Hearing from Mission Australia’s staff about what’s happening in their services can be incredibly inspiring.

Here are two recent breakthroughs reported from Mission Australia’s front line:

An incredible turnaround for Kate

Kate* came to Mission Australia Wagga’s Youth Connections program with complex issues including self harm and very low self esteem. After receiving Mission Australia’s help with her personal issues as well as her accommodation for the past six months, Kate has now secured a one bedroom Department of Housing unit in central Wagga.

Kate has now left Mission Australia’s care full of confidence, engaging in social activities, and enrolled in TAFE.

All the staff are extremely happy with Kate’s achievements and will stay in touch with her to make sure she keeps progressing.

Life changing progress for Madison

When Madison* came to Mission Australia’s Miller Pre-school she was experiencing mild to moderate developmental delays, autism and very severe behaviour problems.

Over the first term of her enrolment her behaviours escalated on a daily basis. She always required one-on-one adult support and occasionally required two adults to keep her peers and herself safe.

The Miller Pre-school team called a meeting, and along with an occupational therapist, set about identifying triggers in the environment and strategies that helped Madison and those that didn’t.

They spent hours researching diet indicators and other sensory processing activities. They met with Madison’s family to share the information they had acquired and worked along side them to develop a plan for her progress.

Through these co-ordinated efforts Madison started showing positive changes almost immediately. Ten weeks into the plan the change has been dramatic.

At times Madison still requires one-on-one adult support but regularly staff can move away from her and she will function independently.

Madison has begun to participate in group experiences and is even beginning to develop some friendships with other children. Without a doubt, the last few months have been life changing for Madison.

*Names have been changed to protect clients' identities.

Young migrants and refugees often don’t have the same opportunities as other Australians when entering the workforce due to financial, cultural and educational barriers.

Mission Australia’s ‘Getting to Work’ program in the City of Greater Dandenong aims to change that by offering these young people the opportunity to overcome their barriers and the chance to get a job with local employers.

Importantly, this unique and holistic program has been developed with the Victorian Government’s Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development (DIIRD), local business and local youth and employment providers in Dandenong and follows thorough consultation with local young people.

Program participants will graduate on Monday 29 June at a ceremony in Noble Park.

‘Getting to Work’ assists young people to develop the necessary skills, knowledge and experience, providing a pathway to employment and the opportunity to control a secure future. It is a three month program which includes accredited training, work experience, mentoring, traineeship placement and ongoing personal support.

Mission Australia State Director Paul Bird said it was important that Victorians understood the importance of supporting newly arrived migrants and refugees into employment.

“‘Getting to Work’ focuses on improving the life, learning and employability skills of young migrants and refugees,” said Mr Bird.

“The program is in line with the State Government’s aims of providing real employment outcomes for marginalised Victorians.

This semester’s intake is completing accredited training in the form of a Certificate II in Business Administration, First Aid and Food Safety as well as undertaking two weeks’ work experience at a local businesses.

“One of the benefits is that the program offers a qualification at its completion,” said Mr Bird. “It also can be a catalyst for transforming participants’ lives over a very short period of time..”

Mission Australia’s commitment doesn’t stop when students move on from the program into a job. Post-program support is provided for up to three months to ensure the impact of social issues is minimised and employment outcomes are met.

Mr Bird said that this support was important as in some instances young people were dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness and mental health issues – impediments they could do without when looking for work.

“Mission Australia’s commitment to the disadvantaged and disengaged of society will continue long into the future,” Mr Bird said. “Through this program we aim to ensure young people in the City of Greater Dandenong have the opportunity to reach their potential.”

Mission Australia’s ‘Getting to Work’ program is proudly supported by DIIRD and the City of Greater Dandenong, with funding by Group Property Trust (GPT), the Felton Bequest Committee, the Bennelong Foundation and the Jack Brockhoff Foundation.

Media enquiries: Phil Smith: (03) 8317 0111 or 0407 860 528.

Available for media interviews and photographs:

Mr Paul Bird – Mission Australia, State Director

'Getting to Work’ program participants:
- Fiona, a 19-year-old Sierra Leonean woman
- Semira, a 19-year-old Ethiopian woman

Event Information:

What: ‘Getting to Work’ Graduation
When: Monday 29th June 2009
Time: 5:30pm—7:30pm
Where: Paddy O’Donoghue Centre, 18 – 34 Buckley Street, Noble Park (Mel Ref: 89E4)

From right to left: Mission Australia's WA State Director, Ross Kyrwood, WA's Minister for Child Protection, Robyn McSweeney and three members of Mission Australia's On-TRACK team.

Western Australia’s Child Protection Minister Robyn McSweeney dropped into Mission Australia yesterday with a $100,000 one-off payment for our ‘On-TRACK’ program.

On-TRACK is based in Perth’s inner-city Northbridge area and provides a safe and supportive environment to young people – who are often intoxicated and needing supervised care – as an alternative to police custody.

It ensures their safety and well-being following an apprehension by police and works with families to help avoid the young person coming into contact with police again.

According to Ross Kyrwood, Mission Australia’s WA State Director, the funding was crucial to meet recent increased demand for On-TRACK’s support.

“This funding equates to about 40 additional families being able to receive counselling from Mission Australia following the return of their child. This education is crucial and is the key to helping our clients,” Ross said.

“We will also be able to employ an additional case manager and now have some scope to access another service vehicle to take the kids home after they are picked up by our youth workers.

“This funding will certainly help achieve our overall goal which is to discourage young people returning unaccompanied to Northbridge.”

News that the NSW Government has classified a report on the state’s juvenile justice network as "cabinet-in-confidence" for the first time in more than 20 years speaks volumes about the health of the system.

