Together4Youth was established in 2020 as a collective of youth support agencies that support student development throughout years 7-12 and preparation for post school opportunities. This is the first large stage collaboration of its’ type in Australia and their work with the University of New South, Centre for Social impact (CSI) found that … “the T4Y model has significant potential to improve students’ social, emotional, behavioural, and academic functioning as well as create notable improvements in their school engagement, future aspirations, social relationships, and graduation rates.” CSI 2021 Literature Review on collaboration in the social, emotional wellbeing space.
Together4Youth works with schools to develop bespoke student support programs, coordinating multiple service providers reducing the administrative burden which is faced by schools whilst providing support to their student cohorts. The Productivity Commission report into the National School Reform Agreement (2022) found:
• Student wellbeing is of significant concern, with one in five young people aged 11-17 reporting high levels of psychological distress, even before the pandemic.
• Teachers are overworked with “low-value tasks” and burned out. Work-life balance and wellbeing were the key reasons why teachers wanted to leave the profession.
Whilst the Murdoch Children's Research Institute found that:
• Prevention and early intervention are paramount if we want to reduce lifetime prevalence of mental health disorders and allow children to live their best possible lives.
Together4Youth directly addresses these issues providing world leading programs and taking on the administrative burden for schools and is pleased to announce that after running a successful pilot in 6 schools from across Australia, Batemans Bay High School and Moruya High School are joining the program in 2023.
Throughout the year students will engage with programs covering mental health and resilience, girls/boy’s empowerment education, cyberbullying, peer relationships along with one on one individual mentoring.
Together4Youth have engaged with The Raise Foundation to provide oneon-one mentoring programs for both Batemans Bay and Moruya High Schools. Up to 15 students from each school will benefit from participating in the Raise early intervention mentoring program in 2023.
Vicki Condon AM, Founder and CEO of Raise explains, “Every day we see the positive impact our mentors make. When our young people feel valued, heard and supported they flourish. Through our comprehensive evaluation we can identify significant improvement in their ability to ask for help, resilience, engagement with school and hope for the future. A mentor brings a lot to a young person.”
Supporting young people through Raise’s in-school, early intervention mentoring program requires members of the community to volunteer their valuable time for 23 weeks of the year.
“There is a growing need for mentors in our programs right across Australia. In the Eurobodalla, volunteer mentors are being sought to support year 8/9 students in local high schools. Once registered and screened, the highly qualified Raise team will train volunteers and equip them with all the skills they need to make an exceptional youth mentor.
It’s a very rewarding way to give back to the community.” said Tamara Salamaca, State Manager for NSW.
"We encourage those who wish to become involved in this exciting initiative to apply today at: www.raise.org.au
To learn more about Together4Youth or to provide financial support for this unique and outstanding initiative contact can be made with the General Manager: Andrew Turvey at andrew.turvey@together4youth.org.au
