By Benjamin Onyeforo, Resident Engagement and Empowerment Officer, YMCA St Paul’s Group

I’m an advocate by nature but experiencing hardship in my personal life has developed the care I have for others. I feel truly grateful to be in a position to help others and believe that every difficult life experience has led me to this point.

At one stage in my life, I became homeless. I managed to find a hostel, but I had some terrible experiences. I moved to another hostel and, although it was better, there were still big problems with engaging residents.

From being homeless to working for multiple local government authorities, within a multitude of customer focused services (e.g., repairs, rent, parking services, complaints, etc.). Sadly, my previous experiences have been that the needs of the business are greater than the needs of the individual.

Using these experiences, I have developed a balance over time that is helpful when dealing with people facing difficult situations. I can see things from both sides of the coin, which helps me build authentic relationships and rapport.

Trust and respect are things I believe must be earned through understanding, especially the people we serve.

Over the years, I have come across many different working environments and cultures. Now, I am working at an organisation that puts their residents first (with their staff a very close second!). The focus from the top down at YMCA St Paul’s Group is to bring people together, which reflects my own values.

I have a team around me that are passionate about helping people and bettering our communities. “First seek to understand, before being understood” is an adage used quite often by us, and this brings a great balance.

In the past, I’ve worked in cultures where an “us against them” mentality has been prevalent, but at YMCA St Paul’s Group we create opportunities for residents to be involved in as many processes and projects as possible. Resident consultations and engagement groups are a regular occurrence for any changes affecting our residents.

This has ranged from renovations and repairs to new initiatives – all of which helps us engage and build relationships, making it easier to identify and meet needs. For us, engagement goes beyond our residents – we are currently working on our organisational-wide Customer Engagement and Empowerment strategy, which will include the needs of the users of our gyms, nurseries, playschools, community centres and youth clubs.

We understand the importance of providing support, motivation, and inspiration to our residents, as well as our responsibility to not only listen, but to act.

We’re always looking for ways to improve living conditions and the future progress of our residents based on the feedback we get in these consultations.

Diversity is something we embrace at the YMCA. We have some amazing residents, and it is such a diverse environment; we welcome different experiences and cultures.

Supporting people with different needs is what we do and having staff that are professional and able to connect with those we serve is particularly important, as our residents are a reflection of us.