ESTEEM

Who we are

About us: At Esteem any young person can belong and make a positive difference, no matter what challenges they face.

Young people aged 14-26 can realise their strength to cope with life’s challenges and thrive into their futures.

Our community is grounded in trust and respect, and built with young people for young people.

We run a transformational range of free sessions from our centre in Shoreham.

Our vision: We all need someone to believe in us and the space to believe in ourselves.

When we value ourselves and each other, we can all thrive together.

Who we work with: Esteem has established multiple mutually beneficial partnerships with statutory, community, and sectoral support organisations which provide two-way referrals and joint programming opportunities that benefit young adults.

Our approach enables our staff and volunteers to build trust with those who have experienced complex traumas and barriers.

The young people we work with face an average of 3-4 intersecting social barriers including being:

• A carer
• Care experienced
• LGB, Trans or Non-binary
• Living with Special Educational Needs, Disabilities, and/or Neurodiversity
• Low income
• Not in education or employment
• Refugees or asylum seekers
• Vulnerably housed or experiencing homelessness

"Everyone is supportive: Gender-wise, skin colour-wise, what culture you're from, how much of a weirdo you are. No one ever feels normal, but when you're here you're all one big family. No one judges you.” - Esteem Young Adult

Our work leads to highly positive outcomes for wellbeing, confidence, skills development and active citizenship. Over 88% of young people who attend Esteem feel more confident to meet people, leave the house, and get involved in their local community

“There’s a whole range of activities and 1-2-1 support you can get. You choose what you get involved in, and whatever you do, you’re not treated as a source of income but as an individual.” - Esteem Young Adult

Our culture and values

Our values:

TRUST We see the best in each other. Everyone can be trusted to take the lead.

SUPPORT When we help each other we achieve more. Everyone should get support to develop their dreams

RESPECT We all belong here. Everyone deserves inclusion and respect.*

(*Irrespective of race, ability, religious or spiritual beliefs, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, pregnancy or marriage.)

Our approach: We know that accessing our support and activities can help young adults to develop long term positive cycles of growth, despite any inequities or complex barriers they face. By being valued and adding value to our community, young adults can build capacity to thrive in their adult lives.

Taking an asset-based approach to working with young adults, we are focused on people’s strengths and avoid othering people by labelling. We build from strengths and actively facilitate independence and initiative, aiming for young adults to work jointly with staff and our volunteers to create and embed progress in their lives. We offer the time they need to trust and experience being trusted, to learn, build resilience and to grow.

The concept of adding value and being valued is based on the theory of mattering, which research has shown leads to positive long term outcomes for marginalised groups

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Esteem is committed to ensuring that, as far as is practicable, all employees, workers, volunteers, job applicants, Young Adults, prospective Trustees and current Trustees and other people we work with are treated with respect and dignity and are not subjected to unfair or unlawful discrimination.

The terms equality, inclusion, diversity and equity are at the heart of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy

Our Senior Leadership Team attend a three day ‘Design for Inclusion’ course.

Equality, diversity and inclusion are central to Esteem’s values and how we work. We are proud of our commitment to diversity and inclusion and support young people and staff from different backgrounds so they can be their best selves. Our networks include All Sorts (LGBTQIA+), Adur Refugees and Possibility People.