LIFE SKILLS, EDUCATION, TRANSITION (LET)

LYEAC is currently working on the dream of building a long term, residential, education facility. The centre will provide accommodation for a maximum of 6 young people, aged between 15 and 17. The facility will be accessible to bus routes, shops, key amenities and services.

Referrals:

LET will be a care related support program that offers specific personal, housing, education and transition support to young people in care of the Department of Child Safety who:

• Are demonstrating that they are at risk of experiencing after care breakdown;
• Have identified their awareness that they are at risk when exiting care;
• Have requested additional support within their Transition From Care plan;
• Have, in conjunction with the Department of Child Safety, Clyde House (if young person is a resident) and LET, developed an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Referrals to LET will be undertaken directly through:

• The Department of Child Safety;
• Subject to the above criteria, Clyde House, in conjunction with the Department of Child Safety, may refer residents to LET as part of their exit plans for 15 year old residents.

LET will provide:

• Access to specialist external support such as psychologists, psychiatrists, mediators, behavioural management specialists, social workers and educators;
• Social skills development;
• Conflict Resolution training and support;
• Communication skills development;
• Life skills training including budgeting, cooking, cleaning and hygiene;
• Assistance to young people in determining goals;
• Behavioural modification training such as decision therapy, etc;
• Continued support and assistance to visit / reconnect with family;
• Access to education, training and employment services that can assist the young person engage in learning and employment opportunities.

LET will focus on:

• The identification of care related trauma, grief and anger that may inhibit or prevent young people from making a smooth transition into independent living;
• Facilitate, where appropriate, the redevelopment of relationships with the young person’s natural parents, siblings and extended families;
• Assist in the creation of links to appropriate support networks including sports and social clubs and other special interest groups;
• Providing training in life skills, particularly those relating to independent living, communication, health, relationships, job seeking and accessing further education and training;
• Assisting in the development of saving plans to better facilitate young people’s ability to access independent accommodation, etc, upon leaving care.

LET facilities will consist of:

• Resident facilities: 2 x 2 bedroom and 2 x 1 bedroom self-contained bungalows with open plan kitchens, bathroom and lounge facilities;
• Live in staff facility: 1 x 2 bedroom self-contained cottage with open plan kitchen, bathroom and lounge facilities;
• 1 x 2 story building containing (upstairs) office, resource storage and teaching facilities and (downstairs) open plan common area and laundry;
• Gardens and landscaped environ.
  LET building facilities

LET staffing will consist of:

1 x full time Life Skills Trainer / Educator:

• The position will operate Monday to Friday.
• This worker will develop, in conjunction with the referral agency (Department of Child Safety and Clyde House (where appropriate), the residents’ Individual Education Plans;
• Provide structured and unstructured training at a group and individual level; and
• Liaise with and co-ordinate external trainers and voluntary mentors.

1 x part-time Residential Support Worker:

• The worker will live on site; and
• Provide support to residents after hours.

1 x part-time Recreation Worker:

• The position will operate on weekends; and
• Provide creative musical/artistic/sporting activities that support personal and cultural development and social networks.

External Professional Support Workers:

• As negotiated with support services / agencies such as Department of Child Safety, Child and Youth Mental Health, Sexual Health Clinics, Queensland Health, Education Queensland, etc, to meet specific needs;
• Therapeutic Counselling, mediation, etc.

Volunteer Support Workers and Mentors:

• Volunteer staff will support the Life Skills Trainer / Educator during day time hours;
• