Most of us know that prevention is better than cure, and the people we support tell us that their lives would have been so different if they'd received the support they needed when they first needed it. 

We know from our own research that exposure to traumatic experiences as a child significantly increases the chance of youth homelessness. In fact, 97% of young homeless people have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience and nearly a quarter experienced five or more.  

It is therefore vital that we step in early to deal with the issues that cause homelessness before it's too late. 

Whether encouraging young people to re-engage with education, building their confidence to overcome mental health difficulties through our EMPHASIS project or working with them to resolve family relationship issues and ensure they can continue to live at home through our Family Mediation; we step in early to ensure that young people and women across Wales do not become homeless. 

71% of young people involved in Family Mediation remained at or returned home - that means we prevented 547 young people from becoming homeless last year. 

"We were a family that had reached breaking point. This was due to drug related problems. My lovely son had turned into a nightmare. In desperation, I phoned social services, but because my son was 16 they couldn't help. We were put in touch with Llamau and because of the wonderful work that they do, we are now once again a good family unit."