Since 1995, YMCA Tayside have worked to establish positive, trustful relationships with disengaged and vulnerable young people.

Each year, we engage with 350 young people who can often be challenging in their behaviour and chaotic in their lifestyle, so our primary focus on establishing relationships is fundamental to all of our engagement.

Over the years our young people have often referred to us as ‘their YMCA family’. This got us thinking: what does that really mean to them? What does a real nurturing family look like? Remember: for many of our young people, their experience of family has not been a positive one.

So we started to wonder:  If we were able to, how could we create the structure of the ultimate YMCA family, and what exactly would this YMCA family look like? We came to the conclusion that the ideal family would support the healthy development of mind, body and spirit. The services we offer reflect this, and we need your help to ensure this work continues.