ISSUE 03 Identify • Connect • Equip

Identify • Connect • Equip
By the sector, for the sector.
ISSUE 03
an initiative supporting youth and drug and
alcohol services working together in Queensland
Dovetail is an initiative aimed at strengthening the youth drug and alcohol sectors response to young
people experiencing problems associated with drug or alcohol use in Queensland.
The Dovetail Magazine is a quarterly publication. The primary function of the magazine is to create
a sense of unity amongst workers in the youth and drug and alcohol sectors in Queensland by
sharing stories, information and experience across the state.
THE DOVETAIL TEAM: Kim Richards, Cameron Francis, Leigh Beresford, Ben Dougherty
EDITOR: Ben Dougherty
CONTRIBUTORS: Ben Dougherty, Leigh Beresford, Cameron Francis, Francis Whitley, Emmy-Lou
Quirke, Ann Rushton, Kristen Ellis and Meg White.
SPECIAL THANKS TO: Gold Coast Drug Council, Red Frogs, The Chill Out Zone, HSM, Mackay
Youth Support Services, Community Connections, Milpera State High, Brisbane Sounds, The Music
Industry College, Edmund Rice Education, Community Living Association Nundah, Mackay Youth
Support Services, Drug and Alcohol Nurses of Australasia, Andy Gourley, Angela Driscoll, Linda
Hearn, Emmy-Lou Quirke, Kristen Ellis, Ann Rushton, Chris Raine, Ben Hamley, Francis Whitley,
Ann Rushton, Dale Murray, Margo Hickman and Blair Hughes.
This initiative is funded by the Queensland Government.
YOUTH SERVICE INC.
© 2010 Dovetail
Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
The views, opinions and other material expressed in the Dovetail magazine are those of the
individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views, opinions or recommendations of
Dovetail or any of its Consortium members. Although all care is taken to include accurate and current
information Dovetail make no warranty as to the accuracy, currency or validity of the information
presented. The appearance of links in the Dovetail magazine, due to the nature of the internet,
do not necessarily represent endorsement by Dovetail or any of its Consortium members.
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ISSUE 03
Regulars
04 EDITORIAL
06 GRANTS
08 HOT TOPICS
20 WORKER PROFILES
26 SERVICE PROFILES
30 SPOTLIGHT
34 TRAINING
36 YOUTH PERSPECTIVES
Features
12 RED FROGS
More than just a chewy treat at schoolies
16 THE CHILL OUT ZONE
Nightlife on the Gold Coast
18 HELLO SUNDAY MORNING
A real Australian challenge
Cover photo; Abdul Ibrahimi, Teacher’s Aide and former student at Milpera State High
This page; Chris Raine, the creator of Hello Sunday Morning
3
EDITORIAL
THE PROBLEM WITH
ADULTS TODAY. . .
WELCOME TO ISSUE 3.
The public are jealous.
There is a lot of talk in Issue 3 around the perception of young people, particularly
around events like Schoolies, in the general community and in commercial media.
I’d like to share some interesting quotes on this subject often attributed to some
respected historical figures. You may be familiar with the sentiments of these if
not the quotes themselves.
Maybe we want our life ahead of us again. Maybe the idea of cavorting around
the Gold Coast with limited responsibilities sounds pretty good. Why should
young people have all the fun? It’s easy to finger-point when you’re not invited to
the party. As for a few too many at Friday ‘after work drinks’, that’s ok. . . isn’t it?
“When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders,
but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint.”
Hesiod, 8th century BC
The public need someone else to blame.
“What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they
disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with
wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?”
Plato, 4th Century BC
“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no
reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint... As for the
girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress.”
Attributed to Peter the Hermit, AD 1274
I know I shouldn’t talk about famous long-deceased figures in history like they are
some homogeneous group but; are these just the normal tirades of grumpy old
men, or is our moral fibre indeed deteriorating with every passing year? If young
people were already beginning to disrespect their elders in the 8th Century BC, is
it amazing that civilisation has survived at all?
We barely go a day in the news without someone drawing attention to, or
attempting to explain, the behaviour of young people, but what of the behaviour
of our adults? I rarely hear anyone begin a sentence; “The problem with adults
today is . . .” So why is this cliché still used today in regards to young people? I’ve
got a few ideas;
Maybe we, as a community would prefer not to be responsible for the behaviour
of young people. We need to distance ourselves as far as possible from the
CRAZY idea that young people might be influenced by the behaviour of the
community around them.
The problem with adults today is we don’t value stories of young people’s
successes, and it would seem we never have. It’s easy to blame commercial media
for fuelling this attitude toward young people, but commercial media only deliver
what is palatable to its audience. The general public WANT to be informed of
arrest statistics for Schoolies activities, but might be less interested in the same
statistics for events like the Melbourne Cup or the local rodeo.
Despite our poor leadership, if you take a look at things like the National Drug
Strategy Household Survey, the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Education and
Work data, or the Foundation For Young Australians’ ‘How Young People are
Faring’ Report, you will see that young people are not in such a terrible position,
and if you look closely you may also notice areas where young people are
achieving much more than they were in your own generation. This isn’t to say
there aren’t issues particular to current youth, there are many. However next time
you’re about to say; “You know what the problem with young people is today?”
maybe consider if the same applies to your own generation first. Are you sure it’s
an age thing?
[email protected]
The public are legitimately concerned.
Maybe we want to draw attention to unsavoury behaviour in young people
because we want them to be better than us. We don’t want to see young people
make the mistakes we made, or mistakes we witnessed. We want young people
to be the leaders we purport them to be when it suits us. We want the world to
be a better place.
How does your generation compare?
According to the National Drug Strategy Household Survey; 76.2% of young
people aged 12 – 19 had never used illicit drugs in 2007 compared to 62.3% in
2001.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Education and Work survey data
for 2009; 89% of young people aged between 15 and 24 were engaged in work or
education.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Education and Work survey
data for 2008; 83% of 20 – 24 year olds had attained year 12 or equivalent.
4
DOVETAIL ACTIVITIES
www.dovetail.org.au
This is the Dovetail website. Come and visit sometime. The website
evolves continually; reflecting current information, resources, tools, news,
events and examples of good practice. The website is also an archive of
useful material developed in times past.
Dovetail Magazine
By the sector, for the sector
You’re reading it right now! One of our methods of engaging the sector
to share stories and information with each other, with an emphasis on
acknowledging the fact that we are more than just workers, we are
people!
Support and Assistance
Contact us for help with; connecting you or your organisation with the
right people / organisation, information around Project Development
and Implementation, Clinical Activity, Organisational Capacity Building,
Collaboration and Networking.
Professional Development Forums
Dovetail offers opportunities for professionals from diverse backgrounds
to network, share, and develop a vision for service provision in their area.
Professional Development Grants
Dovetail grants are now available. In order to be eligible for the Grant
you will need to a) explain how you will share this training with your
own services and other services in your community AND / OR b) write
an article for the Dovetail Magazine about your experience. For more
information on this go to www.dovetail.org.au
Service Practice Improvement Toolkit
In collaboration with Queensland University of Technology, Dovetail is
undertaking the development of tools and processes for individuals,
services, AND the sector itself to improve and enhance service delivery to
young people.
Workforce Development Pathway
In collaboration with the Youth Substance Abuse Service in Victoria,
Dovetail is working on identifying the core skills and competencies
recommended for youth, drug and alcohol practice.
5
GRANTS
APPLYING FOR
A DOVETAIL
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
GRANT
6
GRANTS
THE VERY FIRST RECIPIENT OF DOVETAIL’S
GRANT PROGRAM GIVES US A RUNDOWN OF HIS
EXPERIENCE.
Criteria for Inclusion
I looked seriously at-
• 17-29 years of age.
My name is Franky Whiteley and I was fortunate
enough to obtain a Dovetail Professional
Development Grant.
• Informed consent for progression of referral.
1. My strong interests and the direction my career
was leaning, which for me is heavily towards work
with the complexities of clients including families/
caregivers around Co-Morbidity (AOD & Mental
Illness which can additionally include Disabilities).
My play ground
• The Gold Coast.
My battle ground (Well, it feels like it at times!)
• Non-Government: Homelessness settings.
• Government: Youth Justice Service’s settings.
• Government: Contract Care and Protection settings.
• Non-Government: Currently employed at the Gold
Coast Drug Council (Mirakai).
The program I am directly involved in at the Gold
Coast Drug Council (Mirakai) is called The Complex
Needs Assessment Panel for Integrated Services
(CNAPIS). Simply put; we are a Dual Diagnosis Team/
Panel.
• Residing in the Gold Coast Health District Area.
• Alcohol and other drug use is significant in the
context of the presentation.
• A presence of co-morbidity requiring an intensive
case management approach.
• Referring agency has assumed the primary case
management role; CNAPIS workers to support this
role where relevant.
3. Previous study undertaken (Previous incomplete
Diplomas in Criminology / Human Services and
Applied Science. On these occasions I struggled to
maintain a balance of study, full time employment,
and being a single father).
• Has multiple external and social issues;
impairment with social functioning, in need of
ongoing support and advocacy to maintain an
improved quality of life.
I have chosen to study an Advanced Diploma in
Counselling / Psychology by correspondence.
Fortunately I was able to find a course that had the
study options and flexibility to suit me.
• Significant impairment centered around 3 domains
(Physical/Psychological/Personality in the context of
Co-morbidity).
I received some wonderful support from the staff at
the Gold Coast Drug Council (in particular Clinical
Director Julie Fox, YODA Youth Outreach Drug &
Alcohol Team Co-ordinator Suzie Morris and of
course my Line Manager Grant Robin) in applying.
The Professional Development Grant is now in
full swing and I feel that I am already reaping the
rewards in so many areas.
• Multiple engagements with service delivery with
repeated unsuccessful outcomes despite allocation
of resources.
What is our Program trying to achieve?
• Improvements in the quality and availability of
support to people with complex needs.
• To provide a coordinated approach to meeting
individual and complex needs.
• To improve service delivery assisting Government
and Non-Government agencies to work together in a
more integrated and effective way.
• To provide flexibility and support to existing
services.
• To provide an integrated and holistic response to
complex needs.
• To identify and report against service gaps.
• To assist Government and Non-Government
organisations address complex needs holistically
by exploring practice issues, providing education,
training and collaborative partnerships.
2. Core strengths, weaknesses, values, beliefs,
frameworks and personal abilities.
Applying for the Grant
I first met some of the Dovetail team in a casual,
informal, ‘meet and greet’ held some time ago at
the Gold Coast Drug Council (Mirakai) in the newly
completed Medical Building called ‘Banjara’. Here I
learnt about Dovetail and their overall aims, purposes
and initiatives. I felt some affinity with Dovetail’s
overall concept, as they align directly to my core
beliefs and frameworks. Also I was very excited
to have discovered there were some opportunities
in the not too distant future to obtain professional
development funds through the Dovetail Grants.
I quickly applied as soon as these grants became
available.
I found applying straight forward and the best
part was the immediate responses by Dovetail to
any questions. So to begin with it was a breath of
fresh air knowing there was going to be genuine
support along the way. It’s worth noting that as
straight forward as I found the process; good time
management, solid planning and attention to detail
was still required to be a successful recipient of the
funds. In investigating exactly how I was going to
utilise the Professional Development Grant I drew on
numerous mentors as my road map.
Where to from here? That’s an easy one; to continue
to gain valuable experience and knowledge
around identifying issues and barriers by planning,
implementing and reviewing the strategies and
interventions required to support young lives (17-29)
at risk, alongside their families and / or significant
other. I will endeavour to achieve this by advocating
for clients within the service sectors to ensure the
effectiveness of collaborative partnerships, and
breaking down the barriers of exclusion and isolation.
Above all, to continue to address the significant
gap in respect of the needs of people with high end
support needs particularly where there are multiple
needs such as Chronic Disease, Mental Health;
Mental Health/Drug and Alcohol Misuse; Mental
Health/Disability.
Francis (Franky) Whiteley
‘Support Worker’, Complex Needs Assessment Panel
for Integrated Support (CNAPIS)
www.gcdrugcouncil.org.au
7
HOT TOPICS
SCHOOL BASED
DRUG EDUCATION
by Cameron Francis
8
HOT TOPICS
DRUG EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS IS A HOT
TOPIC. WHEREVER WE TRAVEL WITH DOVETAIL,
QUESTIONS COME UP ABOUT SCHOOL BASED DRUG
EDUCATION. IN FACT, IT’S THE SAME QUESTIONS
THAT KEEP COMING UP. THIS ARTICLE IS GOING
TO TRY TO ANSWER SOME OF THESE COMMON
QUESTIONS, BY LOOKING AT THE RESEARCH AND
THEN THINKING ABOUT HOW THE RESEARCH CAN
BE APPLIED IN THE CLASSROOM.
Firstly, if you hit up Google for information on school
based drug prevention, you’ll be overwhelmed by
the huge number of results. Likewise, if you search
through the academic databases, you’ll be quickly
swamped with information, some of which is
contradictory and confusing. To help sort through
the mess, a number of meta-analyses have been
published, which distil the essential elements of
good practice drug prevention. There are some
common themes emerging from these reviews, and
we’ve conveniently converted these into easy to
digest “lessons” for the front line.
LESSON ONE: FIRST, DO NO HARM
Most people assume that while there are lots of
programs out there of limited effectiveness, doing
something surely has to be better than doing nothing.
Actually this isn’t the case. We now know that
poorly designed programs might be worse than just
ineffective: they may increase alcohol and other drug
use. There is some evidence that programs which
rely on knowledge dissemination via “scare tactics”
increase alcohol and other drug use. There is also
some evidence that prevention programs delivered
to young people who have already commenced AOD
use may also increase use. This body of research
continues to grow, but we must accept that there is
some risk in delivering poorly planned programs to
young people regarding AOD use.
LESSON TWO: SCHOOL BASED ALCOHOL AND
OTHER DRUG PREVENTION HAS RARELY BEEN
FOUND TO PREVENT THE UPTAKE OF ALCOHOL
AND OTHER DRUGS.
You might be disheartened to hear this, but it’s true.
