Youth Connections Program Legacy Document

RDA Wheatbelt Inc.

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Index Background

Achievements

Barriers

Benefits to Young People

Reengagement Activities

Individual Young People - Case Studies

Partnerships

Program Closure

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Legacy Report Objectives The goals of this report are to:

1. Outline the achievements of the Youth Connections Program in the Wheatbelt.

2. Identify the barriers to delivery of the program.

3. Provide details of the benefits to young people at risk of not achieving year 12 or equivalent.

4. Acknowledge the impacts from closure of the program.

Youth Connections Staff RDA Wheatbelt would like to sincerely thank the following people who Have delivered Youth Connections program during the last five years:

Denese Smythe Michelle Blackhurst

Kaye McGlew Sharyn Day

Lyn Kay

Ione Griffiths Jim Sala

Shelley Lombardini

Audrey Parnell

Susy Padfield Leah Greer

Support Staff

Rebekah Burges

Pippa Harris Elizabeth Brennan

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The Wheatbelt is divided into five distinct, but inter-connected subregions, each of which is serviced by a regional centre, these are Avon, with the town of Northam as its

commercial centre Central Coast with Jurien Bay and Gingin as

commercial centres Central Midlands to the north, with Moora as its

commercial centre Central East, with Merredin as its commercial

centre Central South, with Narrogin as its commercial

centre

To ensure that young people were able to access support regularly, RDA Wheatbelt engaged staff who where based in each of these areas in a ‘work from home’ model of employment. Regular on-line and face to face staff meetings were held during the year which enabled the Youth Con-nections staff the opportunity to provide updates of hot topics/issues that were impacting on the young people in the region and to propose ideas to im-prove delivery and outcomes for young at risk peo-ple in the Wheatbelt.

Achievements

During the course of the program intensive sup-port was provided to more than 600 at risk young people in the Wheatbelt with many of these young people achieving positive outcomes, such as, increased self esteem.

The development and publication of a Wheatbelt Youth Strategic Plan which is a planning docu-ment prepared through extensive consultation with Stakeholders.

The development and production of the WYLD Magazine, a bi-monthly youth magazine showcasing the achievements of Wheatbelt young people and providing an insight into some of the problems facing young people and how to overcome these, including where to find support and assistance.

The development and production of the Wheat-belt Youth Services Directory, which was distrib-uted across the Wheatbelt.

Background The Youth Connections (YC) program is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia as represented by the Department of Education until 31st December 2014. The Australia Government, along with state and territory governments worked to help more young people gain Year 12 (or equivalent) level education. Youth Connections providers offered a one-on-one case management service to help young people overcome barriers and engage with education. Program providers also travelled to the areas where young people meet and engaged with them through targeted activities. Local organisations were assisted to identify the challenges facing young peoples’ educational engagement and the providers then worked with them to find solutions Regional Development Australia (RDA) Wheatbelt is the provider of the program in the Wheatbelt region. The contracts for Youth Connections were awarded prior to the re-drawing of Education Districts in WA and as such our service area aligns with the old Mid-lands and Narrogin Education Districts. This covers most of the Wheatbelt region with the exception of the coastal/Western communities and Southern Cross and with the addition of Katanning and Bod-dington. Each year between 145-185 young people were assisted to reconnect by providing flexible, indi-vidualised case management as well as creating op-portunities for group learning activities.

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Low literacy and/or numeracy

Low Self Esteem Alcohol and/or drug misuse

Negative experience(s) with education and training

Unstable living arrangements Inadequate family support

Financial distress

Bullying

Critical life event

Barriers to providing service to at risk young people in the Wheatbelt included: The travel required to provide face to face

support, at times up to seven hours travel time per day to assist clients was required.

The lack of any public transport for young peo-ple to attend training, employment, appoint-ments etc across the Wheatbelt.

