? Arguably, but let me tell you a little why they both matter and […]

Review of our Vision and Mission In the autumn of 2022 Your Own Place undertook a thorough and robust strategic review. Working with partners past and present as well as those we exist fo support, such as the diligent members of YOPAB, we explored in a series of workshops where we are in the current […]

So said a team member of our small but mighty Your Own Place conglomerate (currently eight team members and counting). But what does yoga have to do with the housing sector and homelessness prevention?  Yoga’s early branding, when it arrived in England and North America in the 1960s, was all about flexibility, and receiving teachings […]

For the third year, our CEO and founder, Rebecca White, is thrilled to be amongst the company of 99 other women making up the best of the social enterprise sector. The WISE100 recognises the most inspiring and influential women in social enterprise, impact investment and mission-driven business. Find out who is in Pioneers Post’s top […]

With all the usual fun, values-based, engaging and interactive delivery, this year takes us further into old as well as new territory.  We’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with Freebridge Community Housing, who we have previously worked with during 2022.  At the vanguard of good tenant engagement and ahead of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures […]

Unhelpful negative messaging or is there hope in the dark? Blue Monday, we’re told, happens on the 16th January this year. According to Wikipedia, it is ‘the name given to a day in January (typically the third Monday of the month) said by a UK travel company, Sky Travel, to be the most depressing day […]

Again, our Advisory Board (YOPAB) say it best. Two young carers, Jordan and Katie chat openly and vulnerably about their hopes and fears of being a young carer, the support they get (or not) and how their identify as a young carer plays on their mind as adulthood listen. A must-listen podcast if you care […]

This article is written by Jess Marsh, Facilitator at Your Own Place. ‘Good things come in threes’.  ‘Three is a magic number’. And my favourite… ‘First the worst, second the best, third the one with the hairy chest’ (apparently!).  After celebrating my three year YOPiversary on 2nd December, you’ll be as disappointed as I was […]

You know you’ve been around a while when the same idea that was a good one seven years ago is a good one again now, but this time for different reasons.  Put simply, the obvious reason for awarding our trainees accreditation certificates back then was to help them get a job.  At a time of […]

Your Own Place are thrilled to have won the Impact in Social Enterprise award on 13th October at the Sheraton Hotel, Park Lane, London. This award is in association with the School for Social Entrepreneurs. It is for our commitment to building public trust through open, fair and insightful reporting.  With this award Your Own […]

It’s impossible not to have an opinion about foodbanks.  Whether informed by the media or having visited one yourself, with so much coverage of the cost of living crisis, it’s unlikely you don’t have a view on their place in our world. As I write this, we’re no longer where I thought we were. Our […]

Practical tips for people working in housing In the face of the latest crisis, it is to be expected that we get into reactive advice and help mode. This feels better than preventing the crisis in the first place and to prevent it you have to spot it ‘upstream’ anyway.  This might be why prevention […]

If someone needs a life ring, I don’t want to see them drown. But once they’re out I also don’t want them to fall in again and again. This is a wasted opportunity and has no dignity.  We’re in a cost of living crisis. As the summer rumbles on and many think of heading off […]

In the volatile space of social media, social landlords are challenged on their commercial business models. The case for size and sustainability often conflicts with being person-centred, having authentic relationships and ensuring all voices are heard – or good ‘engagement’. It is these voices going unheard that has led to The Charter for Social Housing […]

Our Your Own Place (YOP) Advisory Board (AB) is a group of individuals who have experience of what we offer: they’ve joined us through mentoring, employabiliy, or TILS+ workshops. YOP + AB = YOPABThe involvement of those with lived experience is vital to our development and that of wider services. Our people are at the […]

What do you get out of conferences?  Is it meeting people? Networking? Space to think? Hot topics? Or simply time away from your desk? Sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves to network, connect and come away with new ideas. Having consciously removed all that pressure from myself, it felt good to have new […]

After two years of pandemic, The New Tech Economy, citing many of us as glancing at our smartphones upwards of 55 times a day, also finds increasing numbers of people wanting to move away from them. Before the pandemic most of us made use of digital devices in a range of ways to enhance, streamline […]

