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Mission Australia
Mission Australia is nationally recognised as a leading organisation in building community capacity in Australia. Mission Australia focuses on youth initiatives that help young people at risk of family breakdown, homelessness, unemployment, alcohol/other drug abuse and assists them to realise their abilities, turn their lives around and reconnect into their communities. Every year Mission Australia provides assistance to more than 200,000 individuals across Australia through employment and community services.
Communities at Risk
Portland has the second highest rate of suicide in Victoria and WA’s South West one of the highest for Western Australia. Unfortunately, too many young people feel there is no other way out of their depressive state, which has more often than not resulted from many interconnected emotional and mental health issues leading to a feeling of helpless disconnection from their community.
Research has shown that youth suicide and self-harm greatly affected by geographic region. Portland, Victoria and the Greater South West of Western Australia are communities that suffer from fragmentation due to specific emotional, mental and economic issues that are enhanced through geographic isolation.
Two programs have been developed by Mission Australia to mitigate these issues from severely damaging both the community and the individuals that comprise the community – REEP and Kickstart.
Mission Australia and Alcoa Foundation’s partnership
Alcoa, through the Alcoa Foundation, supports both the REEP and Kickstart programs. These programs have recently been introduced to the South West Victoria (Portland/Heywood) and South West of Western Australia (Bunbury) respectively. Both of these programs encourage youth to remain within the education system while building the capacities of their communities through supportive programs that have a focus on vocational experience.
REEP
REEP is a highly successful program providing nationally recognised training and jobs for unemployed young people with a focus on environmental conservation projects. REEP encourages youth at risk to take on training, employment and environmental challenges of the future for the greater good of their community. In addition to addressing the individual’s self-worth issues REEP addresses a range of environmental issues. These include water quality, river management, pest plants, revegetation, endangered native fauna and bio-diversity.
Environmental Stakeholders such as the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DS&E), Parks Victoria, Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs), local councils and NGO environmental groups support the program.
Kickstart
The Kickstart Program is a new initiative targeting young people to who use illegal substances to focus on their future livelihood and give them a purpose through employment and training programs. It teaches them life-skills, improves self-esteem, motivation and provides them with a sense of direction – minimising the likelihood of them entering the cycle of destructive behaviour (eg drug dependence, crime, self-harm, suicide).
Juvenile Justice, the South West Community Drug Service Team, Schools, Department of Community Development, Job Network Members, South West Aboriginal Medical Services and Churches will refer the young people to Kickstart.
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