Tallulah’s Story – Youth Work

“YMCA’s helped me through a lot of tough times.”

After the death of a loved one by suicide, Tallulah, then aged 11, was struggling with her mental health. She found it difficult to leave the house, experienced anxiety and had suicidal thoughts.

A friend mentioned a new YMCA youth club was starting in Tadworth and encouraged Tallulah to come along.

“It started off with just a handful of us,” explains Tallulah, now 16. “But it’s really grown over the years. We’ve done loads of activities, from cooking and arts and crafts, to sports and singing, it’s always varied.”

Led by professional youth workers, YMCA’s youth clubs give young people in school years 6-11 a relaxed environment to make friends, raise self-esteem and build skills. Funded by the National Lottery and the High Sheriff Youth Awards, the groups run across East Surrey and follow the National Youth Agency curriculum. They give young people the opportunity to find their voice, influence society and gain skills in areas like global citizenship, money and budgeting.

“It gave me a safe place to go where my parents knew that I’d be okay”, says Tallulah. “I could go out and not think any bad thoughts. I’ve made lifelong friends and YMCA is always very accepting of who I am. It’s massively boosted my confidence.”

Tallulah also received counselling through YMCA’s Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health services to help her cope with what she was going through.

As part of the youth club, Tallulah has been on several adventurous trips, including visits to an activity centre and trampoline park, and mountain climbing. “The group gets to decide what trips we want to go on,” she explains. “It means it’s our choice. It’s important that young people have an opinion and input. I’ve done things I never thought I could do, like climbing Mount Snowdon and Scafell Pike. I even took part in YMCA’s Sleep Easy, where we slept outside in cardboard boxes to raise funds for the charity’s homeless services.”

Tallulah is a member of YMCA East Surrey’s youth representative group, a team of young people from each club who speak up for their peers and help shape youth services. Over the past year, Tallulah has taken that role all the way to Westminster, visiting twice to talk to MPs and even sharing her own experiences at a breakfast meeting.

“I talked about the problems young people face and how it affects them,” explains Tallulah. “Young people don’t usually get the chance to speak up and be heard because adults tend to decide what’s best for them. It made me feel recognised. It means problems can be spoken about and resolved. I used to be the type of person who wouldn’t get help if I was struggling. But YMCA taught me it’s okay to ask for help.”

Due to Tallulah’s impressive campaigning, she’s recently been shortlisted for Young Campaigner of the Year at the Youth Matters Awards. These awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of young people across England and Wales who make a positive difference in their communities.

Fiona Oldam, Youth Work Manager, said: “We invited Tallulah to come and speak in parliament as the government was working on its new National Youth Strategy. It was amazing how she stood up and spoke about her journey with her mental health and how youth club had helped her. She had me in tears and she blew the MPs away.

“Tallulah’s really turned things around while she’s been with us. I can always count on her to motivate and support other young people. She’s becoming a young leader in her own right. Now that she’s reached the age to move on from the youth club, she’s planning to come back as a volunteer youth worker, supporting the leader to run the group.”

Tallulah’s recently taken her GCSEs and is going to college to study animal care, as she wants to be a vet. She’s excited about the opportunity of volunteering her time to help support the youth club.

“One of the things I enjoy doing is helping other people,” says Tallulah. “When you’ve lost someone to mental health, you want to help others who might be having difficulties. That’s why I’m going to be volunteering my time back to the youth club.

“YMCA’s a good place for young people to go because they’ll always understand and they won’t make you feel bad about yourself for having differences. YMCA’s helped me through a lot of tough times and without them, I would’ve found life a lot more difficult. They’ve helped me make friends and improve my confidence. They’ve given me a bunch of opportunities and I’ve achieved things that would never have been possible without them.”