Carpentaria Youth Support
Carpentaria Shire Council
Carpentaria Shire, a remote Council in the Gulf of Carpentaria, encompasses two towns - Normanton and Karumba. The Shire has a population of approximately 2500 people (70% Indigenous) and covers an area of 68,000 square km (larger than Tasmania). Like many other regional and remote areas, school attendance and educational achievement can sometimes be a significant issue in young people's lives and a barrier to maximising potential and life outcomes. Recognising that some young people have difficulty maintaining school attendance and that local schools do not always have sufficient resources to address issues on an individual basis, the Council's Youth Support Officer designed and implemented short term support projects for out of school and in school implementation.
The 'out-of-school' project operates with assistance from Centacare and aims to give young people who are disengaged from school, or at risk of disengaging from school, direct support in literacy and numeracy, support in developing pro-social and anti-criminogenic peer networks, opportunities to develop areas of interest and to support, where possible, a re-entry to school or other form of education. The project features one-to-one and small group work in environments that are chosen by or appropriate for the participants. The work completed in the project workshops includes activities aimed at increasing logical thinking, reading and writing, basic maths skills and general knowledge, especially related to civic functioning and life skills.
The 'in-school' project involves the delivery of short lesson based sessions (delivered by the Youth Support Officer), including cognitive behavioural based workshops based on the 'Peer Skills' and 'Stop, Think, Do' templates addressing bullying, fighting and solvent abuse. The Youth Support Officer has received assistance in delivering these sessions from Queensland Police, Oxfam, Queensland Health and Centacare.
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