FOR the past three years, Angelina Abayateye and her husband Philip have been helping troubled young people turn their lives around.

As hosts for Cowley-based charity Stonham Supported Lodgings, they have taken four young adults into their home and supported them through a difficult point in their lives.

And as the charity hunts for more to join its host team, Mrs Abayateye says she couldn’t recommend it more highly.

The 33-year-old said: “Since we started three years ago, we had a young lady stay with us for a year-and-a-half, then two shorter-term guests and now we are hosting another young person at the moment.

“It is an incredibly rewarding thing to do. Obviously they aren’t totally off the rails anyway, but you see such a huge increase in their confidence.

“All three who came to us are now living independently, paying bills and making a positive contribution to society.”

The charity was set up in Oxfordshire in April 2010 and aims to provide a young person, who has been forced to leave home, with a room of their own in a private home. Agencies like social services refer the young people to Stonham.

The householder, known as a host, then provides a safe environment for them, helping them to develop life skills and preparing them for adult life.

Mrs Abayateye said: “We are still in contact with our first girl. I couldn’t imagine family life without her.”

The charity is now on the hunt for hosts around the county to help support more young people.

Since April 2010, it has helped 55 people aged between 16 and 25 find supportive homes for between a week and two years.

Charity senior project worker Careen Livingston said: “For these young people, often teaching them things like how to manage a budget can be life changing.

“There are other things like cooking, laundry and sometimes getting them involved in training or education.

“There is no ‘type’ of person who comes to us, they come from the poorer areas of the county as well as the richer.”

  • To find out more, phone Ms Livingston on 01865 335325 or email StonhamOxonSL@homegroup.org.uk