While there are a few that have shown promise
(particularly with regard to tobacco), most studies
have found diminishing effects of school based drug
prevention as participants are followed over time.
This makes some people question the effectiveness
of school based drug prevention all together. However
what we do know is that there is promising evidence
that school based drug prevention can delay the
onset of alcohol and other drug use; a worthwhile
achievement, but not one that grabs the headlines.
The earlier someone commences alcohol and other
drug use, the higher the chance they’ll develop more
significant problems later in life. Delaying the onset of
alcohol and other drug use is likely to have long term
benefits and should not be written off as a failure.
and other drug use. We know that simply trying
to increase knowledge of alcohol and other drugs
does not translate into behaviour change. There’s a
mistaken assumption that If only they understood the
terrible things that might happen to them…
But we know that young people don’t calculate risk
the same way as adults. Also, there’s a history of
knowledge based programs using scare tactics and
exaggeration to highlight the message. Young people
are very savvy and often quite sceptical: particularly
with regards to drug education.
LESSON THREE: ONE-OFF TALKS FROM
EXTERNAL SPEAKERS MIGHT BE CHEAP AND
EASY, BUT THEY ARE NOT EFFECTIVE
LESSON SIX: THE ESSENTIAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD DRUG EDUCATION
ARE WELL KNOWN, AND SUPPORTED BY A
SIGNIFICANT BODY OF EVIDENCE
The research shows that young people are better
able to take on information when it is embedded
in their curriculum rather than just as a “one-off”
lesson that does not relate to other information that
they learn at school. Teachers know their students
best and they know how to tailor information to
suit the learning needs of individuals. We know
that young people find external speakers interesting
and engaging, but this doesn’t mean they integrate
the information and change their behaviour. If you
want an external speaker, think about co-presenting
with them, or find a way to ensure the content is
embedded within the curriculum
LESSON FOUR: INTERACTIVE APPROACHES
ARE MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE THAN DIDACTIC
APPROACHES
This is one element of the drug prevention research
that is clear and uncontested. The research
unanimously indicates that interactive approaches
are much more effective than didactic “lectures” AT
students. Hopefully this one’s a no brainer – young
people like to be involved in learning, not given a
barrage of information by someone talking at them.
We are not stumbling around in the dark here. School
drug prevention strategies have a massive body of
evidence behind them. We do not accept unproven
medical treatments, and we should not accept
unproven drug prevention programs. If you’re not sure
if the program you’re working on is supported by the
evidence, hit up Google and start searching. Chances
are, someone’s done a similar program somewhere,
and there’ll be a decent evaluation available for you
to read.
Werch, C., Owen, D. (2002) “Iatrogenic Effects of
Alcohol and Drug Prevention Programs” in Journal of
Studies on Alcohol Sept 2002
Soole, D.W., Mazerolle, L. & Rombouts, S. (2005).
“School based drug prevention: a systematic review
of the effectiveness on illicit drug use” DPMP
Monograph Series. Fitzroy: Turning Point Alcohol and
Drug Centre.
Commonwealth Government Department of
Education, Science and Training (2004) “Principles
for school drug education” Australian Government:
Canberra available online at http://www.deewr.gov.
au/Schooling/Programs/REDI/readingroom/profile/
Pages/principles_school_drug_ed.aspx
LESSON FIVE: SOCIAL INFLUENCE
APPROACHES WORK BETTER THAN
KNOWLEDGE BASED APPROACHES
Social influence approaches include correcting
students’ perceptions about how many young people
use drugs. It also includes social resistance skills
training and modifying expectancies of alcohol
9
IN THE LAST EDITION OF THE DOVETAIL MAGAZINE,
WE LOOKED AT THE HISTORY OF INHALANT USE.
THIS ARTICLE IS GOING TO LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF
INTERVENTIONS FOR PROBLEMATIC INHALANT USE.
IT’S HOPED THAT AFTER READING THIS ARTICLE, WE’RE
BETTER ABLE TO PLACE OUR CURRENT INTERVENTION
STRATEGIES INTO SOME HISTORICAL CONTEXT.
INHALANTS: Part II - by Cameron Francis
Ever since it became apparent that people could develop
serious problems due to substance use, attempts have
been made to intervene. The first tales of inhalant
dependence emerged as soon as the products became
commonly available. Horace Wells, one of the founders
of modern anaesthesia, developed a dependence to
chloroform, an early anaesthetic. The week before his
suicide in a New York prison in 1848, he was in the midst
of a five day chloroform binge.
“Day after day during that week he inhaled more and
more from his chloroform bottle. Then the break came. He
ran completely amuck and was arrested.” (Brecht 1972)
From the early 1950s in the United States, the first cases
of problematic inhalant use came to public attention. The
media reported outbreaks of glue sniffing in young people
(firstly in Denver, Colorado) leading to the first large scale
intervention for inhalant use: arrest. 130 young people
were arrested and charged with “juvenile delinquency”
in the year after glue sniffing made the news in Denver.
Inhaling glue was not an offence at the time; instead the
authorities used whatever powers they had to detain
young people found using volatile solvents in public
places.
The average age of those arrested was 13 and all but 6
were boys. Interestingly, 80% had Spanish surnames.
There’s no evidence inhalants were being used by people
with Hispanic backgrounds to any greater degree than
Caucasian people; instead it’s likely there was some
inequity in the application of the laws. As one author
puts it:
“Glue-sniffing children in middle-class white
neighborhoods are customarily seen by paediatricians in
private practice.”
(Brecher 1972)
There is evidence in the literature supporting this, with
the first case reports from psychiatrists appearing in the
early 1950s. From these reports, it seems that at least
some people who used inhalants were being treated with
ongoing psychotherapy. These people were perhaps in
the minority though, as access to this type of treatment
was limited.
Legal responses to inhalant use have been periodically
rolled out since that time, despite little evidence of
effectiveness. Some manufacturers attempted to “abuse
proof” their products as a way of responding. In 1968,
one company added mustard oil to aeroplane glue to
prevent misuse. Apparently misuse of their product
declined following this move, as did overall sales.
In Australia, the history of interventions for inhalant
misuse tracks a different path to that of the United
States. As was discussed in the previous edition of the
Dovetail magazine, there is evidence of petrol sniffing
in remote Aboriginal communities in the 1960s. There
is also evidence that these communities had asked for
assistance to deal with the emerging problem. It wasn’t
until the 1970s when inhalant use appeared more
10
Some of the first responses in Australia were around
product modification. In the 1980s, a chemical called
ethyl mercaptan was added to petrol in some remote
communities. This chemical caused nausea and
vomiting when inhaled. It was eventually considered
a failure as chronic users continued to sniff
regardless. It was also unclear whether the additive
was any less harmful than the petrol itself, bringing
the whole idea into question.
In the 1980s mustard oil was added to correctional
fluid in Australia, which had become one of the
more common inhalants easily accessible to young
people. There are reports that this led to a reduction
in misuse of the product, however deaths were still
recorded.
In response to increasing petrol sniffing in some
remote Aboriginal communities in the 1980s, access
to products that could be inhaled was restricted
through physical means. Petrol pumps were caged,
petrol tanks on cars were secured and tools requiring
petrol were locked up. This had limited success, as
people who were sniffing petrol inevitably found a
way to access it.
In the late 1990s early 2000s, restricting access
became a focus for many urban communities that
were dealing with increasing paint sniffing. Some
local councils developed “Retailer Kits” with
information on the misuse of volatile solvents and
signage for their shops indicating that products
would not be sold if misuse was suspected. Services
actively reached out to retailers in order to increase
their awareness of the misuse of products they were
selling, and the retailers were encouraged to keep
paints and other products behind the counter.
One of the most successful interventions for chronic
inhalant use has been the outstation model. The
best example of this is the Mt Theo outstation,
operated by the Yuendumu community in the
Northern Territory. Yuendumu experienced significant
problems with petrol sniffing amongst young people
throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. After
attempting a range of strategies including switching
to Av Gas (a petrol alternative that is not able to be
inhaled), night patrols, and banishing young people
who were chronically sniffing petrol, local elders in
1994 decided to use the outstation as a rehabilitation
centre. Located far away from Yuendumu, the Mt
Theo outstation became a place were local young
people could reconnect with their culture and engage
in meaningful activities. The program has been
recognised as highly successful and rates of petrol
sniffing at Yuendumu have remained low for some
time. The outstation is complimented with a range
of other programs, including a significant program
of recreational activities for young people living in
Yuendumu and a follow-up mentoring and support
program for older young people who have been
through the Mt Theo program.
Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s,
increasing inhalant use in Queensland caused
governments and service providers to re-think their
responses. A number of service providers were
trialling different types of interventions for young
people engaged in inhalant use. In the Brisbane
area, two services trialled a program of recreational
activities to give marginalised young people
alternatives to inhalant use. The evaluations of these
programs were favourable, showing promise for
programs that take young people out of their regular
environment and encourage them to try new positive
experiences. These recreational activity programs
were largely driven by the young people themselves,
who were able to plan out activities, increasing their
sense of ownership of the program.
On the flip side, this same period saw a renewed focus
on legal responses to inhalant use. In 2004, it became
illegal in Queensland for a retailer to sell a product to
someone who they “reasonably” suspect may misuse
it. These laws were introduced at the same time as
new police powers allowed the temporary detention
of young people aged 17 and under, who were found
to be using inhalants in specified locations (including
Mt Isa, Cairns, Townsville, Inner-city Brisbane and
Logan City). These powers were not intended to be
punitive. Instead, they allowed the police to move the
young person to a place of safety. The place of safety
may include the young person’s home, a friend’s home,
hospital (if there is concern regarding their physical
health) or if no other options are suitable, a designated
place of safety. The designated places of safety are
operated by non-government agencies funded by
the Department of Communities. They take in young
people who are affected by inhalants allowing them
to sober up whilst being monitored. The places of
safety and the concurrent police powers have been
evaluated by the Crime and Misconduct Commission
and the report appears in the reference list of this
article. There have been a number of challenges in the
implementation of these powers. After being in place
for over 5 years, it is clear that across Queensland the
powers are being utilised in vastly different ways and
some have argued that the original intent of these
laws has been lost. In 2007, the laws for retailers were
changed making it illegal to sell spray paint to any
young person aged under 18.
HOT TOPICS
and more in white communities that governments
attempted to intervene.
programs). When working with young people who
use inhalants, developing an effective therapeutic
alliance, regardless of the specific therapeutic
technique utilised, is likely to be the key to effective
intervention.
Brecher, E (1972) Licit and illicit drugs: the
Consumers Union report on narcotics, stimulants,
depressants, inhalants, hallucinogens, and marijuana
- including caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol Boston:
Little, Brown
Butt, Julia (2004) “Independent Evaluation of the
Get Real Challeng: Issues facing Indigenous youth
who misuse volatile substances and outcomes
of a program targeting these issues” Brisbane:
Indigenous Youth Health Service
Available online at http://druginfo.adf.ddsn.net/
download.aspx?RelatedLinkID=744
Crime and Misconduct Commission (2005) “The
Places of Safety Model: An Evaluation” Brisbane:
Crime and Misconduct Commission
Available online at http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au
Crime and Misconduct Commission (2005) “Police
Powers and VSM: A Review” Brisbane: Crime and
Misconduct Commission
Available online at http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au
D’Abbs, P., MacLean, S. (2008) “Volatile Substance
Misuse: A Review of Interventions” Canberra:
Australian Government Publishing Service
Available online at http://www.health.gov.au/
internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/phd-volatilesub-misuse-mono-65-cnt
Gray, D., Shaw, G., d’Abbs, P., Brooks, D., Stearne,
A., Mosey, A., Spooner, C. (2006) “Policing, Volatile
Substance Misuse, and Indigenous Australians”
Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service
Available online at http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/
Monograph_16.pdf
One of the most common forms of intervention for
young people using inhalants is the standard type of
treatment most people with substance use issues
would receive: motivational interviewing, cognitive
behaviour therapy and relapse prevention. There is
only limited evidence of effectiveness with regards
to inhalant users, however this is partly due to the
difficulties services experience in engaging young
people who use inhalants. Family interventions
are considered to be effective, as the research
indicates that the majority of young people who are
chronic inhalant users have a compromised family
background.
Perhaps the most important consideration when
thinking about effective responses to inhalant use
is to think of the broad range of interventions that
can impact on multiple levels. This includes the
broad community level (eg product modification,
Opal fuel), the local community level (eg engaging
with local retailers, community education), the
family level (eg family therapy and other family
focused interventions) and then individual level (eg
individual counselling, recreational activity based
11
12
RED FROGS
WHAT BEGAN AS A LONE CONSCRIPT LOOKING IN
ON A GROUP OF YOUNG SKATEBOARDERS OVER
THE SCHOOLIES EVENT, HAS MUSHROOMED INTO
A LEGION OF COMMITTED VOLUNTEERS, EACH
ARMED WITH A SECRET WEAPON IN YOUTH
ENGAGEMENT: THE RED FROG. BEN DOUGHERTY
TALKS TO THE FOUNDER OF THE RED FROGS, ANDY
GOURLEY, ABOUT THE CHAIPLANCY’S HUMBLE,
AND NEAR ACCIDENTAL, BEGINNING, AND ITS
EXPANSION INTO AN ENVIABLE GIANT IN THE
CORPORATE WORLD OF BRAND RECOGNITION.
The Citipointe Church sits on 100 acres of land just
outside Brisbane. This ever expanding ministry is
also the headquarters of the Red Frogs, the most
familiar of the volunteer groups at Schoolies events
throughout the country. Andy Gourley heads a
program that has had major success in engaging
young people, and when you meet him it’s easy to
ascertain why. He is modest when it comes to the
inception of the program and gives straightforward
responses in language reminiscent of the young
people he meets. He tells me about his favourite
young person; The ‘Johnno’.
“I love the Johnnos. In a building of 400 you’re
always gonna have 1 or 2 Johnnos. They’ll be the
epicentre. If anything is going to go wrong it’ll be in
Johnno’s room. So for me I love targeting Johnnos.
If I can take him on there is going to be far less
damage everywhere else. I always think; how can I
look after him for the week? Then if you can get him
on side and get him working for you, you can get
some amazing results. Just saying; ‘Hey mate keep
an eye on the boys. Make sure they’re not hanging
over verandas and the girls make sure you look after
them.’ If you put that responsibility and ownership on
him it tells him he’s a leader. These guys will be your
biggest asset or your biggest liability. They won’t be
in the middle because they’re natural born leaders,
natural born influencers.”
In a short space of time Andy has come a long way,
attending as a sole worker in 1997 to ‘Johnno hunter’
in later days.
“It started from skateboarding. I used to run
skateboarding clubs for the Citepointe Church with
young skaters. I did that every Friday night for about
four years. When a group of them graduated they
invited me down to Schoolies. I couldn’t believe
how big it had become. You needed official photo
ID to get in rooms. I was really ‘spewin because I’d
worked with these skater guys for years, but the
security guard wouldn’t let me look after them during
Schoolies week. SO I just went to the hotel manager
and asked if he wanted a hand over Schoolies week.
That was pretty much it. Then we started coming
each year. We did up shirts and got passes. It was
called Hotel Chaplaincy and we just went floor
to floor crashing parties, and if we found anyone
crashed out we’d take them back to their unit, walk
people home, get help if they needed it, that sort of
thing.
The 2nd year we stumbled across this thing called a
Red Frog. When we’d tell the schoolies that we were
the Hotel Chaplaincy they would look at us blankly.
They couldn’t always understand what we were and
it might take ten minutes to explain we were there
to help. I thought that there had to be an easier way,
so I went down to the corner store and there was
this massive box of Red Frogs. I conned the bloke
down to ten bucks for the box and legged it back
to the building, jumped in the lift and went up to a
floor. I came out and there’s empty beer cans spilling
out everywhere and I went and knocked on the first
door. This little schoolie peers out and goes; ‘Who
are you?’ and we go; ‘Hotel Chaplaincy’ and he goes
‘Hotel what?’ and we go; ‘You want a Red Frog?’ and
he goes ‘Red Frogs! Yeah man!’, and he’s yelling out
to his mates and they come out and start grabbing
hand-fulls of these Red Frogs. He gets on the phone
and calls his other mates on other floors saying;
‘WE GOT FROGS!’.”
This discovery ultimately led to the Hotel Chaplaincy
being identified, not by the service they were offering
but the chewy sweets they carried. To say that this
new identity resonated with the schoolies would be
an understatement.
“I just thought to myself; these things are amazing!
I got on the phone to our workers and bought
about 80 kilos on the spot, on that very day. They
got us in to every party. We just couldn’t believe
it. Buildings we were having trouble getting into
because of security, we could suddenly get straight
in because the schoolies knew us. The next year
we had 45 workers and 220kg of frogs, then 440kg,
880 now it’s at 6.1 tonnes and 1300 workers in 17
locations across Australia, looking after about 75000
schoolies. Red Frogs has got incredible rapport with
the schoolies. It’s quite amazing. Now it’s like you’ve
won Australian Idol when you walk out on the street
in your Red Frog shirt. You get absolutely mobbed.
You can’t walk five metres. One of the head branding
guys from OPTUS came up last year and he reckons
its one of the best examples of brand recognition he’s
seen in Australia, which is pretty epic.”
13
Andy Gourley
6 years after its inception, when the Hotel Chaplaincy
merged with a similar project being run for Griffith
University students, the Red Frogs Chaplaincy was
born when it was decided there was no point fighting
the unofficial name the schoolies and students had
come to identify them by.
“The two programs merged together because the
kids kept calling us ‘Froggers’, so we just went with
that name. We became Red Frogs Chaplaincy. We did
try other lollies at different points but, hard lollies hit
cars or buildings, chocolates melt in summer, snakes
can take people’s eyes out when you flick em! Red
Frogs dominated.”
Alongside the growth of the Red Frogs presence and
recognition at Schoolies events has been the growth
of the chaplaincy in universities and now additionally
in high schools.
“Our uni program is actually bigger than Schoolies.
Schoolies to us now is just pre-O week. We find 60%
of schoolies go on to orientation week so we do Red
Frog hydration stations at the big parties and have
donuts, and water, and icy poles, and Red Frogs of
course. Our guys rove through the parties looking
after drunk people, hydrating them, and putting food
in them, walk-homes and safety stuff.
For the pre-education stuff we’re doing about 250
high schools. We do seminars on how not to turn
your parents into grand parents over Schoolies, how
not to get evicted from your hotel room and we give
general safety tips. Our school program has been
running for around ten years now. It’s definitely one
of our biggest factors of cultural change at Schoolies.
Getting to them in the high schools and, in a way,
showing them the horror stories of what could go
wrong if you get out of control and even getting them
to check simple things like; take food, drink water.
Real basic things that you nail in the presentations,
and they will quote back to you at Schoolies. Walking
home with your mates is a big one and we’ve seen
aggravated sexual assaults decrease and violence
decrease over the years. There’s a lot more of
that social consciousness coming into it with this
generation.”
14
become that person at Schoolies. You might make a
decision you will regret for the rest of your life.
The rise of the Red Frogs has mirrored the rise
in popularity of the Schoolies event, giving Andy
Gourley some insight into the important points
that should be passed on to young people around
celebrating.
If you wanna get your parents a souvenir at
Schoolies, buy them a Surfers Paradise beach towel.
Don’t bring em back a kid. One of the biggest dangers
down there is unplanned pregnancy because there is
no such thing as safe sex when you’re drunk. Really
it’s just such a dangerous environment to experiment
in general. You may be more inclined to try drugs for
the first time because you’re drunk, or because of
the peer pressure factor. An accountability partner
is good. This is someone who’s got your back. If they
see you getting a bit out of control they can pull
you out of those situations. We call em Desis. Be a
designated sober bloke for the night.
“Schoolies has this artificial momentum. You can
get caught up in doing things you normally wouldn’t
do, and trying things you maybe wouldn’t normally
try. We want people to be who they are. So if you
don’t normally drink like a fish and try to sleep with
everything that moves every weekend, then why
For parents too, if you’re providing alcohol to young
people; whatever you’re thinking; divide it by four.
Get light beer not heavy. You have to be careful about
what you provide at Schoolies, because it makes a
huge difference. If you give out a lot of grog, you just
increase the risk factors massively.
Drinking culture has really changed too. The
mixers (pre-mixed drinks) now are all around 7% or
something and beer is around 5. So back in the day
it would be all empty beer cans when you walk in.
Now you have a bunch of drinks that don’t taste like
grog, they taste like soft drinks. Particularly for the
females, they’re knocking back 6 or 7 of these drinks
and they’re gone.”
This increasing trend among females has not gone
unnoticed by workers or volunteers.
“We dealt with 356 alcohol poisonings in hotel
rooms last year. 70% of them are female. Females
are axing themselves because of the new culture
in drinks. I really think the female drinking culture
has changed. It has become what used to be blokey.
SO to have both sexes doing that now is really
dangerous. We rely on the female species to be the
wise words of wisdom. The girls are actually really
keeping up with the boys in the last five years.”
Despite the continuance of young people drinking to
dangerous levels, there has been noticeable success
of the diversionary activities, and local police,
particularly in relation to violence.
“Violence has decreased on the street, probably
because of the police and the state government
response, which has made a massive difference.
The increase in the entertainment program and other
diversionary activities has been great. It has kept
the schoolies active and shows there is something
different to do besides drinking. Our stats on alcohol
intoxication HAS increased, so they’re still hitting
the grog pretty hard, but last year we noticed a lot of
schoolies went to bed by around 2am. I hadn’t really
seen that before. Maybe in some ways there is less
reliance on the drink. I think there is a bit of a shift
there in that more people might want something other
than getting smashed off their head every night.
As far as other drugs go, we don’t see heaps. It’s
mostly alcohol. Alcohol is the biggest abused drug
in Australia and definitely at Schoolies. Drugs ARE
there, but we’re mainly
dealing with issues related to
alcohol.”
Red Frogs are recruited through churches. It IS a
chaplaincy program. We don’t have any individual
walk in off the street to do Red Frogs. We do pastoral
checks, and organisational checks on all our workers,
and blue-cards. We want to make sure we’ve got the
best team possible for that. Locals work best with
locals. For week 2 when so many Victorian and NSW
people come up for Schoolies we source workers
from VIC and NSW. People from their area will know
the drinking culture and the drug culture far better.”
The challenges for young people today in general, are
something workers like Andy are very familiar with
and issues around alcohol and other drugs are often
peripheral to the real concerns of young people. The
drinking culture particular to Australia is something
that does nothing to help the other challenges facing
young people today.
“Young people want to belong. They want to fit. They
want to be accepted. I think there is a big challenge
to become something you’re not, to compromise
your own personal convictions or standards to be
The amount of other services
involved in this response has
created an imperative for
partnership and collaboration.
“It’s vital. No one
organisation can take on Schoolies. You can’t do it
by yourself. Partnerships are the best thing you can
do. Each organisation has different strengths. When
you put all of those organisations together you’ve got
a far better fence at the top of the cliff. We want to
be the fence not the ambos at the bottom. The more
partnerships you can create, the stronger the fence,
and the less incidents you have. It’s vital. For example
the ambos in particular are legends. They have a
HERT team (Hotel Emergency Response Team), which
gives us access to a full time paramedic. Our guys
are the eyes and ears. They’ll find the guy passed out
and it’s their job to get the ambo to them.
It’s about using peoples strengths. It’s easy to dig
for dirt and not for gold. Looking at faults or talking
about what the government, or an organisation, does
or doesn’t do. Maybe one body can’t do everything.
Maybe it’s about finding the right fit for the right
situation. There’s 300 and something different
organisations that work with Red Frogs. It’s about
putting our different strengths in the right place.”
This framework is extended to the recruitment of the
Red Frogs.
“We make an effort to match Red Frogs to young
people from their area.
accepted, which is sad, particularly around the grog
and Aussie culture. We don’t seem to drink to enjoy
we drink to get drunk. In France and Italy and South
America you grow up in a culture where you drink
to enjoy and it is actually frowned upon in those
countries to be passed out in a gutter and lying in
vomit with peas and carrots over you. But in Australia
it can be; ‘Johnno! What a legend!’ We have a
totally different drinking culture in Australia. One
of the biggest things is our reliance on a drug to be
accepted and enjoy and to celebrate.
I love young people who are actually counter-culture.
Who don’t accept this reliance on a drug to have a
good time. Culture is learnt, so it is taught. Young
dudes hardly ever do what you say but they might do
what you do. There’s that benchmarking that happens
when year 8s look at year 12s and think that to make
it they’ve got to be THIS type of party animal. It’s
the same with footy it’s the same with many things
throughout our culture. I think we really need to protect
the innocence of a child. I think kids have to grow up
too fast.”
“I call it becoming the answer you want to see
around you. Culture changes a little bit over a long
period of time. Don’t get disheartened with the
enormity of the task you’re trying to take on,
just look at one aspect of a person’s life that you
can influence. You might take on a client that is way
beyond anything that you’ve ever experienced but
there is always something you can do. You don’t
have to take on the responsibility of changing the
whole world, because you can’t. What you CAN do
is change your world, and parts of your world. You
can be an influence for good and really help people
in that way. I’m always looking for that little win
instead of a big win. How can I do some good? I
don’t have all the answers but maybe I’ve got part
of an answer. I think in youth work too it’s just being
available. You can have great programs and have all
the right things but just being there goes a long way.
Some of the skaters I worked with in the late 80s I
still work with now.”
Andy shares some of the fascination he has with
young people, and the things
which have kept him working
with them for all of this time.
“95% of schoolies and uni
students get through no worries
and just have a great time.
I love that raw energy and ‘I
can do anything’ attitude that
hasn’t been tainted yet by the
disappointments of life, or too much responsibility.
There’s just that enthusiasm and potential for
leadership. It’s a very exciting time of life. You’ve
grown a brain and are starting to look at things
differently. It’s such a privilege to do what I do.
Schoolies are the future doctors, lawyers, NRL stars,
all on the Gold Coast at the same time. It’s an honour
to work there and to hopefully help them avoid any
dumb mistakes that could hijack their future.”
Andy, always quick with the analogy, doesn’t fail to
disappoint to top off the interview, and leave me with
a feeling that schoolies will be in pretty safe hands
this year.
“I see the Red Frogs like gutter rails on a ten pin
bowling lane. So instead of hitting the gutter you
always hit something down the end!”
Andy Gourley is the founder of the Red Frogs
Chaplaincy http://www.redfrogs.com.au/
The modelling of culture and of behaviour is very much
a part of Andy’s personal approach to interacting with
young people.
15
CHILL OUT IN SURFERS PARADISE
By Ben Dougherty
ON A NIGHT OUT IN THE CAVILL MALL ON THE
GOLD COAST; THROUGH THE HENS AND BUCKS
PARTIES, THROUGH THE HOARDES OF PARTY GOERS
AND WEEKEND TOURISTS STANDS A BEACON
OF HOPE, WATER AND FIRST AID, FOR SOMEONE
WHOSE NIGHT HAS TAKEN A WRONG TURN. THE
CHILL OUT ZONE POPS OUT ITS PURPLE CARAVAN
WALLS AT 10PM THIS PARTICULAR SATURDAY
NIGHT, DESPITE THE RAIN, READY FOR THE
INVASION OF PEOPLE SEEKING A GOOD TIME. THE
CO-ORDINATOR OF THE CHILL OUT ZONE, ANGELA
DRISCOLL, STANDS SENTRY LIKE, ADJACENT, AS
MUCH ABUZZ FOR THE NIGHT AHEAD AS THE
PEOPLE ALREADY TRICKLING INTO THE AREA.
The Chill Out Zone’s home is a purpose built van that
pops open, revealing just about everything needed
to assist the client group, from hair ties, deodorant,
and buckets for those who’ve taken it too far, to
fresh t-shirts and first aid for people who have been
injured. They also provide taxi and bus vouchers,
condoms and free water. It is clearly evident that
the Chill Out Zone is a recognised and accepted part
of nightlife here, as people grab cups of water and
engage with the staff, sometimes knowing them by
name, often kidding around until they move on to
the next thing, the next bar or the next party. This
acceptance from the clients extends to the venues,
the paramedics and the police.
“We are lucky. We’re very neutral. If we sat under
the council or state government none of this would
probably work. In the van we keep records of where
people come from, so the venue can come to us and
say ‘can we have every client you’ve had out of our
venue in the last 6 months’ and we can generate that
for them. If it’s a police investigation or a solicitor
asks; the client can give permission for it to be
released. Our information is very robust. We know
16
the time and place of the incident. We know whether
the person was the offender or the victim. Being
neutral has really helped us a lot. It is a lot to do with
our service attitude and our staff attitude. I think
we’re very accepted here, particular by the client
group. The majority of our referrals are self referrals,
followed by the venues, which is almost being pipped
by the radio referrals from the camera room.”
Angela produces a walkie talkie, one of around
20. The radios connect the Chill Out Zone with 17
venues, the police and a camera room where the
nightlife is observed.
“The base station of this sits in the council camera
room. They’ve got 73 cameras in this precinct. The
venues have got one of these radios for the outside
door staff. Most of them are wearing it in their ear
but basically if the camera room or the venue sees
someone that needs us they’ll radio for us. If they’ve
got someone who can’t move we’ve got a wheel
chair or we call an ambulance. Venues will call each
other if they evict patrons, a troublesome buck’s night
for example. Also council can get a visual and alert
police if necessary. We have quite good coverage.”
This connection and communication between
workers of all areas in the precinct is a valuable
by-product of a response to alcohol related violence.
Angela has her own theories on this and, like with
binge drinking, it’s tied up with Australian culture in
general.
“I think a lot of alcohol related violence has got to do
with people not being able to cope with what they
perceive as being the effect of alcohol. It has a lot
to do with our culture. By the time young people are
venturing out they have already decided who they are
as a drinker; ‘I’m the rowdy one’, ‘I’m the chucker’,
‘I’m the one that weeps’. A lot of the under age
drinking is largely unsupervised so there aren’t those
boundaries around their behaviour. When they turn
18 they bring that here with them.
On top of that we can’t ignore the idea that young
people’s behaviour can also be reflecting what they
see in the behaviour of older people. I think it’s a bit
of a cliché when people say they used to drink too
but grog is stronger now or pot is 60 times stronger
than it was. Maybe it makes us feel better as an
older generation. It makes us feel better to think that
things are really different.”
Statistics in Australia point to a somewhat different
result on the behaviour of young people today than
what we might get in the headlines, which is also
refected in data gathered at the Chill Out Zone,
both on a regular weekend and over an event like
Schoolies.
“The arrest stats come out every morning during
schoolies which is the only time of the year they
would release that. At morning briefing we have to
get the health data ready. Last year we did about 600
through the Recharge Zone and about 800 through
the ambulance treatment centre. 1400 over 8 nights
when there are 30,000 young people there is not a
huge percentage of people. No one is really interested
in that. It’s the same thing in the Chill Out Zone; if we
do 30 clients that’s a busy night for us. But if there
is 30,000 people in the precinct that amount is not
exactly earth shattering, it’s quite low really for what
people are doing.”
Angela considers that alcohol related violence may
actually be on the decrease also.
“I honestly think there is less violence. I think four
or five years ago people would not stop when they
fought. There would be more fighting, even when
someone was on the ground.
I feel like people don’t do that as much now. There
are still injuries, certainly, but maybe it’s not as
vicious.”
Unsurprisingly the main precipitating substance
in presentations to the Chill Out Zone, however
frequent, is alcohol.
“65% of our clients are purely alcohol affected,
they’re sick and vomiting and they will usually self
present. If it’s really bad and they have passed out
at the venue we’ll go and get them. If it’s early in
the night, and the person needs to sleep, we try to
encourage their friends to collect them later. We’ll
take their number and call them to come and take
them home in a cab. The next most common is
injuries. We do a lot of first aid and it’s pretty much
half and half for accidents and assaults. Drinking too
much though is what gets the majority of the people
here. Otherwise it’s the people dropping in to say hi!
We get a lot of people who come and talk to us.”
It takes a certain type of person to carry out work
of this nature well. Observing Angela Driscoll
at the Chill Out Zone makes the characteristics
required very obvious. They are traits which Angela
possesses in spades; she is approachable, fearless
in engagement, thick skinned, quick with comebacks,
enthusiastic about the work itself and has genuine
concern for the client group without passing
judgement. This disposition should be infectious
amongst workers in this field. As for the other
workers at the Chill Out Zone;
“They’re very compassionate. They’re very funny.
They don’t panic. And we’ve got people in there with
no background in this type of work. We’ve got a guy
in there tonight who’s an engineer and he’s one of
the best staff
we’ve got.
They are all
paid staff,
which I think
is a really
important key.
On a night in
there we’ll
have a youth
worker, a
child safety
worker, we’ve
got ambulance officers that work in there. It’s a good
second job for a lot of people. It’s a very, very tough
place to work though, so you need that good attitude
as well.”
With such a varied staff, Angela also finds it hard
to identify what it is that makes them successful.
Something here however is clearly working for the
client group.
“We do very few repeat clients. I think it’s a very
different experience being in the Chill Out Zone and
waking up with people being really nice to you as
opposed to waking up in a police cell. If you wake up
the next day and wonder; who were those people?
They put me in a cab, they mopped my brow, they
tied my hair back. It just leaves a different taste in
people’s mouth, LITERALLY. It sounds funny but I DO
think it prevents them from coming back.
We’ve been so successful that there is an
assumption that this is an easy thing to do and I
wish that I could quantify what it is that makes
us successful. I don’t know why it works. It works
for the client group. If we didn’t appeal to them it
wouldn’t work.”
The nightlife is well and truly underway by the time
we make our exit. The Chill Out Zone itself begins to
get crowded. The Chill Out staff are busy providing
assistance to a number of intoxicated people in
addition to first aid for a potentially serious face injury.
Meanwhile Angela counsels another to stay put
until a taxi is ready. It’s a regular Saturday at Surfers
Paradise. It’s very busy and at 12:30 am the night is
still young. The occupants of the precinct have more
adventures and misadventures ahead. The presence
of the Chill Out Zone ensures us that the unlucky ones,
young or not, will have somewhere safe to lay down,
first aid and care in an emergency, peace of mind for
the safety of a friend, and maybe most importantly a
smiling face and a sympathetic ear.
The Chill Out Zone operates Thursday (10:30 –
3:30), Friday and Saturday night (10:30 – 5:30) on
Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise. The Chill Out Zone
operates any night before a public holiday, New
Years Eve, and two weeks over the Schoolies event.
The Chill Out Zone also do fee for service events
and free community events. The Chill Out Zone
is funded by the Queensland Department of
Communities.
http://www.chilloutzone.org.au/
17
18
HELLO SUNDAY MORNING
By Emmy-Lou Quirke
“HSM REPRESENTS AN IDEA. IT’S A SIMPLE IDEA
– THE IDEA THAT YOU DON’T NEED ALCOHOL TO
BE CONFIDENT. YOU DON’T NEED ALCOHOL TO BE
YOURSELF. AND YOU DON’T NEED ALCOHOL TO BE
AN AUSTRALIAN. ALCOHOL IS SOMETHING THAT
YOU ENJOY, NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU NEED.
THAT IS THE HELLO SUNDAY MORNING IDEA.” –
CHRIS RAINE
It’s Sunday, 12pm. You’re surprised by your
surroundings, somehow amazed that you could be
waking up when you distinctly cannot remember
coming home at all. Your forehead is sweaty and the
sheets are tangled around your dress, still half-on
from last night, and the only reason you are awake at
all is that your breath smells like a distillery and the
jackhammer inside your head has forged a headache
the size of China. Hello Sunday afternoon. The rest
of the day will be spent avoiding direct light and
anything louder than your own moans. Later, you will
search desperately for fried chicken.
The weekend is a deceptive thing, it’s only two days,
seemingly stretching out forever over the horizon
at 5pm on Friday,
and compressing
exponentially after
Sunday at around
lunchtime. For many
people it is the only
two days in which
their life is fully
theirs, no other work, no other commitments, two
days in which every hour can be spent on whatever
they desire. Yet we routinely spend almost half of
it crying into our pillow, holding ice-packs up to our
eyes, and watching romantic comedies in a glass
case of emotion, hoping the pain will eventually stop.
Australia: We ARE the lucky country. We are well
known for being a relaxed, friendly, successful
and sociable country. Alcohol is a part of our
national identity. We drink to celebrate, we drink to
remember, we drink to forget and we drink to good
health. We have a wine with dinner or a beer on
Saturday with some mates. In winter we like to keep
warm with a Shiraz, in summer to chill out with an
iced cocktail. Alcohol is our substance. Alcohol is
so engrained with ‘being Australian’ that it has an
almost symbiotic relationship with it.
Alcohol is one of the most effective, one of the
cheapest and definitely one of the most legal. It allows
people to instantly harness their lacking confidence,
rollercoaster emotions, or feelings of joy, and all too
often we rely on it to define who we are and how good
our night will be, but at what other cost?
What would happen if you chose not to drink? What
if you chose to take your Sunday morning back?
Not just for one weekend either, but for 3 months, 6
months or 12 months?
It turns out – a whole lot!
In 2009, 23 year old, Chris Raine spent a year without
alcohol. There was no mission, there wasn’t even
a plan in the beginning. Chris set out to understand
what the role of alcohol is in a young person’s life.
He wanted to know what, if anything, people need
alcohol for (young people especially).
To hold himself accountable to the task he set up a blog
and wrote about the experience. The blog was called
Hello Sunday Morning (HSM)
http://www.hellosundaymorning.com.au/
About 9 months into his journey, 5 of Chris’ friends
took on the HSM challenge for themselves. 3 months
later, 10 more joined. The idea was beginning to
stick. HSM is simple, it is voluntary, it is abstinence
based, and it is self-directed. It is not an intervention
approach. It is young people looking for a challenge,
it’s about change. It is not a therapy program. It is a
new way of thinking. Hello Sunday Morning is now a
registered not-for-profit organisation and facilitates
the process for over 110 people from various
backgrounds, ages and opinions across Australia.
HSM is changing the role of alcohol in our lives
BEFORE it becomes a problem.
At the moment, HSM is a little fish. It is just a website,
administered by Chris from wherever he is in Australia in
his campervan. That’s it. But its impact is being felt across
the country.
The key to HSM’s success is in its public
accountability model; The blog. The blog is an outlet
for HSM participants to document every part of
their journey through photos, videos and text. Every
time a new blog goes up it is shared via Facebook
and Twitter, reaching an estimated 300 people per
average participant. The HSM Facebook page alone
now has over 1,550 friends and 400 active monthly
interactions through which every new story is
communicated.
Research conducted by Fresh Advertising
Communications (2009) half way through one
‘HSMers’ journey showed a direct impact on the
drinking attitudes of 200 people in that persons
‘inner-circle’. 50% of their closest 50 friends recorded
a significant impact and reported; ‘re-thinking’ their
drinking habits.
Within the further 150 friends of the ‘outer-circle’
41.7% of respondents reported a significant impact.
The fact is simple, and most people know this
already, when it comes to drinking, we listen to our
friends.
It’s not just friends that HSM has had an impact on
either:
“When you get young Australians like Chris Raine
who are talking about the problem from a young
Australian’s perspective, that’s the sort of support we
need to get a change in our culture.”
General Ken Gillespie, Australian Army
“Hello Sunday Morning provides a space for people
to talk about their stories. People of all ages love
stories and there is no doubt that helps people get a
context for their own life situations around drinking that is the power of Hello Sunday Morning.”
John Rogerson, Ceo Of The Australian Drug
Foundation
Chris is currently traveling Australia in a customised
campervan in the hope of getting 10,000 HSM
bloggers to take up the challenge by 2013. Why
10,000? By inspiring 10,000 people to participate in
Hello Sunday Morning, the exposure and impact of
the idea will have reached over 100,000 people in
Australia. Enough to move HSM from being a niche
industry program to the public domain as a widely
recognised cultural movement.
Say Hello to Sunday Morning at
http://hellosundaymorning.com.au/
Emmy-Lou Quirke is a Registered Nurse with
interests in Child & Youth Development and
indigenous mental health. She is currently studying
a Master’s of Mental Health at The University
of Queensland and is the Project Manager for
‘Promoting Healthy Sexual Development in Young
People’ at QUT.
19
WORKER PROFILE
20
WORKER PROFILE
SCHOOLIES VOLUNTEER
SERIAL SCHOOLIES VOLUNTEER OF TEN YEARS,
ANN RUSHTON, GIVES US AN INSIDER’S
PERSPECTIVE OF THE EVENT.
Why do I volunteer?
Lots of reasons! I love to see young people having a
great time, safely, so they have great memories of an
important time in their lives. For young people to think
back about their Schoolies time and associate it with
negative experiences of shame, regret, embarrassment
or sadness is not ideal. My aim is to help young people
avoid things that may have negative consequences.
What do I do at Schoolies?
I love to be on the street patrols. I do this on the first
weekend of Schoolies. This involves going round in
gangs of four, with other volunteers, in the Schoolies
precinct, and on the beach, looking out for young
people who may not be coping well. That can range
from young people who have lost their phones, lost
their wallets, lost their friends, lost their hotel keys,
have no idea where they are staying, have injured
themselves, or are intoxicated, alone or vulnerable
in some way. We also pick up broken glass, remove
bottles from the beach, notify of any syringes we may
come across, walk young people back to their hotel
accommodation, lend our phones to reunite young
people, or assist them to find the Red Frogs Chaplains,
take them to a Recharge Zone for further help, or call
in assistance as needed. We also get hugged a lot!
What has changed in ten years?
Lots! Probably the most noticeable thing is that in
the early days, young people would arrive early, be
intoxicated and drinking in public places. However,
that was still the minority of young people. Now the
pattern is that young people tend to consume their
substances in their hotel rooms and hit the Schoolies
precinct intoxicated, and looking for further excitement
and action. I think this is due to changes in legislation
and greater presence of police and liquor licensing
officials. From my perspective, negative things are
already happening in hotel rooms BEFORE young
people make it out to the street and beach.
There is certainly a greater police presence since
the state government, through Department of
Communities, became more involved. This has been
a good thing in terms of safety and quick response to
incidents of aggression, violence, street dealing, and
consuming substances in public.
However, the heavy presence of police has perhaps
led to a less light-hearted attitude. I haven’t seen a
streaker for at least three years!
Defining the Schoolies precinct, and erecting barriers
and controlling access, has not been a particularly
helpful thing in my view. It presents a challenge to
other young people who have come to celebrate
Schoolies with their contemporaries, who may have
already left school, on accessing the beach and other
activities. It sets up a tension and non-schoolies and
“Toolies” still can mingle with schoolies in the streets,
so in many ways it’s meaningless demarcation.
There is a lot less glass around. In the early days
cut feet were a constant as bottles were smashed.
Now as less people drink on the street, and supply
of bottles has been curtailed, young people are more
likely to be suffering from blisters from dancing on the
beach in beautiful shoes!
The biggest problems for young people at
Schoolies?
It can be a time when relationships end, new
relationships can begin. Apprehension about school
being over can set in. Schoolies can be emotionally
stressed in many ways.
Young people may find that they over estimate their
capacity to party. By mid week, quite a few are looking
a little ragged round the edges!
Getting caught up in stuff when intoxicated is a source
of regret for lots of schoolies. Acquiring big fines for
drinking in public, being arrested or just being an idiot,
don’t necessarily seem so amusing the next day when
the hangover sets in, not to mention the photos on your
friends’ mobile phones and Facebook pages these days.
The negative press?
The majority of young people who come to Schoolies
are wonderful, have an amazing time, and go home
safely with their dirty washing and good memories.
The press seldom capture the positives. They don’t
capture the hard work that young people have put in to
earn the money to book their hotel rooms to have their
Schoolies time, the effort to which young women go to
look amazing, and the care that young people take of
each other in the midst of it all.
Schoolies; A cultural thing?
The commercial interests of hotel operators and
others drive the process in many ways. However, it
IS a public opportunity for young people to announce
their independence, to think about their future, and
to come together to celebrate a huge milestone of
leaving childhood
and school behind.
The conflict comes
in terms of how that
celebration is framed
in the wider context
of Surfers, and its club
and pub culture, which
excludes adolescents.
Assuming adult roles,
without access to
adult pleasures, will always create tensions and
challenges for adolescents to participate and emulate
adult activities in such a pressure cooker environment.
Providing real alternatives to celebrate the breadth
of youth culture, not just music on the beach at night
and movies, would go a long way to centering and
focusing on youth culture in a positive way and as a
real alternative to adult contexts.
Best advice I can give to people working with
young people.
Admire, enjoy and respect their capacities and
strengths and opinions!
Ann Rushton volunteers with Crimestoppers as a part
of the Gold Coast Schoolies Safety Response Team.
Experimenting with substances can also be a negative
experience for some young people, ending up in
Accident and Emergency, or blacking out, coming
round in dodgy situations, or realising or not being sure
if they have had sex or not.
21
WORKER PROFILE
22
WORKER PROFILE
I DON’T CHECK TEETH
KRISTEN ELLIS GIVES US AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT
IT’S LIKE TO BE A SCHOOL BASED YOUTH HEALTH
NURSE IN QLD.
I have been working for Queensland Health as a
School Based Youth Health Nurse (SBYHN) for seven
and a half years. Prior to this I had been working in
an emergency department and had a keen interest
in public health and health promotion. This led me to
apply for a SBYHN position and I am still here.
I don’t do first aid or check teeth. This is quite a
common misconception. The role of the SBYHN is
to work with the school to promote the physical,
emotional and social wellbeing of young people in
the school community. This can involve education
sessions and small groups addressing health issues
identified by the school community on such issues as
sexual health, alcohol, drugs, mental health, healthy
relationships, stress and coping, and cyber safety.
Perhaps the main part of my role is to provide one
on one confidential consultations to young people on
a range of wellbeing issues, such as grief and loss,
family stress, relationship issues, bullying, sexual
health, stress, alcohol, tobacco or other drug use,
depression, or other physical health concerns. My
role is to provide initial support and assessment, and
then assist a young person to access appropriate
services in the community and/or communicate with
their parent or carer. Not all young people need
referral. Some just need a listening ear and some
assistance with problem solving, and I am always
happy to provide this.
Within the school community I work predominantly
with the guidance officer, chaplain, youth support
coordinators and year level coordinators to support
individual students or run groups. Confidentiality
is a very important part of my role which means I
will only communicate with other school staff if the
young person provides permission for this.
A very important aspect of the SBYHN service is that it
is a free health service that exists in a setting familiar
to the young person. Many students will have already
had an informal chat with me in the school playground,
or interacted with me in a classroom before they
make an appointment. A young person can come for
an informal non threatening chat before they choose
to disclose their real concerns; they can even bring a
friend. These things help reduce the barriers for young
people to seeking help, and perhaps normalise ‘help
seeking’. Another valuable aspect is the opportunity to
partner with education to promote health. Schools are
great settings for opportunistic health promotion like
sun safety at sports carnivals, grief and loss education
after a critical incident and schoolies week education.
We can reach large groups of young people with
education.
A usual day may involve 4-8 individual consultations,
running a group session, doing a classroom session,
and/or discussions with staff about curriculum.
I attend student support services meetings, talk
with parents who are concerned about their young
person, and run teen triple P (The University of QLD,
Parenting and Family Support Centre’s Positive
Parenting Program). Although I don’t work closely
with the P&C on a regular basis I have found the P&C
in both my schools to be very supportive.
As far as great stories go, I have SO many. The
young person who struggled with self harm, but
once engaged with support reduced self harm,
and eventually began talking about future plans
and dreams. The young person who struggled with
friendships or behaviour at school, participated in a
group and goes on to be more settled at school. The
young person who now engages in safe sex because
they could access reliable information in a safe
environment, the young person who was able to talk
to their parents because they could access support
to do this, the young person who disclosed a sexual
assault because their friends could bring them to
someone at school, the young person who is engaged
with CYMHS because they could make initial contact
in a familiar environment. These are all scenarios
myself and SBYHNs around the state will be familiar
with.
Finally I couldn’t write this article without mentioning
the wonderful SBYHN team with whom I work. It is
vital in this role to connect with colleagues for peer
support, debriefing and knowledge sharing. I have a
wonderful team from whom I gain support, strength
and knowledge.
Kristen Ellis is a School Based Youth Health Nurse
Now, what is great about schools today? I think
schools work really hard at providing different
education pathways and experiences for young
people. Students who may struggle in the classroom
can excel in these activities. School staff are aware
of social and emotional challenges that young
people face and are keen to assist them in accessing
support and try to create a network of support people
available to young people.
23
WORKER PROFILE
RURAL SCHOOL NURSE
LEIGH BERESFORD CATCHES UP WITH RURAL
SCHOOL BASED YOUTH HEALTH NURSE, LINDA
HEARN IN BETWEEN UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS
WITH THE LOCAL WILDLIFE AND SCHOOL
IMMUNISATION DAYS.
I’m curious about what happened out on the
road when I tried to call the other day. Did you
hit a Kangaroo?
24
there is something very captivating about being able
to see for miles. It’s quite amazing. The sunsets are
beautiful reds and oranges and when you go outside
at night the sky is filled with stars.
How long have you been a School Based Youth
Health Nurse and what made you decide on
that career path?
Yes! We were going to a mother’s group in
Barcaldine and we were about 40 kilometres out. We
didn’t even see the wallaby. It put a great big dent in
the spoiler and caught the edge of the radiator. The
car overheated and we had to wait on the side of the
road for help which took about an hour and a half.
I’ve been a School Based Youth Health Nurse for just
over 5 years. I was a midwife at the hospital and a
position came up down at community health for a
child health nurse as well as a School Based Youth
Health Nurse and I really wanted to get out of shift
work. My eldest child was coming in to the teen
years so it was a very appropriate move for where I
was going as a mother.
Some of your days can be very unpredictable.
Which schools do you visit in this area?
That’s for sure. If it’s not the roos, it’s the emus and
the sheep or the cows, never a dull moment.
I share my time between Longreach State High
School and Longreach School of Distance Education.
For someone who has never been out to
Longreach, can you describe what the region
is like?
If you needed some nursing support in your role
are you able to collaborate with other nurses in
your region?
It’s basically flat for as far as the eye can see. The
vegetation varies but mainly what you see is grass and
trees. We’ve had a fair bit of rain this year so there are
some green patches, but it’s certainly not green and
hilly, it’s flat and it’s brown. When you drive out here
Yes, there is a School Based Youth Health Nurse at
Winton, which is about 2 hours North of Longreach.
We often discuss things and work together around
health promotion.
What areas of health do you target?
It can depend on where teachers want you to go. A
lot of what I do is around hygiene, sex education,
sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy, mental
health, drug and alcohol, a lot of the stuff that
teachers may not feel comfortable doing. There are a
couple of different programs. They have just started
to implement “Putting Youth in the Picture”, as
part of the pastoral care program the kids do called
K.O.O.L (Kids Outlook on Life). It’s mainly about the
consequences of behaviour from a legal perspective
but pushes home that message of look after your
mate.
What are the challenges of providing health
services in a rural school environment?
Because it’s a small school (there is only 190
students at Longreach State High School), it’s
confidentiality. We always try to protect the students
as much as we can, but being in a small place it can
often be quite difficult, as far as others finding out.
Also because it’s a small place it can be challenging
getting access to beneficial resources and programs.
What do you think are good ways of promoting
health to young people in your region?
One of the good things that is happening out here
is the “Rural Young Men and Alcohol Project”. They
run alcohol free sporting events. They’ve sponsored
junior and senior football out here, things outside
school as well as part of the school curriculum. I find
having someone come and talk once, without any
follow up, doesn’t change anything. But, when you’ve
got it happening outside the school program it works
really well.
maybe not in a great way in their mind, but it just
opens the door. I don’t know all of them but I would
know more than half by name. They all get to know
that I’m here and they can come and talk to me.
Have you done anything in this area that you
feel was particularly successful that you would
like to share?
I really enjoy connecting with young people. At
school it’s easy to get a misconception about how
things really are, and then you’ll see them outside
and they are friendly and come up and talk to you.
You see them in a different light and you know these
kids are going to be alright, they’re going to be fine.
They just have a great outlook on life and it helps to
broaden your view.
For a few years we did a Chlamydia screening
program. It started with the year 12s because they
were over 16 and they could get consent from their
parents or give their own consent. We talked about
Chlamydia and its effects, and then gave out the
consent forms. A couple of weeks later we gave
all the students a brown paper bag containing a
specimen jar, a standard drinks glass and some
health promotion cards promoting safe sex and
S.T.I. information. It was then up to them whether
they took part or not. Everyone bought their brown
paper bag back during the day and no one knew who
had or hadn’t participated, there was no pressure.
It has really helped get the students thinking about
practicing safe sex.
Can you tell me about a really great day you had
at work recently?
It may sound terrible but it was our immunisation
day. You get to connect with the kids, one on one,
What do you love about your job, what keeps you
there?
Are there young people in your community you
would consider to be local champions?
I would say both of the school captains. One of them
is really involved in a lot of community activities and
is a great motivator for other students, very friendly
but very encouraging as well, and the other school
captain is a tremendous artist. The art teacher at the
high school has done a lot with the kids who do art.
They have art exhibitions a few times a year so the
kids get to showcase their artwork and it’s fantastic,
it really builds their confidence. They are great role
models and particularly this year they have been
awesome.
Linda Hearn is a School Based Youth Health Nurse
in Longreach
What do you think are the biggest challenges
faced by young people out there?
Well I think alcohol is a very big thing, not that it’s
probably different anywhere else, but it’s very much
a part of our culture out here. The other big thing is
that for students to do anything they need to leave
home and move away. If they want to go to uni, or if
they live out on a property and it’s too hard for them
to travel in to town they go away to boarding school,
so often they’re leaving home at 12 or 13 which is
huge. It’s a time when they really need more parental
support because they’re going through puberty,
massive body changes, the emotional highs and lows
that go with all that, and they aren’t at home with
their family.
25
SERVICE PROFILE
YOUTH SUPPORT
COORDINATORS
Mackay
BEN DOUGHERTY TALKS TO SHANE STURDY, ANNA HUSBAND,
NOELEEN MADRILL, KAREN TOMLINSON AND SYLVIA FAY
FROM THE MACKAY YOUTH SUPPORT SERVICE ABOUT BEING A
YSC IN THE MACKAY AREA.
What is the main priority of a YSC?
ANNA HUSBAND: We are funded to work with young people
who are at risk of homelessness and at risk of leaving school
early. We work with any issue that puts young people at risk of
being disengaged from school. It could be any number of things
happening at school like relationships with friends or with
teachers, to another great number of things happening outside
of school like family issues, alcohol and other drug issues, risky
behaviours, social situations.
Who else is a part of the support staff at school?
SYLVIA FAY: There is a School Based Youth Health Nurse, a
Guidance Officer, Community Education Counsellor, and the
School Chaplain. Some schools also might employ a School
Police Liaison Officer. It can be different for each school though.
ANNA: Like many of the support staff we don’t work for the
school. We’re an independent person to talk to. The School
Guidance Counsellors, for example, are employed by the school,
so at times they might be less approachable. They CAN be seen
to represent the school, by the young people.
How important is it for the students to know you are
independent of the school?
SHANE STURDY: That helps. I’ve had students come in before
and once they find out you’re not a part of the school they feel
much more comfortable. They might want to talk about an issue
at school around a teacher, or class and they may not feel as
comfortable to do that if you were seen to represent the school
in some way.
Are there YSC offices at school?
SHANE: It’s different in every high school! Sometimes it can be a
battle to get an area for support staff at a school. It just depends
on the school though and the relationships that have already
been built there.
ANNA: I think here in Mackay all young people are pretty aware
of where they can find us. The benefit of being around for this
long means we don’t have to sell the idea to young people so
much. We get a lot of referrals from young people themselves,
rather than just the guidance counsellor, or school staff member.
SYLVIA: Recently I found a flyer that had been made for a class
about homelessness, and I found our contact details on it. So
that awareness is out there in THIS community for sure.
26
Are there some common issues coming up for
young people at the moment?
SHANE: Right now with young people I’m getting
more social and emotional issues with peers and
at home. There is the odd case of someone being
suspended, and where nothing is going well, but
what I seem to be getting more of is; the depressed
student, the self-harming student, the student with
low self esteem. We do groups around those issues
and identify us as someone to come and talk to.
ANNA: The groups are often where those
connections are made. So after that group you will
get more referrals. It’s a good way to find the young
people.
NOELEEN MADRILL: In my Indigenous young girls’
group, called Deadly Sisters, we work on self
esteem, body image, alcohol and other drugs, mental
health, sexual health. We do leadership groups and
often get people outside of the school environment
to come in and talk, to make those connections with
people and organisations outside of school.
How is Mackay different to other parts of the
state?
ANNA: Maybe one of the biggest things has been
that Mackay has become a mining town in the last
five years. So, the average wage in Mackay is a lot
higher now. The gap between the low to average and
the high income earners is massive. We can see a
whole lot of issues relating to that. One of those can
be that young people don’t value education as highly.
It’s easy to think you can just get a job in the mine
when school is finished.
SHANE: There have been some ramifications around
drugs in the community as well. On average we have
young people with more money to spend, whether it’s
from their parents, or from working in the mine, so the
demand for drugs has definitely increased. We also see
bigger unsupervised parties.
What other projects are happening for you right
now?
NOELEEN: At the moment we’re putting on a four day
forum targeting Indigenous, Australian South Sea
Islander, and Torres Strait Islander students called
the Dilli Sabi Binalmunga Youth Forum. The forum is
about teaching the importance of staying in school
or going on to further education. We have some role
models for this community participating like; Grant
Sara, who will be the MC, Gracelyn Smallwood,
Sean Choolburra who’s an indigenous comedian, and
Ben Barba, who was at the last forum as a student
in 2006 and now plays NRL for the Bulldogs. He is
from this community so there’ll be a lot of kids that
look up to him. We hope for it to be four days of
coming together and learning to understand our other
cultures more. I also have a lot do with NAIDOC
(National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance
Committee) week activities.
ANNA: NAIDOC week in Mackay is huge.
SHANE: We support the big NAIDOC sport day
they have in Bowen. It’s a competition, but it’s also
a great way to meet the local young people for
services like us and a great day to interact with the
community. The day is pretty much totally run by
the young people, so they get great ownership over
that. We’ve got a camp coming up, which we do
every year, and another major thing right now is our
work with independent students. These students
are at school but don’t live with their family. We
know the pressures they’re under as independent
students is massive, so we try and give them time
out to relax. We might go out to dinner or ten pin
bowling, stuff like that. The project around that right
now is a book on independent living. They can pass
their knowledge onto other people. Developing this
resource is something that hasn’t been done before
and together we’ve been doing a bunch of activities
to help generate content. Another project is with
the North Queensland Cowboys. A number of NRL
players donate their time to talk to students about
the importance of education and families in their
lives, and also what it takes to get where they are.
What advice would you give a young person
finishing up with school?
NOELEEN: Make sure you have a plan. Look to the
future. Make sure you know where you want to go.
Don’t just finish something and then have nothing to
go on to. Be aware of the support that is out there in
the community, don’t wait for a crisis. Take control
of your life. Don’t wait for your parent or someone to
do it for you, try and maintain some focus and some
motivation.
What’s great about young people right now?
SHANE: For me, the reason they’re great is that
they’re individuals. I feel really fortunate to be able
to meet so many different types of people. People
that get the reputation as a bad kid or bad student,
you get to see another side. Most people don’t get
to see what we see, they don’t get to listen to their
stories and we are fortunate to be able to.
Shane Sturdy, Anna Husband, Noeleen Madrill,
Karen Tomlinson and Sylvia Fay work for Mackay
Youth Support Services.
KAREN TOMLINSON: Who’s in Charge? is a group
session for parents that have challenging behaviour
from their young people. It’s around strategies to
deal with that.
http://myss.org.au/
SHANE: We’re doing a lot of stuff in the areas
around Mackay at the moment about communities
coming together. There’s been so many things
happening in the Mackay communities over the last
couple of years that it’s really been about bringing
the community together and showcasing the talent of
our young people.
The Youth Support Coordinator program was
originally funded in 1997 as a response to research
which showed strong connections between
homelessness and early school leaving. The research
showed that in order to provide the best support for
young people the following elements are essential:
KAREN: We see ourselves as playing a lead role
initially and then, if there’s success, the community
will take over.
• Strong networks of support
Is Mackay well connected in regards to the
services here?
ANNA: Yes it is. There is a lot of information sharing.
We know who’s doing what at different times, and
I think we all have a good knowledge of what’s out
there in terms of different agencies and access to
those.
Do you work together well?
WHAT IS THE YSC PROGRAM?
• Early identification and intervention
In order to facilitate the above elements YSCs
were funded as community workers working
in schools to build networks of support around
young people and to support schools to provide
innovative responses to young people at risk. The
development of the Initiative was based upon the
assumption that services located in the community
are well positioned to fulfil a coordination and
school-community linking role at the client and local
community level.
http://www.qyhc.org.au/ysc/index.html
SHANE: I think we do. We work in partnerships with
many other agencies. An example of that is with the
local police. We’ve done a number of community
projects involved with the police like the One Punch
Can Kill and the Party Safe campaigns in schools.
These types of things can get issues to the surface
and then, with the right amount of support staff, you
can help young people through any issues.
27
SERVICE PROFILE
YOUTH
SUPPORT
COORDINATORS
Nundah
BEN DOUGHERTY HAS A CONVERSATION WITH
SARA HICKS, CATE RYAN AND NICKY GARLAND
ABOUT LIFE AS A YSC IN BRISBANE.
What is the most important part of being a YSC?
CATE RYAN: A big part and a hidden part of the YSC
role is capacity building. Just being one YSC in a
school, or a number of schools, you can’t physically
do it all. You can’t respond to every referral and you
may not be there all the time, so it can actually be
about building the capacity of all the individuals
around young people at school. Ideally it isn’t
about crisis or reactive work, but more about early
intervention.
So, if you can, it’s important to take a break
from the crisis part of the work to work on that?
CATE RYAN: Absolutely. That’s why it’s good that we
have three different levels that we work on. We have
community project work, group work and individual
work. For example we’ve had a lot of work in crisis
mode with young people lately, but in the background
we have the community projects and group work we
do.
Maybe a common misconception is that the
YSC program is seen as something designed to
prevent young people from leaving school, but
we’re actually about EARLY intervention. Early
intervention is a really different playing ground.
We do a lot at a project level and at a group level,
to be an early intervention point, and as a way to
build relationships with the young people. If you’re
28
working in crisis all the time, your outcomes may not
be as good and it’s a lot harder.
NICKY GARLAND: It’s easier to get someone to stay
in school than return to school. The teachers don’t
have the time to do that extra work, so as long as we
are all familiar with each other it is more likely they
will call on us before things get too out of hand.
How are all YSCs different?
SARA HICKS: It depends on what organisation you
work for. The focus is on group work, individual work
and on community projects and depending on what
organisation you work for probably dictates to some
degree the amount of focus you would have on each
of those activities. Some organisations might be
already engaged in community projects so that might
affect the focus the YSC puts on that side of things.
NICKY: As an organisation I would say that
we’re particularly lucky. CLA (Community Living
Association) is a very community based organisation
so it already has that element. In our office we
have three different programs; the YSC Initiative,
Reconnect and Youth Connections, but we meet
every week together so that load is shared. We do
group work together and even things like myself and
another community connections worker run KOPING
with CYMHS, for young people who are children of
parents with mental illness. So that’s an example of
a really good link with our organisations, and with
CYHMS and Queensland Health also.
How important are those partnerships?
CATE: We take our partnerships really seriously
and it’s not about us working FOR a school. We
collaborate, we share communication and we identify
issues together. We take in other stakeholders and
partnerships around that. The YSCs are in schools,
because schools are focussed on one thing, they don’t
necessarily do ‘community’ very well. We shouldn’t
expect them to. They have enough to focus on with
teaching and learning. We are the connection between
the community and the school. We can help facilitate
a community response to an issue rather than just a
school response.
How does your individual work come about?
CATE: Often through group work, which we call
our ‘soft entry point’. Groups can even go on to
become quite embedded in the school, into weekly,
timetabled meetings. Often this can lead to really
intensive individual work. There might be home
based work, building relationships with other
services for that individual, and working across the
whole family unit even. By maintaining a relationship
through group work it’s much easier to put the spot
fires out before it leads to that intensive individual
work, they trust us. The groups are where we get
to know students and at the same time build their
capacity and resilience to cope with whatever might
come up. It’s not the same relationship as with
school staff members.
What situations would other parts of the
community be contacting you?
CATE: It will be a great way for young people to
literally and visibly be a part of the community.
NICKY: Anything! We get calls from parents, other
teenagers, family, police.
SARA: I work at Kedron High which has a pretty big
ESL (English as a Second Language) unit. There’s a
North Side inter-cultural working group that’s been
developed. We meet at Kedron with a lot of the
stakeholders who work around the school. The next
project we’re working on is mental health week
celebrations and recently we ran the BRITA (Building
Resilience in Transcultural Australians) workshops,
which happen every year.
So you don’t need to promote the service?
ALL:No!!!
CATE: Each of us has about twenty young people in
individual work. We normally would try and keep it
to five or six but it’s really busy at the moment. Along
with the other community and group work at the
moment there’s probably about 60 people each we
are maintaining some sort of contact with.
Who is the main staff you would work with at
a school?
NICKY: The support staff mainly, but it can be
everybody. It depends on the school. For example;
I work at Kelvin Grove that has 2000 students, and
then I work at Albert Park Flexi School which has 60
students. At Albert Park, I have contact with ALL of the
staff. At a bigger school that might not be possible.
CATE: Originally that project started with a high
level of referrals from the ESL unit to the YSC. They
started developing peer skills workshops, so they
built young people’s capacity to be a peer mentor, to
have problem-solving skills. That helped to identify
other issues that the young people were feeling in
the school and then grew into lunches with teachers,
which the young people identified as a great way of
educating TEACHERS on their individual experience.
THEN it grew into a published booklet that has been
added to the curriculum.
SARA: The booklet contained stories written by the
students about where they came from and their
families. They still use it now in classes. It also goes
CATE: Meeting the young person in the deputy
principle’s office is not the best way to engage a
young person. Then the talk with us can be quite
punitive. A part of the YSCs job is to ensure that
school staff know that. It’s about building an
understanding around why it can be beneficial to
have a chat with a YSC, not a punishment.
NICKY: Sometimes it CAN be good when someone
has brought a young person to your office. In what
might begin as a really disempowering situation for
the young person can be turned around. You can give
them a voice in that situation.
How are schools at managing issues around
alcohol and other drugs?
NICKY: I find there is not always enough training for
teachers in AOD. Sometimes these issues can be
given straight to the School Based Police Officer and
that doesn’t necessarily produce the best results.
In certain situations I think sometimes schools can
forget they have a moral duty as well as a legal duty.
SARA: Often schools don’t know the best way to
respond.
Is there much school based education around
drugs?
CATE: It’s often really quite reactive, which isn’t
the best. In some schools though there are ongoing
health and wellbeing elements which seem to do a
lot better.
One thing I noticed doing the Bridge to Brisbane
activity was that it put a focus on health and
wellbeing. It was something you would notice when
you were running, so indirectly this addressed the
issue of smoking for some of the participants and
motivated them to address that. So that kind of thing
seemed to me to be more effective than having a
lecture about how bad smoking is for you.
What community projects do you have going at
the moment?
CATE: A lot of what we do here isn’t about an
event necessarily. We encourage the young people
to identify things they are interested in, in the
community.
We just did the Bridge to Brisbane. That came from
a young person who really wanted to get fit and
healthy. This young person wanted to connect with
other students with a similar goal. We got other
young people and a trainer involved and did activities
around goal setting and then a short time ago we
ran the event. I ran it too, and what an amazing
experience to have a young person as YOUR support
person, to get YOU over the line.
NICKY: The latest thing will be partnering with
Brisbane City Council around work on murals in the
local area, which will be well and truly off the ground
by the end of the year.
across the school, not just in the ESL unit but in the
mainstream part of the school also.
Last year we also ran a group across the mainstream
school to address violence and positive ways of
dealing with conflict. The students’ idea from this
group is to create a DVD to show the school what
they learnt.
What’s the best thing about young people right
now?
NICKY: It’s a great privilege to learn about young
people’s lives, to be invited to learn. They are
resilient, they can be going through the hardest
time ever and still wet themselves laughing over
something. I love that.
What’s the best way to engage young people?
NICKY: It depends on the young person. You learn to
read the young person I think. It’s certainly not hard
when they don’t want to talk to you! It is voluntary,
so if someone has been sent to me I tell them that
and then I might tell them a little about the program.
They don’t HAVE to talk to me. If they don’t want to
talk that’s fine. I find that giving them that choice is
empowering enough that they might come back to
me when they do. I can make sure they know that
I’m not making decisions for them, I’m talking about
options and how THEY make the decisions.
What do you get out of the work?
CATE: I get that life is really colourful. The more you
respect someone and honour them the more they will
return that. I also love challenging young people’s
assumptions about what it is to be a worker and
what it is to be a young person.
Sara Hicks, Cate Ryan and Nicky Garland are YSCs.
They work out of Community Connections
(as part of Community Living Association Inc)
http://www.communityliving.org.au/
29
SPOTLIGHT
THE DOOR TO EDUCATION
IS NEVER SHUT.
A conversation with Adele Rice
30
OF THE MOST MARGINALISED GROUPS IN
REGARDS TO SCHOOL AND EDUCATION IS THE
REFUGEE SUBSET OF THOSE FROM CULTURALLY
AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS.
