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Mental health & well being

What is Youth Connections?

• Youth Connections provides a holistic approach to servicing young people at risk by providing support for individual young people as well as support for the broader community.
• The Youth Connections program is available to eligible young people who are most at risk of disengaging, or already disengaged from education, family and/or the community. Service delivery is characterised by flexible and individualised case management to young people to remain engaged or re-engage them with education and/or further training, and to improve their ability to make positive life choices.
• Responsibility for Youth Connections rests with the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

Why is this important?

Each year a large number of young people will leave school without completing year 12 or its equivalent and subsequently may not make a successful transition to further education, training or work, and active community life. Of this target group, it is estimated that 20% may experience mental health issues.

Who benefits?

To participate in Youth Connections, a young person must be identified as being at risk of not attaining Year 12 or equivalent and at risk of not making a successful transition through school and from school to further education, training or work. Youth Connections targets young people who are experiencing a combination of issues which present significant barriers to their educational attainment and successful transition.

To be eligible, a young person must also be within the specified age range for their State or Territory (e.g. 11-19 years in NSW).

What does Youth Connections deliver?

Youth Connections offers a variety of services so that young people at risk can access the help they need. Providers work with a spectrum of at risk youth, including those who are most at risk of disengaging from school through to those who are severely disengaged from education, family and community. Service delivery is flexible and seamless and reflects the young person’s personal situation and circumstances, aiming to build resilience and improve the personal skills and wellbeing of the young person.

As well as delivering services to individual at risk young people, Youth Connections provides outreach support and regional capacity building. Outreach support is achieved by providing proactive youth focused activities in a region. The activities are available to all at risk young people, and their families where appropriate, with the primary aim of finding, connecting with and engaging severely disengaged young people. Youth Connections also works to strengthen services for at risk young people and ensure that providers of other services in a region are connected.

How does it work?

Intensive individual assistance and transition support is delivered by a network of primarily non-government and community-based organisations in 113 service regions covering the nation. Contact details for a Youth Connections providers can be found by clicking on the appropriate link at:

• http://www.deewr.gov.au/Youth/YouthAttainmentandTransitions/Pages/YouthConnections.aspx

Providers:

• identify participants experiencing issues as barriers to engaging with education and training;
• support those participants to create appropriate re-engagement plans;
• facilitate appropriate referrals;
• assist to build the capacity of those working with at risk young people to be better skilled at:
  • early identification of at risk young people;
  • delivering more effective interventions and support; and
  • developing links with and accessing available services and support in a region; and
• utilise these links and their referral arrangements to obtain support for those young people who present with a mental health issue as a barrier to their engagement with education.

When did Youth Connections start?

1 January 2010.

What’s been done in the past?

During the period 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2009, DEEWR operated a number of programs in the policy framework of Youth Attainment and Transitions under the umbrella of Career Advice Australia. From evaluations of those programs and new research, Youth Connections was created as a new program under the Compact with Young Australians. Youth Connections provides a broader range of services to assist at risk young people along a continuum of varying needs.

Further information

Web: http://www.deewr.gov.au/Youth/YouthAttainmentandTransitions/Pages/YouthConnections.aspx | Email: transitons@deewr.gov.au
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Page currency, Latest update: 14 May, 2010