Escape Youth Services

Our situation 

With our charity solely dependent on fundraising, we are entering a period where we do not have all the funds secured to continue to provide our drop-in service. 

In recent times funding we can apply for is becoming much more competitive in securing funds to support our core work. 

With an increase of mental health issues amongst young people, heightened by the pandemic, and now with the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on families, we know our service is even more vital to the well-being and mental health of the young people we support.

Behind the scenes we are continuing to work hard to secure funding for the longer-term sustainability of our service but in the next 3-6 months fear a gap in support may result in us having to reduce our service.  In addition to this we are facing increased energy, property and day-to-day running costs for our premises which is also used by several other local charities, groups and activity providers.

What we do

Our vision is to enhance the lives of young people, building a positive future, by developing and sustaining a supportive service where young people can succeed and increasing the range, quantity and quality of youth-led provision.  

Our work involves generic drop-in provision, one-to-one work, group work, youth work in schools, fundraising, youth achievement and volunteering, as well as a wide range of activity-based opportunities for local youths to participate in including arts, sports, creative media and life skills.

Currently running five drop-in session nights a week through our popular ‘youth café’, we work with young people aged 9-18 and have over 320 members on our active membership. Our Tuesday night session has the maximum of 60 young people in attendance weekly, with our other nights having anywhere between 30-40 young people.

The service offers a safe place for young people to attend and learn new and exciting experiences, and although we are open to all, we work to remove barriers to participation due to financial costs, and address issues including social anxiety, confidence and self-esteem or lack of social opportunities and friendships. We at Escape empower young people to choose their path, build their confidence in their own timescale, access opportunities without that financial burden and continue to grow and flourish like our young people deserve to.

“I’ve had the chance to make new friends and feel part of something, and not feel so lonely. I’m proud that I was able to try new things that I’ve never done before. I never thought I could do that.” Member feedback.

We provide a wealth of opportunities such as teaching basic life skills, employability support, 1:1 health and wellbeing support, creative media, sports, and many other recreational activities. We provide free food during our sessions to young people, including them making their meals to provide to the rest of the group that night. Our Wednesday night cooking session has moved to a hybrid model in person and via Zoom to promote inclusion and it continues to enhance young people's budgeting, cooking, organisation and leadership skills. We continued to provide support and guidance to our young people throughout the pandemic ensuring their mental health and well-being were being put first and preventing further social isolation.

Our wider services involve additional activity programmes in the school holidays, targeted one-to-one support, group work, youth work in schools, fundraising, youth achievement and volunteering opportunities, all working within our vision to enhance the lives of young people and help build a positive future.  

“As a family, the activities, and opportunities available are not anything we would normally do or have the chance to offer to them. Even just being part of a group of peers and having the amazing staff of the youth cafe when they don't have many other friends or family is just incredibly valuable” Parent feedback

Our drop-in service is the foundation of our work where we develop and foster relationships with our members, widen their horizons to new experiences, equip them to face life’s challenges and identify further support where required.  We are privileged to have supported some members for up to 10 years of their lives as they progressed into adulthood, some of whom are still involved with our service today as staff and volunteers.  

We currently have an excellent team of youth workers and support volunteers within our service who are all highly regarded by our young people, parents and the community who most importantly strive to provide the best service we can and support our young people to be the best they can be!

Our Plea

Having provided such a key service to the community, we do not want to reduce our services when demand is greater than ever. On the contrary, we want to grow and do more!  

If you are able to donate, we are in need of any level of support which would be greatly appreciated in our efforts to sustain our drop-in service. 

We will keep you updated in our fundraising endeavours but ask if you can please share our project with family, friends, businesses, and the wider community.  If you feel you can help us in any other way, please get in touch.

We thank you for taking the time to read about our work and can ensure that with every penny raised, you are making a difference to the lives of our young people. Thank you!