ROUTES, a youth drop-in centre on Frome’s Palmer Street, is still campaigning to raise tens of thousands of pounds to avoid closure. Here, in the first piece of a series that will meet the young people affected, project manager Sarah Stobbart shares what Routes means to her.
“I’ve worked for YMCA Mendip within the Routes project for the past four and a half years,” Sarah says, “starting as the Routes advisor and achieving promotion to project manager in 2015. I’ve always been greatly interested in young people’s issues and welfare, so my role is something that I have a limitless amount of enthusiasm and passion for.
“During my time in Routes I’ve worked hard to become an advocate for a largely disenfranchised community of young people in the town who are inspirational in their resilience.
“Despite frequently struggling with what can seem to them like insurmountable challenges, often relating to family relationships, mental health, substance misuse or homelessness, they come to us because they want to find help with their issues.
“The way we help young people here is rather unique in that our work takes place within a youth café environment, enabling more natural interactions and engagement in a space in which they feel more comfortable.
“We don’t need appointments, and the support is on tap, and this choice to engage and our adaptability as a service sees us achieve really positive outcomes for many of Frome’s most vulnerable young residents.
“Rather tragically as seen across the board, due to funding cuts, the Routes service is now under threat of closure in March. As many will tell you, this is concerning as there are fewer and fewer support services available, particularly for young people who will have few alternative options for support.
“We’re campaigning to raise awareness of our work and gain public support with our appeal for funding, and the series of portraits you’ll see in the coming weeks, kindly taken by photographer Tim Gander as part of our appeal, seek to highlight these young people’s stories and the importance to them of saving Routes.”
If you’d like to support the Routes appeal, please contact sstobbart@mendipymca.org.uk or donations can be made by text to MEND41 £10 to 70070.