About Us

Find out more about LYP, including our approach, our team and our history.

Leatherhead Youth Project launched in 2005 to provide much needed services for socially and economically disadvantaged young people in Leatherhead North. Our aim is to help young people be safe, happy, resilient, and able to make positive changes in their own lives and in their community.

We take a relational and positive approach which provides support and skills to young people, helping them to overcome barriers they are facing and build a brighter future. We are a team of experienced youth workers and counsellors who care about our local community and delivering services to support young people across Mole Valley.

Meet The Team
Board of Trustees

Our Core Values

These core values summarise our ethos and approach as an organisation.

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Faith

Our Christian faith inspires who we are and underpins our ethos as a compassionate and caring organisation.

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Community

We are proud to be based in Leatherhead, a wonderful community with fantastic people and many excellent charities and groups and work across the whole of Mole Valley. Many of our team live within the local area and this allows us to maintain great relationships with the community.

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Respect

We respect the young people we work with and the community we live in, and during our projects we ask that young people respect themselves, each other, and the services we offer.

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Integrity

As an organization we aim to promote and adopt transparency and accountability. This starts from the youth work we provide, to the way we treat our staff, to the procedures and policies which keep our organization going, and to the partnerships we have with other local organisations.

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Relationship

We love people, and our approach is to build positive relationships with young people, families and fellow professionals. These relationships are respectful, appropriate and empowering.

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Partnership

Working with others is essential to LYP. We believe in sharing resources and skills in order to provide the best services for local young people.

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Innovation

We prides ourselves on running innovative and high quality services. We have developed a track record of providing creative services and are constantly looking to try new approaches to solving problems.

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Aspirational

We aim to inspire young people to fulfill their potential. By providing support and positive experiences, we hope to empower young people to help them build a brighter future.

The History Of LYP

We have had an amazing 16 years, starting with one youth worker and an empty building, to now having 9 staff delivering youth services to over 600 young people every year. Have a look at the timeline to see how the LYP journey unfolded…

See Our Full History

LYP Mission, Vision and Safeguarding

Our Vision A world in which young people are happy, safe and making a positive difference in their communities and the wider world.  

Our Mission Our Mission is to support young people by providing positive role models, practical and emotional help, and opportunities which empower them to make positive changes in their lives.

Safeguarding Underpinning our vision and mission is a commitment to safeguarding the young people, staff, volunteers and all who we work with.

  1. Everyone has the right to be treated equally regardless of age, gender, ethnic origin, culture, religious belief, language, disability or sexual orientation.
  2. LYP is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all young people, staff and volunteers.
  3. LYP is committed to promoting a climate in which anyone can feel confident about sharing any concerns about their own safety or well being, or that of another person and knowing staff will respond with sensitivity and professionalism.
  4. All staff and volunteers are fully trained in safeguarding issues and child protection procedures.
  5. LYP and all of its activities are governed by the Safeguarding Young People and Vulnerable People policy for this organisation.
  6. LYP has a complaints policy, and any young person; parent, carer or guardian or another professional or member of the public should feel free to raise a concern with the CEO Jude Crome – email jude@leatherheadyouthproject.com phone 01372 383345 or with the Chair of the Board Rob Stevens – email rob@leatherheadyouthproject.com.

Leatherhead

Leatherhead is a place we are passionate about and we are glad to be a part of this wonderful community. We launched as a charity in 2005 with the aim of serving the community of Leatherhead North. Statistics show that there is a high number of NEET young people (not in education, employment or training) and some young people face economic disadvantage and a lack of opportunities. As an organization it is our aim to help build on the strengths of our community, whilst helping to address local deprivation through supporting young people and working with partnership organisations.

We see these statistics as an opportunity to understand the needs of our community in order to respond in a way which is informed and in consultation with local people. Our aim is that the youth work we do will have a direct impact on these statistics and help see positive change in our community.

Bookham

In 2017 LYP, with the support of three local churches, re-launched community youth work in Bookham. Though Leatherhead and Bookham are geographically very close, the two areas have different demographics. Whilst Bookham has it’s own pockets of deprivation, we are passionate about supporting ALL young people to thrive.

We began by launching BYouth, our open access after school youth café and then quickly expanded this to a full range of targeted youth work. Through our relational approach, experienced team and the variety of projects we offer, we are able to engage local young people in discussions and support them in making positive changes in their own lives and community.