You’ll be aware that Your Own Place turned eight in October last year.  Both a huge milestone and a source of great pride.  What is often unseen beneath the veneer of glossy social media, is the knock backs, the failures, the disappointments and frustrations.  I’m thrilled to say that very few of those relate to […]

But for Covid19, we wouldn’t have made it blended for a start.  But let me go back a bit.  Over the years we’re run a few Open Days.  We’ve planned as a team to showcase what we do and invite a few partners. In the early days they were often previous colleagues of mine or […]

Engagement. It’s a word our sector uses a lot and we all do it a lot. There is undoubtedly some very good practise in the housing sector and some really poor practise too. And then there’s those that pretend they’ve got good practise nailed and those that wonder why it doesn’t work.  Here’s the thing. […]

Tenancy sustainment work has long been important for landlords not only wishing to ensure the rent is collected, but to support their tenants to thrive in their homes. In this piece Rebecca White explores why it matters now more than ever and shares her organisation’s empowering approach to achieving it.  We’re all emerging into a […]

How did you feel when you read about the cultural revelations at Brewdog?  And if you’re a founder or leader, how did you feel? With plans to scale these stories hit hard. In recent times though, and not because of Covid19 (or Brewdog), I’ve come to the view that small(ish) is beautiful (the horizon is […]

You’ll be unsurprised to learn that Your Own Place hasn’t always gone to plan. As far as there has ever been a plan, a good deal has been jettisoned and I’ve not always even admitted it or had time to reflect.  Thanks to the extraordinary (and mostly hugely positive) experience of leading a team in […]

In the midst of a complicated schools project, recruiting 100 new volunteers and multiple commissions in new areas with new customers, 2021 hit us at full speed.  When Jess, our Operational Manager, kept speaking of things we’d get done in ‘quieter times’ I didn’t have the heart to say that there probably wouldn’t be any. […]

Even before Covid19, if you were remotely interested in your team, your income or the world around you, then employment was probably on your radar.  If you’re lucky, unemployment may have been less so.  We all started somewhere and when earlier this year we ran a social media campaign to ask people to describe their […]

Our mission is to prevent homelessness and we’re acutely aware of the fact it can affect anyone at any time. By helping trainees unlock their potential they can stay safe and secure in their tenancy with a greater understanding of the skills they need to thrive. We facilitate so much but there are still lots […]

As well as delivering our own in-house training we work with partners across the country to facilitate workshops that work for tenants and housing teams. Here are just some of the reasons housing associations and authorities love working with us. We’re all about building confidence AND skills Our training not only covers everything trainees need […]

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 […]

We’re pleased to share with you are own road map over the coming months. All being well, with a vaccinated team passionate about the difference we make face to face, we will be returning to face to face delivery, whilst remaining flexible with our blended offer.

With cautious optimism and the team having their vaccines, like many businesses we are eager to return to time spent face to face. We are in the business of building relationships and with all due caution and safety measures in place, will be returning we hope in the following phased way: 12th April – maximum […]

How you’ll find you fit into Your Own Place and YOPAB no matter who you are! My name is Chanel and I am going to take you down my journey through Your Own Place (YOP) and their Advisory Board (YOPAB). It all started when I was sitting down with my leaving care advisor and I […]

We’ve spoken before, haven’t we about my lack of a plan, my fear of failure and that if I go public, well, people will know about the failure? You’ll be pleased to know that this particular ailment is getting better – oddly thanks to the nightmare that was 2020. There’s somehow an equality of failure […]

Your Own Place CIC and Hopestead have joined up with a goal of preventing homelessness and helping people to keep their home Through their partnership, bespoke, fun, and engaging training will be offered to Flagship Group tenants from April The training has been designed collaboratively and will allow delegates to gain skills and feel empowered […]

Whether you’re organising the family holiday (I wish), running the local choir, or in my case, a social enterprise, there’s simply no alternative.  Doing so isn’t easy or quick. By definition, more people means more time. Additionally, many people in my situation are lone-wolves and it might not come naturally to us. We have an […]