The lack of free Centrelink connection for mo-bile phones, which is essential to youth at risk in rural and remote areas. The costs of the 30 to 70 minute wait to connect with Centrelink staff is prohibitive. There are minimal loca-

Receiving the Innovative Outreach Award, at the Youth Connections Future for Young Australians Beyond 2014 National Conference, for the Wheatbelt Heritage Rail Project.

Plus numerous more localised achievements to increase regional capacity and strengthen service delivery for young people in the Wheatbelt.

Wheatbelt Mental Health Youth Submission made to the WA Commissioner of Young People and Children’s Services, Michelle Scott to inform her Youth Mental Health initiatives. Stakeholders and young people were consult-ed to collect their views.

Barriers While most young people grow up in happy healthy families, many are doing it tougher than others. Family conflict and parental stress, abuse or neglect, poverty, homelessness, mental health, teenage pregnancy, and drug and alcohol misuse increases their vulnerability and puts them at risk of disengagement from education, community and family. The Youth Connections program in the Wheatbelt provided a holistic service to those young people, assisting them to address their bar-riers to not achieving year 12 or equivalent.

The barriers facing at risk young people included:

Behavioural problems Socialisation issues

Current or previous Juvenile Justice Orders Anger management issues

Suspected or diagnosed Mental Health issues

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The lack of support and/or mentoring services within each small community.

In the Wheatbelt many communities still rely on communication through the written word such as local paper and flyers, rather than ex-ploring social media platforms that young peo-ple use such as Facebook. When State and Government Departments ask to locate further information on their website it hinders many young people who do not have computers and do not wish to use their phone credit. A real communication/literacy gap is evident.

Many young people from ‘troubled’ families inherit the family stigma which denies them access to normal community support, as com-munity and family values have changed.

The world in which our severely at-risk young people live is far removed from the world of young people that have a support structure around them. Consequently programs such as Youth Connections are essential in building re-lationships and supporting young people.

Benefits to Young People

There were many personal and social benefits gained by the young people through the one-on-one support of the Youth Connections Program. Delivering the Youth Connections Program was measured through a well-being index and a report by RMIT University has found the program is achieving one of its major aims – developing resili-ence and improving health and wellbeing for se-verely disadvantaged young people.

tions in the region to connect with Centrelink via a land line and there is no public transport to access the Centrelink sites.

The time taken to gain trust of the families and young people to enable an ongoing relation-ship towards achieving their identified goals. In the Wheatbelt there is a high turnover of ser-vice providers who support youth, so young people start to build many relationships, often feeling like they are then deserted as staff tran-sition in their work. This also results in young people losing valuable ground time to move forward as relationships are built. The Youth Connections program having a strong support system for five years had been able to build strong relationships with young people, fami-lies and communities.

The lack of other youth programs in the Wheatbelt to refer young people, in particular due to the closure of the Youth Connections program many of the at risk young people will not have access to any support services. In the Northern Wheatbelt due to huge distances and small populations, State and Federal service providers are all being squeezed to achieve higher outcomes/numbers on the same budg-et. This results in decisions needing to be made to reduce travel time, further reducing fre-quency of service delivery to some regional or more remote areas.

Lack of alignment between the State and Fed-eral departments supporting youth, with each having their own targets to achieve, with lim-ited resources.

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Specifically the Wheatbelt is an area approximate-ly twice the size of Tasmania characterized by a lack of public transport and employment and training opportunities. RDA Wheatbelt was re-quired to auspice the training program to over-come delivery barriers. MISSYA Project The Moora Interagency Services & Support for Young Aboriginal Mums (MISSYA) project demo-graphic for aboriginal parents/carers of children 0 to 4 years in the Moora region. Many of these young mums were disengaged from further edu-cation. The key objective was to support aborigi-nal parents to engage in their child’s education. The focus of the project was improving education-al outcomes of young children through parental engagement and developing school readiness skills. This was achieved in part by engaging with specialist presenters through a series of targeted educational workshops that aimed to increase health and wellbeing of infants and children, encouraging parental engagement and supporting young mothers in gaining knowledge of children’s developmental needs. The young mums involved in the program gained an increased understanding of the importance of activities to promote Language, literacy and nu-meracy development along with other school readiness developmental considerations. The 123 Magic & Emotion Coaching sessions resulted in 10 participants achieving a certificate of completion.