MILPERA STATE HIGH IS A BRISBANE SCHOOL THAT
SPECIALISES IN SCHOOLING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE,
OFTEN COPING WITH EVENTS THAT PRECIPITATED
THEIR FAMILY’S (OR THEIR OWN) BRAVE DECISION
TO SEEK REFUGE IN A FOREIGN LAND. THIS IS
ON TOP OF BEING ABLE TO SPEAK LITTLE OR NO
ENGLISH, INEXPERIENCE OF SCHOOL IN GENERAL
AND FREQUENTLY IN THE MIDDLE OF COMPLEX
NEGOTIATION AROUND BEAUROCRATIC AND LEGAL
RED TAPE, AND ADDITIONALLY; WAY TOO OFTEN
THE TOOL OF HEADLINE HUNGRY POLITICIANS. FOR
MYSELF AND LEIGH BERESFORD IT WAS TRULY AN
HONOUR TO BE INVITED TO SHARE A CUP OF TEA
AND SOME CAKE WITH THE FOUNDING PRINCIPAL
OF MILPERA STATE HIGH SCHOOL, ADELE RICE,
AND A SQUADRON OF VOLUNTEERS COMITTED TO
ENSURING THAT OUR NEW ARRIVALS ARE GIVEN
THE SAME CHANCE TO EXCEL THAT SHOULD BE
AVAILABLE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE ANYWHERE, AND
PERHAPS MORE IMPORTANTLY THE SAME CHANCE
TO BE YOUNG, TO BE A KID.
student population, however there are more students
who originate from ‘refugee-like backgrounds’. These
are students who may have endured very similar
conditions but have not been recognised as refugees
in any official capacity.
Adele Rice leads us to a classroom at Milpera
State High, where thirty or so volunteers await a
greeting from the founding principle. The volunteers
at Milpera do not fit a stereo type. As a group they
are not the tea and scone, charity types, although a
number would appear so. They are not the politically
conscious younger volunteer either, although I did
spy a piercing here and there. It is refreshing to
see a wide variety of people represented in the
volunteers. To be exposed to Australians from diverse
backgrounds and radically different ages would be a
valuable instrument in any learning environment.
Later, after tea and volunteer made biscuits (yes,
even a scone!), we have the privilege of a tour of
the school and get to see many volunteers working
with students on their reading and writing. We
meet a young man soon to be graduating from
Milpera, to go on to one of the growing number of
Brisbane mainstream schools which feature strong
ESL (English as a Second Language) programs. The
student makes it known to us how thankful he is of
Milpera and its teachers, and the excitement of his
transition to another high school.
Adele fills us in on the transition for a graduate.
Adele gives a report on the nationality make-up of
the school at this time, illustrating the constantly
changing nature of those seeking refuge in Australia.
One example is the recent decrease in Sudanese
refugees and increase in Somalian refugees.
Currently refugees make up around 60% of the
“Milpera is a specialist school for the teaching of
English for speakers of other languages. The students
go on to a range of other schools. Milpera is a bit
like the scaffolding or the foundation. They’re not
ready to have the scaffolding taken away. There is
Adele goes on to inform the volunteers of the
make-up of the student body in relation to their
chronological age compared to how many years
they have attended school previously. She updates
on progress of previous graduates and ensures the
volunteers are aware of their importance in the
transition from student to graduate.
“I’m happy to tell you that three ex Milpera students
have just passed the GAMSAT (The Graduate
Australian Medical School Admissions Test) after
doing their biomedical degree and have now entered
medicine. Sitting the GAMSAT isn’t easy for anyone,
let alone coming out of a refugee camp with no
English and so on. What we share here is that we
don’t know what an individual is capable of. You
can’t underestimate resilience, and motivation, and
hard work. YOU are a large part of how we manage
this service. YOU are how we educate people who
have not had the privilege of education before.”
still along way to go. That’s why they especially go
to these schools that have the ESL services closer to
where they live.”
Milpera State High has been around for 26 years.
It opened its doors in response to high intakes of
refugees from Indo China. In January of 1984 the
majority of the students were Vietnamese, with
significant numbers from Laos and Cambodia. In
those days there was a direct train-line from the
WACOL migrant hostel where many of the students
lived. It’s not a neighborhood school. There is very
little affordable housing close to the school. The
students travel from surrounding suburbs and it is
often these suburbs they return to when graduating.
Over the years Milpera has built good relationships
with schools in other suburbs to ensure the transition
is as seamless as possible. The transition to further
education is a primary focus of the school, but not at
the cost of other important Milpera values.
“I think the resilience building is the really important
part, facing what they’ve come from or going
through. You hope all schools teach kids everything,
but I think what’s different here is the level of
explicitness. That would be the main thing, the
explicitness in teaching for learning, but also in the
teaching for living and studying, and the teaching
for developing relationships and inclusiveness
and BEING inclusive in Australia. We are very
explicit about teaching reconciliation. We hope
they understand things that might be incidental in
other schools. In all of our parades the students
themselves know how to do an acknowledgement to
country. I hope they learn about the Islamic culture.
I hope they learn that there is a place for everybody
here. I’d never say you DON’T learn those in other
schools, but I will say it is very explicit here.”
Adele is reluctant to offer advice to other schools,
but hints at what should be true for any learning
institution.
“All schools are in a different set of circumstances.
I hope it is true that all schools pitch to where the
student is at. It’s no good us exiting someone, like
the beautiful young man you met this morning, then
for him to be placed in a year eleven class and not
be up to the task. If every school could look at the
distance traveled. Giving credit for what has been
achieved and focusing on the amazing things these
young people have done. There ARE schools who
have learned from us. There’s times where other
schools have looked at Milpera and thought what
we do is out of reach for them. Sometimes people
are under the impression we have access to extra
resources. They may not understand we only get
resources by partnerships and looking at things that
don’t cost money. We have an open door policy for
other projects taking
part in the school. You
have to take up these
opportunities. We write a
lot of ‘letters of support’.
We have a willingness to
work with other people so
that there is something in
it for the kids.”
Young people from refugee backgrounds can be the
subject of high media attention, especially around
election time. I wonder if the young people are aware of
this particular political hot potato, and if it affects them.
Around any work with young people there is a
recurring theme around what the workers learn from
the young people themselves and indeed what the
young people learn from each other.
called Mohammed and every girl wearing a veil was
subjected to certain things in the community. Now
I hear about it much less. However, it takes a lot of
self confidence and self esteem to say you’ve been a
victim of racism, or a victim of anything. You’re more
likely not to say or do anything. But in this school we
have a group called HEAR (Harmony Equity and Anti
Racism). It’s been meeting since 1996, every week,
and teachers, volunteers, admin and other people can
come and we try to name these kinds of behaviors or
deal with these sorts of things as they’re happening
in the school.
“What they learn and what we learn is that you can’t
make any assumptions. They don’t automatically love
each other and all get on and so on. What I notice
myself is, when they start together as beginners,
they really GROW to accept each other and all the
differences.
It is a real challenge for the teachers but I think they
learn a lot. When the students leave, that’s when it’s a
real tearjerker and that’s when they all say what they
have learnt, that they have friends from every country.
When we did the 25 year DVD, without exception, all
of them say how much they enjoyed that opportunity
to learn from other cultures. Quite a few of them have
gone on to marry outside their culture, which can be
seen as a true mark of a multicultural society, marrying
outside of your ethnic group.”
“We don’t go there very much in class. It’s not that
you’re trying to protect them, we just don’t, but
they do sometimes. They might write about it in
class. As staff and volunteers; we don’t dine out
on our kids’ stories, so to speak. Through the HEAL
(Home of Expressive Arts in Learning) program and
through the mental health program it’s quite clear
that at times, when there are things in the paper,
they might feel unwelcome. The worst time for us
here ever was after September 11, where every boy
I think they are aware though. They’re probably more
politically aware than many Australians their own
age because politics has played a part in what’s
happened for them. With the internet; they’re reading
this stuff in other newspapers and so on. So I just
think they would have opinions and they would
know what people are saying and thinking. It’s not
something we dig in to. I think each family deals with
that differently, but I don’t think for a minute they
don’t know.”
Milpera deals with a very specific group of young
people. I am interested in finding out what workers
with young people in general can learn from Milpera
and Adele’s work with young people over the years.
“Don’t have any assumptions about anything. Try
not to be judgmental. The cliché of trying to imagine
being in someone else’s shoes is useful. It might
be hard. Just to remember youth has got so many
positive things going for it, as well as the trials
and tribulations. These can be the same around
the world. The habits and patterns can certainly be
similar.
For me youth in general is one thing but youth from a
refugee background is another and that’s where I’m
particularly interested. I think for us it’s important
to try to have some understanding of the extent
of that suffering, because it’s not normal suffering
for a young person. They’re kids who’ve lost their
childhood and childhood innocence, they’ve lost
parents, siblings, aunties and uncles, mostly they’re
kids who CAN’T go back.
I think the most important gift, whether they’re
mainstream young people or not, is the help to build
their own resilience, because you can’t protect them
from life, it’s going to dish out all sorts of things.”
It has been an enlightening and inspirational visit to
Milpera, one that will not be forgotten quickly. It was
an honour to meet students of the school during our
time there and a privilege also to meet such dedicated
volunteers and staff.
Adele Rice is the founding principal of Milpera
State High School
http://www.milperashs.eq.edu.au/
31
SPOTLIGHT
FLEXIBLE
EDUCATION
BEN DOUGHERTY TALKS TO DALE MURRAY, THE
NATIONAL ADMINISTRATOR OF EDMUND RICE
EDUCATION’S YOUTH PLUS PROGRAMS, ABOUT
YOUNG PEOPLE ACCESSING FLEXIBLE LEARNING IN
AUSTRALIA TODAY.
What is Youth Plus?
As one of its mandates Youth Plus develops flexible
learning centres or accredited flexible learning
arrangements. The 2nd mandate is the portfolio of
non-school related initiatives which are youth related
services for, in particular at the moment, young
people in the juvenile justice system or other out of
home care services. This is a re-engagement program
to education. Then we have training and transition
for older young people, and the fourth one is youth
advocacy and partnerships. We have a range of
partnerships with federal, state, territorial and local
governments and NGO’s also.
How many flexible learning centres operate in
QLD?
6 flexible learning centres and 6 outreach services,
which is a different thing again. The outreach
services are more like a small mobile school
delivering training in small communities.
32
How long has the flexible learning network
been around?
The first flexible learning centre officially began in
about 1988 in Logan city under this piece of work
with the support of the Christian Brothers.
Was that a community response?
Yes. It was community driven and directly from the
young people’s needs really. But along the line,
particularly in QLD, we’ve enjoyed an enormous
amount of support from the state government. We
work closely with the government to develop flexible
pathways appropriate for young people that are
outside the mainstream and without this support we
would struggle.
What are the common events that lead to a
young person taking part in flexible learning?
As you’d appreciate they’re complex. Some of the
young people come to us because of family issues,
mental health issues, undiagnosed mental illness,
issues around substance misuse, issues regarding
homelessness and so on. We’re also dealing with
young people who mainstream education just didn’t
work for. The reasons are always complex. Some
kids come to us when they’ve found themselves
disenfranchised due to the nature of the way our
society deals with poverty. When they find access to
service difficult, young people can end up reacting
against authorities or mainstream systems, and
ending up a bit lost really. One of the things I always
find quite rewarding is that young people make the
choice to come to us. Often it is on the effort of the
young person that they come to be a student. They
have made the choice to engage or re-engage with a
learning pathway that suits them.
Do you find that the Centres engage a lot with
other services?
Yes. It goes both ways. With the development of
our multi professional staff but also with the wrap
around services of other agencies we work with.
How important is it to connect with other
services for the centres?
It’s very important. We can’t do all of this work on
our own and young people, as you’d appreciate,
have a range of other services in their lives, so it’s
important we have good working relationships with
those agencies, whether they’re government or
non-government. We spend a fair bit of time at an
administrative and networking level making sure
those relationships are working well and partnering
well. Hopefully at the end of the day we can get the
best traction we can for young people.
What are the biggest challenges for young
people at the moment?
In regards to the cohort of young people we work
with, which is a very small percentage, the biggest
challenge I think is that they are often victims of
an economic cycle. They are often the very first
casualties in an economic downturn in a western
capitalist environment. What I mean by that is; when
an economy is tight, work is harder to get. This group
of young people are generally the first affected. Our
schools are mostly located in low socio-economic
areas. They are the first to feel the squeeze a
lack of resources. In places where we see youth
unemployment, or even under employment (part time
/ casual) it becomes difficult to create aspiration. We
work with some young people that might have three
generations of unemployment or underemployment
in their families, so there is no sense of aspiration.
Another challenge for this group of young people
is the lack of adequate support for low SES (socio
economic status) communities transitioning to higher
education and university. I know there is a bit of work
going on in that area. It wasn’t that long ago in this
country where it was possible to be paid a small
grant to go to university. Since the development
of more fees, THAT excludes a lot of people. So I
think the aspects of inbuilt poverty in our system is
what I find distressing, and particularly if you are
Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander, you are caught
in the trauma of that history. Typically, on top of that
economic trauma of that history, there’s also the
issue of alcohol and substance misuse which adds
again to the complexity of it. I think they’re some of
the big driving factors that we need to try and shift.
I hope the current government implements some of
the social inclusion policies they began to talk about
pre-election.
very complex world, which is very much driven by
information. One of the things that consistently
blows me away is watching young people’s natural
aptitude towards understanding technology and the
information. They seem to have that natural ability
to soak up all that information in ways that, as a 52
year old, I don’t. I’ve been fascinated to watch young
people that may have very little literacy, navigate
their way through music software on a computer. To
me it’s extraordinary. That inspires me.
I think young people have a strong sense of justice.
I think through access to information there’s a great
ability to communicate with a sense of compassion
and care for each other. I think there is something
going on there that wasn’t around when I was
a young person. There’s something in that cyber
community which is quite powerful. We hear a lot
about cyber bullying and all of the rest of it. I get
that, but I don’t know if we hear a whole lot about
the cyberspace that IS a community of compassion
and a community of care. It’s also a very democratic
space and I think young people see and respect that
natural democracy.
