A program in Shepparton has been helping young people make significant changes to their lives and move away from crime.
The Out Teach program, run by 54 Reasons, works with young people who have a connection with the criminal youth justice system, or are at risk of doing so, and who are also chronically disengaged from education.
Workers in the program interact with the young people one-on-one to get their lives back on track.
The strong focus of the program is getting the young people re-engaged with the education system or work training pathways.
Teachers and youth workers work with each young person to help them develop the confidence and skills to access mainstream education and vocational opportunities.
Out Teach also helps participants improve their literacy and numeracy skills, helps remove social barriers that prevent young people engaging in education, and increases engagement in social activities so they can develop a positive network of peers and healthy relationships.
54 Reasons is a delivery arm of Save the Children Australia, and has been running the Out Teach program for the past five years.
So far, 46 young people have taken part in the program, and those who run it are seeing the results.
Since the program has been running, 85.7 per cent of the young people who remained in the program beyond six months have increased their connection with school or employment.
There has been a drop in the percentage of young people who offended in the 12 months prior to starting the program from 78.8 per cent to 45.5 per cent post-program.
There was also a reduction in the number of offences per young person from the year prior to the program compared to 12 months after it, from 7.2 to 3.9 offences.
The benefits of the Out Teach program are also being seen further afield, with Victorian Crime Prevention Minister Anthony Carbines visiting Shepparton on Thursday, July 20 to confirm that $350,000 in Victorian Government funding had been given to 54 Reasons to continue running the program for another year.
Mr Carbines said supporting young people to get back to school and training helped keep them out of the criminal justice system.
“54 Reasons is getting great results,” he said.
“(For young people,) getting connections at the right time makes a difference.”
54 Reasons senior practitioner Rob Foran said 12 young people could take part in the program at any given time, and most stayed in it for about 18 months – although this time frame had varied between seven months and three years for some participants.
Mr Foran said those who took part in the program had weekly sessions with 54 Reasons.
“Quite often it’s the first time they’ve felt heard by an adult,” he said.
Mr Foran said it was also a rewarding job.
“It’s the best job I’ve had. I love it,” he said.
“It’s rewarding, frustrating, and is a joy to see the light bulb moments when the young person achieves things.”