Safe Spaces and Strong Bonds: Creating Space for Teen Girls in Temporary Accommodation

Our work in temporary accommodation see’s us supporting a lot of young people through our weekly after school clubs, swim sessions, fun days and our monthly Social Saturdays. One of the group s that has grown so organically and has had 100% positive feedback is our ‘TA Girlies’ group. 

 Since May 2024 we have put on a summer creative programme, weekly catchup sessions, walks and talks, film nights and dress up restaurant dinners which have seen the girls create bonds that have continued outside of them leaving the hotels. 

 Imagine living in a hotel room with your mom and siblings, that would drive any of us crazy!

Creating a safe space outside of the hotel where they can be active, learn new skills such as coding, sewing, public speaking and work toward goals for after they leave the temporary accommodation. 

 We have seen 20+ girls benefit from our girls group. For some girls they say it’s the one thing they look forward to each week, for others it’s time away from their siblings, for some it’s the only space they can openly themselves whether that’s talk about school, cry about how they are really feeling or openly ask the InUnity team questions about life. 

 We have seen 2 of our girls go on to benefit from our MentorMe programme(community mentoring) which includes weekly walks and talks and vision board creating as well as working on being the best versions of themselves. 

 We have seen mentees return after leaving TA to our walk and talk sessions which is amazing to see how much of a safe space, we/they had created. 

 We find here at InUnity that the best community groups, programmes and session are the ones that spring organically and are led by the young people wanting to create change for themselves and others, especially those in unfortunate circumstances.