While the Attorney-General has confirmed the report will be released in a fortnight’s time, the fact its contents are so sensitive suggests it portrays NSW’s juvenile justice system in a state of utter disarray.

There has been a 40 per cent increase in juveniles on remand in NSW – that is, young people detained while waiting for their day in court – over the last two years.

Overcrowding has become so commonplace there are reports teenagers are being forced to sleep in detention centre visiting rooms and that the government is spending $2400-a-day to keep underage youth in police cells and paying police $100 an hour overtime to guard them.

Combined with the fact that young Indigenous people make up more than 56 per cent of all juvenile detainees in NSW and I think it’s fair to say we have a problem on our hands.

Putting young offenders in custody is not only expensive but ineffective – more than half of those released from detention will re-offend.

And the younger a person is when they first enter the juvenile justice system the more likely they’ll return as they get older.

When you look at the population of juveniles in custody, almost half report some form of serious abuse in their past, including violence and neglect.

Do we really think detaining a young person with that sort of background is an appropriate response to their problem?

These are dismal outcomes. They’re even worse when you consider how much we pay for the privilege.

It costs the NSW Government roughly $150,000 to keep a young person in custody for 12 months.

The time has come for the NSW Government to change course on juvenile justice, to recognise that its current approach neither serves the community nor the young people caught up in the system.

We can’t go on the way we have been. The government’s current approach seems to be less about doing what works and more about appearing to be tough on crime.

Mission Australia encourages the NSW Government to reduce the number of young people – particularly young Indigenous people – in detention and set targets that can be monitored.

And achieve this by putting fewer resources into locking young people up and more funding into ‘diversionary programs’ – programs that help divert a person from entering, or re-entering, the juvenile justice system.

Mission Australia is expanding its youth services in Palmerston, with its Casuarina site relocating to its Palmerston Divisional Office from 1 July to provide greater support to up to 150 young people each week.

Two new staff will also join the existing Mission Australia team of eight in delivering its services to the northern suburbs of Darwin, which includes its youth and family support programs, Youth Beat and court support initiatives.

The move has been welcomed by local residents, the Palmerston City Council, Neighbourhood Watch, Palmerston Police and the NT Government which earlier this month committed more than $170,000 to fund the expansion of Mission Australia’s Youth Beat outreach service in Palmerston from two to six nights per week.

Mission Australia’s Youth Beat service, which also operates in Darwin and Katherine, provides advice, guidance and support to young people who are at risk of engaging in offending behaviour or hurting themselves through drug and alcohol abuse.

Mission Australia State Director Phillip Leslie said the expansion in Palmerston will help provide support to troubled youth, and provide important links for young people to family, education, community and recreation within the local community.

“Palmerston is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. At the same time, its disadvantaged community is also climbing. There’s consequently a significant need for our services to assist with the growing numbers of disadvantaged young people and their families in Palmerston,” Phillip said.

“Last year, Youth Beat engaged around 4,500 young people– many of whom have previously been caught up in crime or are at risk getting into trouble.

“While operating for two nights a week, more than 60 percent of young people who came into contact with Youth Beat in Palmerston during the past six months were aged between 10 and 15 years. More than 60 percent of these encounters were between the hours of 8-10pm.”

According to Phillip, diversionary programs like Youth Beat are extremely important to help stem the flow of young Territorians – particularly from Indigenous backgrounds – from falling into the juvenile justice system.

“Youth Beat is known as a ‘diversionary program’ because it helps ‘divert’ young people from entering, or re-entering, the juvenile justice system.

“Youth Beat assists young people as early as possible and plays a part in addressing the root causes of their problem as well as showing them they can have a future outside anti-social behaviour, stealing cars or getting involved in drugs.

“The expansion of Youth Beat to six nights per week will mean an after-hours point of contact will be available to young people, ultimately helping to improve young people’s safety at night and potentially decrease crime in the area.”

As well as Youth Beat, Mission Australia will provide a range of other youth initiatives in Palmerston, including the Youth and Family support program, which helps youth who are disengaged, at risk of and struggling with issues of homelessness.

Additionally, court support will also be provided for young people in Palmerston who are apprehended by the Police who cannot access adult supervision. Mission Australia staff will provide assistance with interviews and where possible, help navigate them through the court process.

Further reading:

Mission Australia's intrepid supporter - the Japanese cyclist, Yohei Takahashi - will today begin facing the biggest challenge of his 7000km journey from Brisbane to Perth, the brutal 1200 km stretch that is the Nullarbor Plain.

Yohei has pedalled through Adelaide and is now on the downward leg of his journey out of South Australia where he has received an extraordinary amount of support from well-wishers, donors and the media.

One anonymous donor made a $500 contribution after reading about Yohei’s epic journey in the Adelaide Advertiser.

With just the bare essentials - instant noodles, tinned salmon, water and a tent - Yohei hopes to conquer the Nullarbor in 12 days.

We encourage everyone to get behind Yohei, support Mission Australia’s young people in need and leave our friend a message of motivation. Simply visit everydayhero.com.au/yohei_takahashi.

Good luck on the road to Norseman, Yohei!!

A Devonport victim of car theft was today handed the keys to a rebuilt Honda Barina by eight young Tasmanians graduating from Mission Australia’s U-Turn automotive training course.

U-Turn is a ‘best practice’ diversionary program for young people who have been involved in, or who are at risk of becoming involved in, motor vehicle theft...

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Without question, Mission Australia would not be able to transform the lives of so many disadvantaged people if not for our hard working team of over 3000 staff and 1000 volunteers.

As a way to reward and recognise our people for their ongoing commitment and excellence, Mission Australia introduced the Celebrate Recognition Program in December 2007.

Since then, over 170 deserving employees and volunteers have been recognised with a Celebrate Award for demonstrating performance and our organisational values above and beyond normal expectations.