Amy was first introduced to YMCA Tayside’s Y Future’s programme by her SDS advisor who was looking for a supportive environment for her to develop in. Amy was quite shy and anxious about getting involved but after her initial meeting seemed quite keen to start participating on a one to one basis. She was assigned a key worker who met with her once a week and we began our journey with her.

One of her first actions was to get some support with making a claim for Universal Credit so that she could better support herself financially whilst she looked for work. With our support we were able to achieve this for her. As she became more comfortable with attending the YMCA she showed an interest in accessing some of our other services. She got involved with one of our social skills groups in order to help her build her confidence. This group used table top role playing adventure games as a tool for building social skills and improving confidence whilst speaking in a group. Amy enjoyed this and it led us to finding out that she was quite interested in creative writing and wanted to become an author one day.

Amy was then able to take advantage of a newly established creative writing group within the YMCA. At the same time she still received one to one support from her Y Futures key worker to complete a college application. This was a very balanced support package which allowed her to develop some of her softer skills through taking part in wider YMCA activities and complete her Y Futures Action plan by getting one to one support.

When the Lockdown hit in March 2020, YMCA Tayside was quick to make many of its’ programmes available virtually through various online platforms. Amy was able to continue with her creative writing sessions and maintain regular contact with us over lockdown.

Amy is now at college and is doing well and she is still engaging in one of the Y Futures film production groups on her days off. She still has access to any support if she needs it but she is doing quite well for herself since first getting involved with us a year ago.