I had stayed at home because I was helping my Mum care for my Nan, so I moved out a lot later than a lot of people do normally. I had no idea where to look or how to figure anything out and then just randomly saw an ad mentioning Y-Living. It sounded great so I came to have a look around and everything moved quite quickly. I saw the ad at the start of December and I’d moved in by 6^th January.

I wasn’t in the best place mentally when I moved in. I had been on anxiety medication for years, I didn’t socialise and had no confidence in doing anything independently, like cooking or cleaning, so I was like, “What do I do now?” But YMCA’s team, Tracy and Leanne were amazing; they were always friendly and helpful. They noticed that I kept to myself a lot, but always encouraged me to attend the social evenings that happen in the building.

I wanted to push myself, to be more confident, so I decided I’d attend the monthly pizza social. The first time I went I was so nervous! I was sweating, could barely eat and hardly spoke to anyone. But I kept going back, then started attending the breakfast mornings too, making sure I tried to speak to people. Sure enough, the more I started talking and engaging I noticed my confidence building in other areas of my life, like at work and during my daily shop, suddenly everything seemed a lot less terrifying. Even Tracy has said she’s noticed a real difference in me since I first arrived, which is nice to hear from other people and I definitely wouldn’t have agreed to be interviewed back then – it’s opened up so many other opportunities for me.  I recently asked for a promotion at work; being more confident I realised I was able to take on more responsibility so advocated for myself to do a different role. There’s no way I’d have even thought I was capable of that a year ago.

When I first told people I was coming to live at the YMCA, some people were concerned because of what they thought went on there and actually, the fact that it was a Christian organisation; people were convinced I was going to be converted! But I’ve never experienced any of that, everyone’s so friendly, everyone’s welcome and nobody is judged. I love how multi-cultural City Gateway is. It’s cool that there are so many people from different backgrounds to learn from – it’s funny when they tell me they’re from all these incredible places like Romania or Zimbabwe and I’m like, “Oh, I’m from down the road, in Bushbury!”. I’ve met Graham the Chaplain a few times and he’s always chatty, put he’s never pushed me to talk about faith or religion – I suppose it’s important that he’s there if people do want to talk about that kind of thing, if it helps them get through a tough situation.

I’ve been here 3 years now and it’s been so transformative for me. It is 6 months since I came off my anxiety medication, which I’m really proud of. If I’d have lived somewhere else, I wouldn’t have had the same kind of opportunities to push myself into social situations, so I genuinely think if I hadn’t come to YMCA, I’d still be on my medication. YMCA gave me a safe space for me to push myself just far enough out of my comfort zone, to encourage me to try. I have friends outside of the YMCA, but again if I hadn’t lived here, I’d have probably chatted online or on my phone to my friends, interacted with people when I went to work, but otherwise I wouldn’t really have had any face-to-face interaction with people… so I feel fortunate to have picked Y-Living as my home.

I think places like YMCA are so important, especially for younger kids to have a place where they can make friends and feel safe. When I was growing up there were a lot of after school clubs and girls’ groups that we could go to. There’s nothing like that around now; I love to see the children heading to the Hub to go and do their crafting sessions or cook and eat… there’s always glitter everywhere, which shows they have a good time! You never know what’s going on in people’s homes to if there’s a place, they can go to have a break or get a chance to just be themselves in a safe place, I think that’s really important. 

In terms of moving on from here, I don’t feel like there are many options for me at the moment. As a single person, it’s difficult. I can’t get on the council list and the private rented sector seems awful and so unaffordable – unless you want to flat-share. Then there’s the fact that nowhere is furnished so I’d have to buy a load of new furniture, which I can’t afford or move around as I’m travelling on the bus everywhere.

So I’m really glad that the Dixon’s Building is opening down the road, I’m really hopeful that I can get a flat there. The pathway within the YMCA is unique and it will allow me to take my next step into independence without being totally on my own. For example, at City Gateway all my bills are sorted for me and already included; I don’t know anything about Council Tax or setting up my WiFi. So when I move to Dixon’s I’ll have to set all that up myself, but with the knowledge that if I’m struggling or have questions, YMCA will be there to help me with it.

My family aren’t financially responsible, we’ve always lived in debt or on pay monthly schemes. It felt important to me to not repeat the cycle and after about a year of living at YMCA, I managed to get out of my overdraft, so now I’m able to put money away each month for savings. This is the first time I’m starting to think about mortgages or anything like that, I don’t know anyone my age who has a mortgage on their own, I’ve always assumed I’d rent for the rest of my life.

Where do I want to be in five years? It’s only something I’ve really started thinking about recently. Since my promotion, I’d like to progress more with my career, take the next step to being more independent in the Dixon’s building so really just carry on progressing as I am now. I’m just so grateful to Tracy and everyone at YMCA for helping me get to this point and I’d like to stay with YMCA as long as I can!

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