of our programmes has continued to break even and maintain a sound financial balance however we recognise a challenge lies ahead with the planned reduction of government spending over the next few years and the tendering of services within health & education government departments.
Treasurer’s Report
The financial accounts of YMCA Lisburn have been audited by FPM Accountants according to SORP 2005 and comply with the charity’s Memorandum and Articles of Association, applicable law and the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice, “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” and requirements of the Companies Act 2006. The total income amounted to £688 305 with expenditure of £503 732. We are pleased to report a surplus of £184 573 which will be directed to supporting our core service and public benefit. The Executive Committee has set a target of building unrestricted reserves to the level of six months operational costs which equate to approximately £300,000. Currently our unrestricted cash reserves have reached £231,657. At a time of financial restraint we are pleased that each
Our thanks go to go our extensive range of funders and a summary of accounts are included on the attached sheet. I would further like to acknowledge the work of Joyce for her excellent work in the financial management of projects and to Adam Strong within FPM Accountants for his support throughout the preparation of the audited accounts. Special mention of thanks to the staff team and in particular the Senior Management Team for the manner in which they have sought and succeeded in obtaining new and alternative funding for projects going forward.
Full set of accounts are available at the administration office or by emailing enquiries@lisburnymca.com.
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Investment
Total Investment: £688,305
10% 75% 15%
£68,830 £516,230 £103,245
Management, Governance Direct Services Programme Delivery
and Administration
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Funders of Lisburn YMCA 2022-2023
We would like to thank the following organisations for their financial support over the past year. Without their support we would not have been able to offer such a quality service across the whole organisation.
Public Health Agency South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust The Fostering Network YMCA National Council
Education Authority Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council Newry Mourne & Down Council NI Housing Executive
Ards & North Down Council Clear Project/PHA DOJ – Asset Recovery Agency OFMDFM
Annual Report 2023
Trustees of Lisburn YMCA
Jade Irwin .......................................................................................................................................Chairperson Andrea Spence .................................................................................................................... Company Secretary Ian Crossan ....................................................................................................................................... Treasurer
Lisburn YMCA
28 Market Square, Lisburn, BT28 1AG | ☎ (028) 9267 0918 Email: enquiries@lisburnymca.com | www. lisburnymca.com
Chairperson’s Report
This year has been particularly challenging and our young people, families and the wider community. The lingering aftermath of COVID-19 and ongoing cost of living crisis continues to make its mark across society and is increasingly prevalent in our support and delivery of services. However, I couldn’t be prouder of the way we have pulled together to continue to provide crucial services to those who need them across the thematical areas of Youth Development, Health & Education & Community Engagement. Our children and young people have contributed so much this year and it is inspiring to hear their voices being heard loud and clear through our service design, delivery and evaluation systems.
YMCA believe in empowering young people to discover who they are and what they can become. To reflect this commitment we provided youth work programmes, training, mentoring, social opportunities, outdoor education and experiental learning along with other direct forms of support and targeted programmes. I have been particularly excited to see new
Family & Community Engagement
Our community engagement programmes including Women In Mind, Lisburn Links and Family Support Service continue to play a crucial role within supporting vulnerable youth, adults and families to navigate challenges and strengthen their resiliency. Women In Mind Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Service has been operational now for over seven years and has adopted a peer-support methodology to promoting mental health recovery based on a co-design of activities and support needs. The programme has delivered over 500 hours of volunteer support to a group of 20 ladies through a range of programmes including group
opportunities flourish with the development of a mental health support service incorporating a youth work methodology to address mental health concerns early and support positive youth development. Young people’s emotional wellbeing has been a widespread concern with evidence supporting a rise of Referrals to CAMHS and other health related services. We look forward to working with our partners across the statutory, voluntary and community in the formation of relationships and collaboration to enhance pathways and programmes of support based on identification of needs.
In conclusion, without a doubt it has been a very challenging year, especially in respect to applying for funds given the ongoing pressures within society and on the survival of voluntary & community sector organisations. It’s created a hugely competitive environment for financial resources. We have persevered and been working to a funding strategy. We are very grateful for the funders who have seen the value of our work by investing in us. We want to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to our services and programmes. We are deeply appreciative of all our partners who have continued to work alongside us, and of the new partners we have connected with over this
work, art and craft, alternative therapies, bakery & cookery skills.
Our Family Support Service has been operational for the past fifteen years and continues to grow as demand often exceeds capacity. The service offers a co-designed programme of support, through a holistic and person-centred approach that includes guidance, valued resources, and practical strategies to address various issues that families may face and to ensure that they are supported to the highest of standards. A strength of the service is the formation of a relationship which allows practitioners to understand the unique dynamics of each family therefore tailoring their approach to meet the specific needs of each individual family. Moreover, the service strives to ensure that a compassionate approach is always upheld thus empowering families to overcome obstacles and
last year. Looking ahead at 2023-2024, we look forward to greater stability and growth of our much needed services in order to be responsive to local needs within our communities.
Thank you for your interest and feel inspired like us to support young people to achieve great things in the coming year.
Ms Jade Irwin Chairperson
create a nurturing and supportive environment for all.
