Matters of Interest

St John's Youth Services

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:24): Recently, I took the opportunity to visit the St John's Youth Services youth110 project, which is located in the UNO Apartment complex, Waymouth Street, Adelaide. Youth110 is a new and innovative service operated by St John's Youth Services that provides crisis response to the most vulnerable homeless young people in South Australia. I was shown around the youth110 service by Nicole Chaplin, operations manager for St John's Youth Services, who gave me a comprehensive briefing on the services provided at the facility. The youth110 service has 30 self-contained apartments leased from Housing SA. The site also has office space for St John's Youth Services to operate a 24-hour care and case management support service.

Youth110 is able to accommodate homeless people in crisis, aged between 16 and 21 years, including singles, couples, single parents, young families and siblings. In addition, youth110 is the first youth crisis accommodation service in Australia that can provide apartment style accommodation and support to single young fathers. The service does have some clear rules and does not accommodate clients who are affected by alcohol or other substance abuse. Rather, these clients are referred to other services with the facilities and support to assist.

Youth110 is a crisis response centre and while the duration of a young person's stay is generally short, the service is designed to respond to the complex needs of each young client. As a result, the length of stay at youth110 may be varied. Youth110 provides an empowering and therapeutic approach to supporting young people. Young people identify their needs and goals and support workers provide guidance for them to reach their goals while providing coaching to develop independent living skills.

Case management support focuses on life skills such as education, employment, health, finances, child care and relationships, whilst a focus is kept on what keeps young people strong emotionally and mentally. Youth110 maintains a strong relationship with organisations such as the police, particularly the Adelaide local service area, as well as DCSI and the Service to Youth Council, to name a few.

Another program conducted by St John's Youth Services is Next Step, an innovative program spring-boarding from the unique relationship St John's Youth Services has with young people who use the crisis accommodation emergency services. The program is based on a contract between young people and Next Step, where each is committed to participate. Next Step commits to ensuring access to housing, furniture packages and intensive support while the young person commits to participating in support programs that focus on living independently, attending education or training, seeking work opportunities and participation in the community.

The program aims to break the cycle of homelessness. It provides ongoing assistance during a young person's transition out of the services and aims to prevent the breakdown of their accommodation and return to crisis services through targeted support and training. It offers assistance in securing sustainable life opportunities. Next Step is funded primarily through non-government grants from benevolent sources and the community. This program won the 2009 Anglicare Australia Innovation Award and the 2009 Australasian Housing Institute Award for Leading Housing Solutions.

I should also briefly mention St John's Youth Services Ladder St Vincent Street program. This accommodation facility is located in the heart of Port Adelaide and provides independent housing for 23 young people, either homeless or at risk of being homeless, who wish to re-engage with education or seek training and employment opportunities. Ladder SVS is a joint venture between DCSI, Ladder and St John's Youth Services. It aims to provide young people with strong support and mentoring to develop independent living skills, maintain employment, training and/or education and to engage positively with the local community. I commend St John's Youth Services for providing such unique services to our disaffected youth.

The PRESIDENT: The honourable, the gallant and sometimes heroic Mr McLachlan.