What does BYHP mean?

People often ask us, “What does BYHP mean?”, well BYHP was actually an acronym for ‘Banbury Young Homelessness Project’ which has been in existence as a registered charity since 1995.

​Whilst BYHP is known locally as an organisation helping homeless young people, we have in fact grown as a charity and now support all young people aged between 13 and 25 with a range of services.  We offer services in three core areas, all known to help prevent the route causes of youth homelessness. BYHP supports between 200 and 300 young people annually:

Health and Wellbeing
The Health and Wellbeing team offer free Counselling and Family Mediation Services to young people and their families. Every Wednesday evening the team run a Peer Support Group from 5:00 pm till 7:00 pm, which offers a range of activities from animation workshops, photography and art. The evening includes a hot meal often created from the amazing donations received via Food For Charities. (Please note that during the pandemic the peer support group is hosted virtually) 

BYHP is also part of the CAMHS project and employs 2 Community In-Reach support workers offering light-touch Mental Health intervention for 13-18 year olds.  

In addition, BYHP is part of the Mental Wealth Academy project supporting 16-25 year olds who struggle with their mental health or wellbeing.

Training and Employability
The employability team deliver two projects, Back on Track and Unlocking Potential for Oxfordshire which works with young people between the ages of 15 and 21. 

Back on Track aims to transform the lives of young people aged 15-17 at are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET. Support will help participants develop their motivation to stay in education, become more work ready, and to make informed decisions about their future

UP Oxfordshire helps young people aged 17-19 who are Not in Education, Employment or Training to discover their potential. Through 1-2-1 mentoring and coaching, young people will quickly develop self-confidence, self-esteem, work readiness and employability. Ongoing in-work support will also be available to those who find employment.

Housing and Homelessness Advice
Whilst BYHP currently is not able to provide somewhere for a young person to stay, we will support them with advice; assist them with form filling; provide the use of a phone; give them a tent to sleep in; and provide them with food. 

​We also operate a Foodbank service for all our young people in need, which can include fresh produce supplied by Food for Charities.

We currently have a team of 11 paid employees (5 F/T & 6 P/T) and the charity costs about £240,000 a year to run, all of which we have to obtain through fundraising, applying to large funding organisations or through donations.

We have 6 volunteer Trustees and about 25 regular volunteers who help us run the organisation.