Our service outcomes aim to ensure that the intervention provided to young people and families is effective, efficient, and supportive to their needs. This is shown in our figures for the year 22/23 with over 130 family receiving early intervention support. Our Family Support Service remains committed to supporting families in need across the incoming year and seeks to collaborate & extend our thanks to the funders, relevant agencies, and others.
Health and Education
Health & Education continued to thrive across the year and exceed our targets for delivery. Our primary PHA contracts for Targeted Lifeskills and SHAHRP delivery managed to work through covid related deficit on service delivery targets and benefited from enhanced funding due to the extreme levels of demand experienced throughout the year within the sector. A few significant achievements include engagement and completion of 116 groups within the Targeted Life-skills Programme which if reflected as 822 participants.
Partnership working with local Schools continues to be positive. High numbers of pupils are presenting with low mood, high anxiety, challenging behaviour and very low confidence. These combined with family issues and availability of substances have led to issues for pupils in every area we work in. While the majority of settings we work with avail annually of the peripatetic service this year seen groups in SERC, Ards and Downpatrick, Lisburn Combined Cadet group, Atlas Training Centre and Hydebank Wood College engaged for the first time.
SHAHRP (School Health Alcohol Harm Reduction Programme) delivered 146 brief interventions and 36 teacher training sessions with approximately 10,000 pupils receiving a SHAHRP
Youth Development
The environment for our Youth Development work was again challenging this year as funding from EA was reduced to the minimum transitional funding available which left a financial shortfall but thankfully the Executive Board agreed to utilize financial reserves to cover the deficit. It was also further complicated by a change in staff personnel as the Youth Worker moved internally within the Organisation to take up the new Mental Health position. A fabulous candidate was successful in the recruitment process and stepped into the position in a part time capacity as she finished her post graduate studies. Being well supported by the part time and full time colleagues she made a great impact and contributed most effectively to the smooth running of the youth Centre and evening programmes.
Drawing upon many years of demonstrable youth work delivery we acknowledge many young people present with adverse experiences and their behaviour can be challenging at times.
intervention from year 8 to 13 across the Belfast which engaged 16 year groups from post & South Eastern area. Many Schools continue primary schools across the council area in to operate with multiple sessions per year delivery of the Flourishing Early Intervention group due to the risks that continue to present Programme. from putting large groups together for the The Y’s Girls Community Mentoring brief intervention sessions. A supplementary Programme continued to train volunteer short vape session was developed to address mentors to be matched with young women the growing issue of vaping in schools.
The Y’s Girls Community Mentoring brief intervention sessions. A supplementary Programme continued to train volunteer short vape session was developed to address mentors to be matched with young women the growing issue of vaping in schools. aged 9-14 to support them to be their best. An The drug and alcohol team also delivered on external evaluation conducted by the Centre multiple short term contracts across including for Youth Impact found that Y’s Girls is an Ards and North Down Council which funded a early and effective intervention that positively “Relationships Roadshow” across schools in the impacts six social and emotional learning skills Borough as part of the council’s programme to that are indicative of better short and longtackle unhealthy relationships and domestic term mental health, that it is a young-personviolence. Additionally Building Up: Flourishing centred and inclusive programme, with a clear was completed in four centres with vulnerable relationship between quality and impact. young people to promote positive mental wellbeing and address the causes of substance misuse. In Newry, Mourne and Down there was extensive roll out of “What’s Your Playlist”
support through a youth work methodology with young people and their families in response to identified emotional health and wellbeing needs. Within the last nine months of programme implementation the practitioner has built a highly effective service that has exceeded its targets and built important partnerships and networks to alleviate the problems faced. We look forward to the development of this service over the next year and embracing the learning.
This can mean that workers need additional skills to overcome these issues and continue to deliver quality learning opportunities that meet the needs of our members. The curriculm of youth work programmes addressed areas of need such as mental, physical and sexual health, accredited training, LGBT, gender roles, drugs and alcohol, community relations as well as any locally emerging needs. This programme of group work, individual work and general provision is carefully planned in response to widespread needs assessment and is a credit to the staff who constantly delivering innovative and creative ways of working to engage and hold the interest of young people.
The PAUSE programme, funded through the NIHE Homelessness Prevention Fund continued this year and we built on our experience and knowledge of the issue from the previous three years. This culminated in a conference in the Beechlawn Hotel for 50+ youth practitioners and teachers to raise awareness of aspects of Youth Homelessness. As we have grown in our experience with Homelessness and Housing issues, we successfully applied for the NIHE Sustaining Tenancies Fund and have successfully appointed a part time worker who supports young adults to develop tenancy resilience or prepare for their first tenancy. This is an important development for us as we continue to support older young people with very real issues that impact on their ability to manage independent living.
A positive end to the year ended was noted which resulted in being successful in a procurement and tendering process for the new Local Area EA Specifications to deliver youth services within Lisburn North for the next three years, allowing us to return to full time provision from March 23.
A new exciting development for the Organisation was the design and implementation of a Youth Mental Health Project which is funded by Community Foundation. This innovative service enabled us to direct specialized trained staff and resources to deliver an early intervention