Reengagement Activities

Reengagement Activities were used to attract at risk young people to the program and eventually into case management. Some of the activities included but are not limited to: Wheatbelt Heritage Rail Project The Wheatbelt Rail Heritage project enabled various stakeholders, six young people and their families to engage productively in a community based project leading to reengagement in learning and successful transitions into the workforce. Five of the six young people obtained employment on completion of the project. One young person reengaged in further learning through TAFE enabling him to obtain an automotive apprentice-ship. These young people demonstrated to their peers how all young people have the potential to become effective learners and compete successfully in the world of work. This project is of particular significance in relation to the complex challenge of engaging young people from small scattered communities across vast distances in meaningful learning and employment.

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young people the opportunity to build a positive relationship with the Police on neutral ground and based on mutual respect. The first game was held in Northam on 1st May 2012 and was well attended by both young people and the police with the police winning the first game. There were many games during the program where young people from different communities came together and were able to win against the police. Games were played in Moora, Kellerberrin, York and Northam on a fortnightly basis.

The local Wheatbelt Police Superintendent spoke about the success of the program and the oppor-tunities that it provided for the young people in the Wheatbelt and how it helped to develop a positive relationship with the local police and the young people. This program has now finished its 3rd season with young people requesting a 4th season. This program has been transitioned to the Wheatbelt Police who are keen to continue due to the many benefits.

Ging Mo This intensive two week “skills for life” program was held in two regional towns in the Wheatbelt to attract and re-engage severely disengaged young people. The young people who attended all gained a Certificate II in sports coaching through a Kung Fu discipline delivered by the Ging Mo Academy.

This has had an empowering effect on partici-pants, with them noticeably and quietly putting these simple strategies into practice. The Parenting Expo was a further opportunity to part-ner with Moora Early Years Network in bringing local and regional service providers together and for participants to have access to support services to learn what they can offer. Following completion of the program the Commu-nity Health Nurse commented that mums who came to see her and had been part of the MISSYA program, were different, she said they appeared happy and more in control.

Wheatbelt Basketball RDA Wheatbelt collaborated with the Wheatbelt District Police, Department of Communities and Youth Justice and Avon Youth Services to organise the ‘Wheatbelt Basketball Competition’. The competition engaged young people between 13 and 17 years in a game of basketball competing against members of the Wheatbelt Police. This project focused on the issue of boredom and gave

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Camp Leschenaultia This three day camp was organised to attract at risk young people and engage them with cultural activities and provide access to Indigenous role models who embrace their culture and are willing to pass on their knowledge.

The camp included a full program of activities such as a presentation to the boys by Gerald Ugle an Indigenous, former AFL footballer. The girls attending were provided with a workshop on health and hygiene. Nyoongar Sports also took the youth for a multi-skilled sports programme and down to the lake for a swim. John and Oldham Walley worked with the youth on their culture using boomerangs, spears, walk through the bush and talking about finding their own food and water and showing them how to light a fire to eat what they had caught. All of the attendees came from a background of alcohol and drug affected parents. This initiated an in-depth discussion on the effects of alcohol and drugs starting at a young age and then the cycle continuing into families. This activity allowed for closer relationship building through the one on one contact with both Youth Support Officers and the aboriginal role models that attended. Bilya Budjar The Youth Connections support officer in the Avon sub Region developed this engagement program to offer an alternative education pathway for se-verely disengaged young people.

Young people gained 20 competencies including first aid and workplace skills which could be easily transferable to any career path; and also equated to one and a half subjects towards their WA Certificate of Education. The program was based on an honourable relationship between student and teacher which then allows the student to take ownership of the knowledge shared in training. Students under-standing that respect is the cornerstone of any relationship, and whether people get along or not, respect is still necessary; with the development of a respectful relationship, comes the breakdown of barriers to learning.

