YMCA Bournemouth has launched a £25,000 fundraising appeal to provide specialist mental health support for people living in its supported accommodation. The Staying Well, Staying Housed campaign will fund a HealthBus mental health nurse for 48 days over 12 months, helping residents access early support, improve wellbeing and reduce the risk of losing their accommodation.
5th October 2026
YMCA Bournemouth has launched a new £25,000 fundraising appeal aimed at helping people who have experienced homelessness access specialist mental health support while rebuilding their lives.
The Staying Well, Staying Housed campaign will fund a specialist mental health nurse from HealthBus Trust to work directly within YMCA Bournemouth's supported accommodation over the next 12 months.
The project is designed to make mental health support easier to access, particularly for residents who may struggle with traditional appointments, referrals or unfamiliar clinical environments.
Image: Unsplash
For people who have experienced homelessness, moving into accommodation can be an important turning point - but it does not necessarily mean the challenges that contributed to homelessness have disappeared.
Residents supported by YMCA Bournemouth may also be dealing with trauma, anxiety, depression, substance dependence, poor physical health or social isolation.
Through the campaign, a specialist mental health nurse will work within YMCA accommodation for 48 scheduled days over 12 months, allowing residents to access support in a familiar and trusted environment.
The service will include one-to-one therapeutic support, assessments for suicide and self-harm risk, safety planning and early intervention.
Residents will also be connected with wider health, recovery and community services where additional help is needed.
One of the main aims of the project is to remove some of the barriers that can prevent people from asking for help.
Rather than relying solely on formal appointments, the service will include planned sessions alongside open-door conversations, welfare checks and outreach.
This means support can be adapted around the individual rather than expecting residents to fit into a rigid system.
Mark Inkpen, Chief Operations Officer of YMCA Bournemouth, said the charity believes everyone deserves not only a safe home but the support required to keep that home and move forward with their life.
He explained that for somebody experiencing trauma or poor mental health, even receiving an appointment letter or travelling to an unfamiliar building can create another obstacle at a time when support is most needed.
The Staying Well, Staying Housed project is intended to bring that support directly to residents, allowing trust to develop over time.
The new appeal follows an earlier year of specialist mental health provision delivered by HealthBus at YMCA Bournemouth.
According to HealthBus's March 2026 impact report, the service helped improve residents' emotional wellbeing and allowed serious mental health concerns to be identified earlier.
It also contributed to fewer crisis and safeguarding escalations, greater housing stability and increased confidence among YMCA staff supporting residents with complex needs.
Demand for the service increased as residents became more familiar with the nurse.
A typical day included between six and nine structured resident contacts, alongside crisis support and informal conversations, while 12 residents were receiving ongoing support at the time of the report.
Residents supported through the partnership have also rebuilt family relationships, re-engaged with healthcare and recovery services and progressed towards independent or recovery accommodation.
YMCA Bournemouth now hopes to raise enough money to secure the specialist nursing service for another year.
The £25,000 target would help fund:
48 days of specialist mental health nursing
At least 300 structured resident contacts
Direct specialist support for at least 35 people
Ongoing therapeutic support for at least 20 residents
The charity has also outlined how individual donations could contribute towards the service.
A £100 donation could help fund around a quarter of a specialist nurse's day, £200 could contribute towards half a day and £400 could fund a full day of mental health nursing support.
Safe accommodation can provide the foundation for somebody to begin rebuilding their life, but YMCA Bournemouth says unresolved mental health difficulties can still put that stability at risk.
Kate Hibbitt, Chief Operations Officer for HealthBus, said bringing clinically governed care into a familiar environment allows staff to build trust at each resident's pace and respond to problems earlier.
The partnership also allows health and housing teams to work more closely around the wider needs of each person.
For YMCA Bournemouth, the aim is not simply to help residents through an immediate crisis, but to give them the stability and confidence to move towards greater independence.
The charity is now asking local residents, businesses and supporters to donate or share the campaign to help secure the service for another 12 months.
Donations can be made through YMCA Bournemouth's Staying Well, Staying Housed JustGiving appeal.
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