YMCA Safe Place Services is a branch of the YMCA of Greater Louisville. We’re committed to making our community stronger by providing help, hope and healing to teens and families in crisis, including homeless youth and those in need of youth homeless shelters. Our mission is to accept, affirm and advocate for youth by empowering them to reach their full potential in spirit, mind and body.
Our Mission
YMCA Safe Place Services is a branch of the YMCA of Greater Louisville. We’re committed to making our community stronger by providing help, hope and healing to teens and families in crisis. Our mission is to accept, affirm and advocate for youth by empowering them to reach their full potential in spirit, mind and body.
We Bring Families Back Together
Raising a teenager isn’t easy. As your child grows up and begins to make the transition from adolescence to adulthood, your relationship changes. This is normal, but sometimes these changes can cause breakdowns in communication and trust that divide and challenge your family to do things differently.
At YMCA Safe Place Services, we understand the problems parents and caregivers of teens face, and we’re here to help during this challenging time. Plus, we work with a variety of different family compositions, including adoptive families, grandparents, aunts and uncles, absent parents and LGBTQ parents.
Safe Place Services aim to help kids, teens and young adults build character and leadership skills through program involvement and value-based decision making in a safe place for youth. This program increases the likelihood of success through exposure to positive adult role models and fosters future success by offering GED Prep and testing, employment opportunities, interview skills, resume building and financial literacy sessions.
With caring staff on call 24 hours a day, we are always here to help your family cope with anger issues, abusive behavior, drug or alcohol abuse or any other factors that are causing turmoil in your home.
Need help now? If you are having trouble relating to or communicating with your teen — no matter the reason — call us. We are here and ready to help you start building a new relationship with your child — a relationship built on love, respect and compassion for one another. Your call is confidential.
How YMCA Safe Place Services Began
Safe Place Services began in 1974 with the founding of Shelter House. To address the growing number of runaway and dismissed teens, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Junior League of Louisville and the YMCA of Greater Louisville founded Shelter House, which became one of the first dedicated youth shelters in the United States.
Shelter House has since provided tens of thousands of young people with a safe, secure, supportive environment that nurtures their potential and helps them chart a course to a bright, successful future.
After four decades, Shelter House remains the only shelter of its kind in the area. In fact, Shelter House is the only youth shelter in Louisville that offers young people and their families the ability to self-refer and receive help at no expense to them.
Whatever the Problem, We're Here to Help
The experiences you have now will shape the person you become.
We’re not here to judge or to preach. We’re here to help teens like you find out who you are, who you want to be, and encourage you to make decisions that will help you to reach your potential.
We understand that being a teenager isn’t easy. That’s why we’re here every day to give help, hope and healing to you and your family — so you can figure out better ways to cope with this challenging time in your life.
Find Us Where You Are
At the YMCA, we're dedicated to aiding those most in need in our community. The Safe Place Program is designed to give a hand to homeless youth with shelters. Our network of community partners runs throughout Louisville, Oldham and Bullitt Counties, offering spaces where teens can go to get help and be transported to the YMCA Safe Place Services’ Shelter House facility at 2400 Crittenden Drive.
Safe Place’s black-and-yellow signs have become symbols of security, support and guidance for Louisville youth and teens that have nowhere else to turn. And with nearly 300 Safe Place sites throughout the community — including all TARC buses and YMCAs — help is always close.
Continue Exploring
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How We Help
From Safe Places to Shelter House to mentoring projects, YMCA Safe Place Services offer a variety of programs for teens and parents.
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Get Involved
We rely on people like you to volunteer time and resources to help teens and families in our community get on a better track.
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Community Impact
Learn more about how YMCA Safe Place Services is making change in the community.