School Welfare Meeting
30 November 2010. Resource Centre Ferny Grove State High School
A community meeting was organised by The Hon Geoff Wilson MP Bruce Kimble. Wide representation from church school and community involved with youth issues: Vinnies The Hills Family Church The Grove Community Church Samford Valley Uniting Church Ferny Grove Police Golden Valley Keperra Lions Club St Williams Social Justice Group Transition The Grove Ferny Grove State High School- Guidance Officers JP Grovely Christian Community Church Ferny Grove State High School – Chaplain Mitchelton Presbyterian Church Piccabeen Youth Support Program The Hills PCYCMitchelton State High School Mitchelton State High School Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Youth Support Patricks Rd State School Chaplain Ferny Hills State School Chaplain. St Andrew’s School.
Nothing exclusive – want to be as inclusive as possible.
[url=http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/downloads/214-national-survey-of-young-australians]National Survey of Young Australians 2010: Key and Emerging Issues[/url] distributed on issues important to young people as a start to the discussion.
The Minister observed that there would be value in some sort of community discussion around the document.
What are the issues that are important to young people?
Body image
Family conflict
Coping with stress (school …)
Environment
Drugs and alcohol
Crime safety and violence
Equity and discrimination
Economy and financial matters
Where do young people go to for advice?
Mates 86%
Parents 75%
Relative or a family friend 60%
Even referrals to a professional tend to start with a referral from a friend.
Talking about young people <25. What is our impression of the issues of importance for young people? [ul]Breakdown of family Conflict in the home Not being able to engage with parents on any level Sexual health (grades 8-11) Stress (family school drugs and alcohol) The 6 issues are so intrinsically interwoven They are not unique to young people but they don't have the degree of life experience to deal with them Time pressures Climate change Debt – the cost of getting established in the adult world Food security Loss of positive community Sport (a positive) Huge anger issues primarily from family issues and generally increase as the child gets older to teenage years. Facebook technology keeps them at home. They're not reaching out into the non-cyberspace world What's needed is an on-going relationship with the family. A good place if we could start taking some interest in our neighbours and the people about us Oldies to be more grandfathers and get into relationships Youth ministry at church based on a couple of really good leaders to get involved with kids and family. Really good roles models with really good character. Children who become carers themselves – who do they turn to? Kids who've stepped into adult shoes. T. refers them to Young Carers community centres and the BCC Chill Out program. There's a lot of agencies who transport young people to those programs. It's not just students who are at risk. If they've got a community they belong to it's ok but the school community doesn't suit everyone. Other programs are far between. Guidance Officers try and skill them. Chaplains run mentoring and social groups. B: Surprised at how much help Ferny Grove State High School offers including the Defence Transition Aide. H: If we could only change parents the kids would change. The schools never feel as though they can do enough. We need more family therapy centres for kids and families. Some weeks we see 3-4 families as chaplains. At Christmas the fall-out is incredable. There is a 6-week waiting list for Lifeline. We need to get help for families where they are immediately. It's a matter of resources and money. There are 6-12 months waiting in some cases. The repetitiousness of dysfunctional behaviour of some kids and families. It leads to them being expelled and excluded. DOCS and CYMS get involved. There must be thousands and thousands of dollars spent a year .... The child's future is jail and drugs. Would like to see places in good boarding schools made available where they'd get a sense of belonging looked after taught skills. Or a boarding school especially set up. Everything's a short-term fix. Some families have had years and years or generations of it. It's tragic to see these kids. They end up very lonely lost labelled their behaviour excludes them. E: Fix the parents – the parents are off the rails C: Good families have been brought down by difficult kids and disability P: The dreaming up of new communities. Resourcing them. Challenge the rich and healthy people to learn a new way that includes others. A: There are some very effective respect and anti-bullying programs for children now but they weren't around when parents were at school.The whole adult community needs access to these sorts of programs T: Young people's community is critical. Gaming communities. Some of them you have to be there and they take days off on key dates in the gaming communities. Young people feel very connected in cyberspace. C: But not necessarily positive role models to look up to. It's all based around fantasy. Particularly a lack of male role models. Just kill people in a computer game. G: Think of the North Western suburbs and compare to somewhere like Rockhampton. Rockhampton has more interconnectedness. There's a real challenge about creating interagency connectedness here. How to improve the local professional network here? Need to ask in this part of Brisbane are there cracks that young people are slipping in to? Need to map what all the different agencies are doing and where the cracks are. There's something very special about schools. Everyone goes through school. It's like central station. A bit like a goldfish bowl. You see what's happening in community by seeing what's happening in school. The Department of Communities is trying to do a whole of family mapping of services. Starting from the whole person in family at the centre and marshalling what is needed from the perspective of the family rather than the service provider. Some part of what we do needs to be practical and down-to-earth[/ul] Meet again in the New Year