YMCA Together provides accommodation, support, and childcare to people who are homeless or have suffered domestic abuse, as well as those with mental health or addiction problems. It also helps children from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures.

In 1846, poverty was rife in Liverpool and the docks brought people into the city in search of a better life. Liverpool Young Men’s Christian Association was established to address social problems, including child poverty, problematic alcohol use, literacy challenges, and unemployment, by providing sanctuary to people in need.

The organisation has seen many changes since it was founded, but its aims and principles remain the same. It still provides support and encouragement to people in need, offering 300 beds across Liverpool, Sefton, and Knowsley, which amounts to 109,500 bed spaces per year.

In 2011, it opened Dutch Farm, which provides horticultural education and training to those it supports, and in 2019 a 33-bed, residential rehab centre was built.

YMCA Together has been shaped around five core principles: strength, humility, respect, empathy and kindness. Staff are asked to mold their day-to-day work around these principles to ensure that what they do has a positive impact on both clients and colleagues.

Over the past year, showing staff, many of whom are in support roles and not able to work remotely, how much they are valued has been key. A fun day, a memorial event for service-users and a colleague who died during the pandemic and an awards ceremony were among those that took place.