The program emphasised the self worth of each participant and the power individuals have to make positive choices, intervening during a time in young people’s lives when they may feel a lack of self control in their own lives either due to negative choices made by friends, or control being exerted by adults or authority figures. Self-empowerment to equip the participants with specific skills, create opportunities and encourag-ing them to use these skills to develop deeper relationships with people in the community. The ultimate goal being for each person to develop skills to reflect and observe themselves. then having the choice to interrupt patterns of behaviour and the courage to follow through. A very powerful and life-changing program focussing on the whole person.

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Young male - Barriers: Abuse/domestic violence issue, young carer responsibilities, disconnection from cultural heritage, low literacy and/or numeracy, low self esteem, unstable living ar-rangements, inadequate family support, financial distress, critical life event. Initial Assessment (Pre Assistance): The client was referred by the local Police as he, his mother and siblings had come to live with his grandparents. There had been an issue with domestic violence from the father and the Police believed that the family needed help in supporting the client to stay on track and remain in school. Personal development was the key focus, includ-ing improved positive self esteem and communi-cation skills both with peers and adults. Also work on his resilience skills was provided by giving him examples of techniques to use and practicing the use of these. Socialisation skills were also devel-oped by providing him with opportunities to mix with other young people within the district. During Enrolment: The family found a house of their own a couple of months after the client joined the Youth Connec-tions program. Within a month of that, the client’s father had returned home. Over the course of the client’s enrolment, there did not appear to be any issues of domestic violence (the father had re-ceived extensive counselling and support), and the client was happy to have his father back in his life. Dad expressed his pride in the client’s achieve-ments, especially with his football. The client took some time to settle into the larger school environment of a Regional College, howev-er with the support of Youth Connections (and his sporting ability) remains well liked by both his peers and teachers. He is currently a Student Leader at the college, where he undertakes the role with enthusiasm and responsibility. Post Assistance: The client has reengaged with his education, and is undertaking year 11. He is focusing on a VET pathway, but continues to strive for excellence in his football and other sporting pursuits

The activities were based around setting up a community garden and learning the associated skills with landscaping, gardening etc. Five severe-ly disengaged young people have now reengaged in education to obtain a language, literacy and numeracy certificate. Through their involvement in a range of activities, the participants have improved their relationships and are closing the generational gap between themselves and the Elders in the community, the interaction with their peers has also improved.

Individual Young People - Case studies Young female – Barriers: Behavioural issues, low self esteem, low literacy and numeracy, suspected mental health issues. Initial Assessment (Pre-Assistance): This person had been encouraged to leave main-stream schooling in Year 9 due to behavioural is-sues. During Enrolment: This young person was referred to Youth Connec-tion by the education department and with the support and intervention of our Youth Support Officer completed Year 12 and was awarded a cer-tificate for student of the year. Post Assistance: This young lady is currently employed and has improved self esteem and confidence skills.

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KEEDAC and RDA Wheatbelt to deliver the Bilya Budjar Program.

The partnership between Shire of Dowerin, Heritage Rail WA, WATCO, ANZ Bank with the Wheatbelt Heritage Rail program

Informal Partnerships between Shires, commu-nity and local young people to establish/invigorate Youth Groups.

Program Closure

Funding for the Youth Connections program ceases on 31st December 2014 and the Australian Government is not offering any replacement service for young people that are at risk and in particular those that are disengaged from education. Youth Connections across the Wheatbelt was de-livered by RDA Wheatbelt staff since 2010, who offered a flexible individualised service to help young people with barriers to make a successful transition through education into further education or employment. Currently in WA there are almost 1,500 young people on provider’s case lists who will not be re-ceiving support after December 2014. The potential impact for young people in our com-munities is of real concern as in the Wheatbelt, Youth Connections was the only specialist provid-er of ‘one on one’ flexible youth case management and so the loss of this program has a broad impact on the community.

Partnerships Partnerships and collaboration is strongly encour-aged as it broadens the scope and exposure of the program which can lead to sustainability of some parts or all of the initiatives.

Careers & Training Opportunities Roadshow’s The series of Career and Training Opportunities Roadshow’s was a career development and employment expo event which was facilitated across the Wheatbelt region at various towns eve-ry year for the last three years. These successful days were well attended by school students from areas surrounding the town in which the event was held. A variety of presenters from both the government and private sectors offered career information to students through stalls and career presentations at the events. Students were treated to speakers from areas including Rural Health West, Construction Training Fund, Motor Trades Association, Department of Food and Agriculture, Directions Group Training and CY O’Connor Institute. CBH group, other agencies including Directions Workforce Develop-ment Centre Northam, and Curtin University also provided information stalls on the day for the young people to talk one to one. These events were coordinated through our local Partnership Broker Trevor Saunders from Sorcit in collaboration with key agencies and industry bodies. The events all received positive feedback from the schools, students and industry represent-atives and are recognised as a valuable initiative for getting students thinking about the possibili-ties when they leave school. This type of activity is not available to rural towns and by bringing the roadshow’s to these towns it provides a service not otherwise available.

Many other successful partnerships where formed during the course of the Youth Connections pro-gram, for example: The partnership between Max Employment,

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The loss of this program will not only impact young people but the wider youth services sector and communities. For instance due to the lack of public transport across the Wheatbelt and the issue of ‘centralised’ support offices, how will the youth at risk who have mental health issues and or/family problems be able to get the help they need? The Youth Advisory Council of WA (YACWA) has expressed real concerns about the closure of Youth Connections, stressing that it is a successful and cost effective program. The average cost of providing Youth Connections services to a young person is approximately $2,500 excluding GST, with the highest cost being for severely disengaged young people at approximately $4,000. As stated by YACWA in regards to the conclusion of Youth Connections: “If we are serious about young people earning or learning we must provide sufficient resources to ensure vulnerable young Australians have the best possible opportunity to reengage or effectively transition to education, training or employment.” Federal MP for Adelaide, Kate Ellis said. "Cutting these programs wouldn't be a saving at all - we all pay a very heavy price when young peo-ple slip through the cracks… It will cost us a lot more in unemployment benefits, crime and social services” When you look at annual costs of $20,000 for a young person to be on Youth Allowance, it makes logical economic sense to provide the support. In closing RDA Wheatbelt believe that the Youth Connections program has made a significant difference to young people and families which has lead to social benefits in the Wheatbelt region. The closure will leave a considerable gap and RDA Wheatbelt would recommend a simular program be created.

In addition to individual support the program in-cluded the delivery of alternative education pro-grams for severely disengaged young people, such as the Award winning “Wheatbelt Heritage Rail Project” in conjunction with the Shire of Dowerin.

Working with disengaged youth and severely at risk young people requires a very different skill set to many other professions. You need to have the passion to support and work with young people, together with being perceptive/intuitive as well as requiring the knowledge to support connecting with agencies in an ever changing agency world. Building respectful relationships is an essential ele-ment to enable the young person to move for-ward. Youth Connections providers assisted in building community capacity at local, state and national levels. Providers contributed to strategic development, identifying local strengths and gaps and develop-ing programs and support networks. As the Youth Connections provider in the Wheatbelt area RDA Wheatbelt has contributed to the development of the Wheatbelt Youth Strategic Plan; has been in-strumental in setting up the Narrogin Interagency Group Local Agency Agreement, is an active mem-ber of the Northam Local Drug Action Group, and continues to advocate for youth across the Wheat-belt.

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This publication was produced by Regional Development Australia Wheatbelt Inc. in support of the Youth Connections program.

Denese Smythe A/Executive Officer Tel: (08) 9641 1325 / 0428 372 179 Email: denese.smythe@rdawheatbelt.com.au Administration Office 3 Constable Street Gingin WA 6503 Tel: (08) 9575 1888 Email: admin@rdawheatbelt.com.au