Dale Murray is the National Administrator for Youth
+ Edmund Rice Education Australia
www.ereflc.org.au
What’s great about young people right now?
I think what is fantastic about young people in
today’s environment is that there is an enormous
amount of resilience and an enormous sense of
agency. They are navigating their way through a
33
TRAINING
34
TRAINING
THE DANA CONFERENCE 2010
ON THE HEELS OF ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL DRUG
AND ALCOHOL NURSES AUSTRALASIA (DANA)
CONFERENCE MARGO HICKMAN SHARES SOME
INSIGHT INTO THE INNER WORKINGS OF SUCH AN
EVENT WITH LEIGH BERESFORD FROM DOVETAIL.
Tell me about DANA
DANA is the peak professional nursing body which
exists to provide leadership and support to nurses
and midwives who have a professional interest in
alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) issues. It’s a
body which provides consultancy and advice for other
organisations on where ATOD nurses would stand
professionally, about particular issues on a nation
wide basis. We provide a lot of consultation and
input for the development of policy and we are the
main voice for ATOD nurses.
Joining DANA was something I was encouraged to
do by a colleague. I thought it would just be nice to
join a professional body of nurses that all have a
common interest and I’ve found it really valuable to
be a member. I feel like I’m part of a body of nurses
who are very passionate about the one issue.
The recent DANA conference on the Gold Coast
in July was a great success. What were some
of the highlights?
We had some absolutely fabulous speakers. The
main highlight for me is the people that get up to
present papers and the posters. The majority of
the people that present at DANA are grass roots
clinicians, they’re not big researchers, they’re
not people who are really experienced at public
speaking, they’re people who do really good work.
Were there any challenges in putting the event
together?
Well it WAS a big event. There were a lot of
challenges, but it wasn’t just me organising it. I was
part of a team of DANA members that all worked
together, which was great because when you feel
like you’re facing challenges too big, you’ve got the
rest of the team, that are equally as motivated to
achieve the goal. One of the challenges of putting
an event like this together is being able to gather
enough sponsorship. The costs involved really can be
enormous. The cost of hiring the venue, I mean it’s a
five star hotel for three days. That alone is a lot.
Another main challenge is getting enough attendees.
The event is wonderful when there are a lot of
people there. So drumming up the interest is the first
challenge. You also have to make sure it is quality
education being presented. People have to have a fun
time too. They need great opportunities to network,
socialise and have a good time.
Finally, I find that possibly THE most important part
of a conference is to ensure there is good food! Good
food and hot coffee is essential!
What would you say are the 5 ‘must-haves’ for
putting on a great conference?
• A dedicated organising committee and team
• Some really good keynote speakers
• Good sponsors
Conferences aren’t just the opportunity to come and
learn but are also great opportunities for people to
make contacts to enhance their work life. They meet
people with the same interests, even contacts to go
and work in another city or another state. They will
know where other organisations exist. You can also
make really good friendships.
• It’s very hard to narrow it down to five, but, as I
mentioned before, I think catering is very important
too.
What’s the future for DANA?
We are developing ATOD advanced specialist nursing
standards. This is a BIG project. Previously there
hasn’t been any ATOD specialist nursing standards
identified on an international basis, whereas
other nursing areas like critical care nursing, and
mental health nursing, all have specialist nursing
standards for their area. The importance of this is
that although alcohol and drug issues are evident in
all areas of nursing practice, it IS still a specialist
area. For example; if you employ a general nurse
in a midwifery role you wouldn’t expect that they
would have the same skill level as someone who was
trained as a midwife. Things like this compromise the
care of the patient in ANY scenario.
AND we’ve started planning for the 2011 conference
in June in Melbourne. The theme will be; ‘Exploring
the Frontiers of Drug and Alcohol Nursing’.
Margo Hickman is the President of DANA
To join DANA in QLD access the website
www.danaonline.org
• The opportunity for networking and social events.
35
YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
YOUNG BLOOD
An Interview with Blair Hughes
IN ADDITION TO PRODUCING A YEARLY
COMPILATION, RUNNING A WEBSITE, A MUSIC
VENUE, AND WORKING A DAY JOB, THIS YOUNG
TEACHER IS ON A MISSION TO GIVE MUSIC BACK
TO BRISBANE’S YOUNG PEOPLE.
Tell us about your involvement in music in
Brisbane.
I run Brisbane Sounds. We do a compilation each
year of Brisbane artists. We try to get a good glimpse
each year of what’s happening in Brisbane music
and try to showcase that to the world. We have
everything from hip hop, alt country, rock n roll, punk
music, instrumental music. The whole idea has just
been to promote Brisbane as a music city. Now we
do a lot of gigs too, for the same purpose. I do Young
Bloods, which is an all-ages gig.
Tell me more about Young Bloods.
Young Bloods is a partnership with Brisbane Sounds,
Brett Wood and the Starving Kids record label, and
the Music Industry College, where both of us work.
Basically Brett and I got together and thought it
would be good if the students could run their own
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venue. So for Young Bloods we have students from
the Music Industry College having a hand in every
aspect. Some of them do the door, some of them do
sound, we’ve got a 16 year old guy who does the
sound and he’s as amazing as any sound engineer
in a major live music club. It’s just a way for them to
find out at a young age what it’s like to run a venue.
They do all the posters, the graphic design, all the
promotion and publicity. They learn all of the skills,
from setting up for a gig to looking after the band,
and following up with publicity and so on. The other
thing that has come up is that often bands don’t get
to play for an audience that is under 18 so it’s been
good for them too.
Do you think live music is something that’s
been missing for under-18s in general?
Definitely. We took a band out to a school this year,
and that’s something I want to work on more also.
We were wondering how this sort of thing would go
down. Would they like it? Would they like this type
of music? Would they like a live show? Well the
students went nuts, they went ballistic. They had so
much fun. The band raved about it as well. This was
an opportunity they’d never thought of before and
they realised it was a market that they could tap into.
It’s a win for everybody. A lot of schools are really
receptive to this type of thing.
We haven’t supported young audiences or young
musicians enough. When a venue’s livelihood is built
around the sale of alcohol, it restricts the presence
of under-18s.
What would you like to see available for young
people in the future around entertainment?
I think young people who are in bands need to be
more respected by venues and local councils. As
an example bands who are under 18 CAN play
at licensed venues, however they can only be
in the venue half an hour on either side of their
performance, which is basically, setting up and
packing up. So for bands under 18 they might be
around their peers, who can offer them great advice,
BUT they can’t get that support if they’ve got to
be gone half an hour after they finish. It’s not as if
they’re in there drinking. They’re there to play music.
That’s their job. They’re not working at McDonalds,
they’re in a band and they’re trying to make money
being an artist. I understand there are all sorts of
restrictions around this but being an arts-worker
or being a musician is a legitimate career and it
shouldn’t be cancelled out for under-18s. I’d love to
see more all-ages gigs too, where there is still the
ability for the venue to serve alcohol, but is also safe
for the younger people to come out.
You are young yourself. Do you have any advice
for somebody who is close in age to their
clients?
they’re only 13! I mean when you think about it they
could have another 80 years of life left to live. That’s a
long time. You can be anything in that time.
I guess it’s just being professional and confident in
what you’re doing. You have to remember that you
are the role model. The other thing I’m doing without
School is such a tough period for young people.
Pressure to do well in education is the big one I see.
They’re under a lot of pressure from everyone; health,
media, education,
police. This kind of
pressure has been
going on for centuries
around young people,
and in general young
people rarely get that
chance of rebuttal,
especially with the media. But what sells more
papers; a happy story about a young person doing
well, or; a party out of control, where police are
called? I wish in this country we would value young
people a lot more. They’re capable of achieving so
much.
What is the Music Industry College?
The Music Industry College is a private school for
year 11 and 12 students who would be more engaged
with education, if there were a focus around music.
Here young people are coming and they are thriving,
where they otherwise might be much less engaged.
The school focuses on work in the music industry,
but we do maths and English also. At this school
Maths might be a little different using tour budgets
or starting a record label, and an English assignment
might be around writing a contract or a press release.
They’ll do this along with their Shakespeare!
We have no behavioural problems. I’ve never had
to use any behaviour management techniques and
I would say this has to do with the very small class
sizes and that the young people have a legitimate
interest in the music industry.
thinking about it is; immersing myself in what they’re
passionate about. This puts the focus pretty squarely
on them and can create that identity for each person.
It creates less confusion about which is the student,
or client, and which is the worker.
What do you think are the biggest issues for
young people?
Young people get pigeonholed very quickly by the media,
and by people in general, even teachers. I’ve seen kids
get dismissed as losers or no-hopers or whatever and
Blair Hughes runs Brisbane Sounds.
http://brisbanesounds.com/
http://mic.org.au/
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YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
38
YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
With Meg White
YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED MY LAST COLUMN WAS
SOMEWHAT CONDESCENDING AND HYSTERICAL.
DON’T DISMISS ME YET, I WAS MAKING A HAMFISTED POINT.
The idea was to demonstrate how easy it is to
obscure the nature of a group through selective
representation. Easier still is to take the false
insights, the smattering of failure that has fallen
across a lifespan, and use them to undermine that
group’s credibility as a whole. It is clearly ludicrous,
but not unfamiliar. Most of us have experienced
first-hand the power of generalisations and the
effect they have on our ability to relate. It’s at the
centre of these generalisations that we find a major
contributor to generational tensions: Gen Y has an
image problem.
We are depicted as obnoxious, hedonistic, selfimportant, self-centred, wayward, shallow,
disrespectful, unmanageable, substance-abusing,
binge-drinking, petty criminals. We have no mind to
understand, nor inclination to empathise with the
world around us; no sense of duty, no impression of
honour and no driving ethos beyond, “live fast, party
hard.”
It’s not accurate. And though most people have some
awareness of that, the essence of the portrayal
has still managed to seep in to our psyches, quietly
entrenching itself in our core dynamic. Consequently,
society pre-empts trouble with teenagers and
reacts negatively to the most benign conduct, well
before any real transgression has occurred. In turn,
we spend so much of our time backtracking—fists
up—through this perverted ambiguity that we
become hyper-vigilant and resentful, which is soon
read as insolence, and so the cycle continues. It’s
unfortunate to witness, because these are toxic
symptoms of what seems to be a simple, though
enduring, miscommunication. We’re all trading on
false premises.
So, here’s a better snapshot of us.
Overwhelmingly, young people don’t want to be
young. We’re never sure of anything, we believe that
the road to success is very straight, and very narrow,
and that the edges are dropping away at a rate faster
than we can keep track of. Every day is spent looking
for a bigger, surer entity who can promise us what
we’re doing is okay, that we’ll make it to the end of
the road.
Adulthood has been fetishised. We’ve been groomed
for the promises of tomorrow, but the suit we’re
supposed to wear doesn’t fit. Adolescence is the
milestone that means we have to meet mature
expectations with only childhood lessons to draw
from. It is when we are told every mistake we make
will irrevocably count against our names, from now
until the end. It is when we are asked to put our hand
in the fire, but warned that if we get burned, that’s it,
we’re done.
It’s all too hard, too stressful, and too foreign.
What we need is information. What we need is
authenticity. We want up front answers, clear
warnings and explicit details. We want someone to
show us how to keep The Fear and the pressure and
the disappearing edges at bay. We want to know
how to get out of bed when the day ahead feels too
big, and how to shrug the whole thing off if it doesn’t
go to plan.
That’s really it. Those are the key components to
successfully engaging with The Youth, and the key
misapprehensions leading to poor outcomes in doing
so. What young people require of their relationships
seems simple enough to offer, and there is no
shortage of men and women trying to give their
younger counterparts what they need. So where are
things falling apart? How are they slipping away?
Primarily I’m hearing two problematic and recurring
themes. There are the flaws of youth governance
I touched on earlier, with the chest beating and
the media furore that shows us as narcissistic,
overly-sexed disasters — the one that brings about
a cumulative mistrust and wariness between parties.
And there’s the more tragic attempts of those
few rogues in the older set; those convinced they
can relate to Gen Y on a peer level, bridging the
insurmountable gap through superficial touchstones
like “the fashion” and “the bands” and “the lingo”
of today. This approach is even less valuable
than the former, presenting a pincer-movement
of disappointment. Expecting to ‘get through’ to
a bracket of people by reducing them down to an
assortment of fads demonstrates just how little is
understood about Gen Y, and just how little can be
provided to its constituents. This is the antithesis of
what is yearned for.
Coddling, condemnation and buzzwords all miss
the spot because they overlook the root problem to
everything: Confusion.
In the very pit of that insurmountable gap—between
you and me, us and them—festers an anxious
confusion. It’s not bulldozer territory down here,
and there’s no room for bridges. What we need is a
rope, a few threads of security from above. What we
need is the understanding that all of our successes
feel like something we lucked into, and all of our
sins were committed while we were distracted by
something else.
For most of us, being young adults does not boil
down to finding solace in avoidance; the oblivion of
high speeds, dumb jokes and recklessness. It is not
a complete detachment from anything that might
lead to a substantial thought. For most of us it is
just the act of muddling along, dragging despair and
doubt and worry behind us as we go, making a mess
here and cleaning another there, shouldering the
weighty inevitability of failure and the legacy of the
teenagers who failed before us. Though we don’t feel
empowered to address it, we regret the uniform of
age that tars us all with a brush that feels to be the
wrong size, the wrong shape, and pressed into the
wrong canvas. That is the brush that robs us of the
compassion we need from our elders.
And when we get things right—we feel a collective
swing to hope, a surge of excitement that still
vacillates back to apprehension, but sticks around
for long enough to encourage faith in ourselves and
what we’re about.
So, yes, there are young people who steal cars. There
are young people who aggress each other. There are
young people who go to Schoolies and come home
drunk, and high, and pregnant. But mostly, more than
anything else, there are young people who are just
trying their best to make sense of things they’ve
never seen, trying to crest mountains of ennui they’ve
never experienced and trying to make it out of the
swamps of young adulthood unblemished. These
things don’t excuse malignant behaviour or dissolve
disciplinary frustrations, but they do break up that
wall that stands between where you were once, and
where you are now. They narrow the divide.
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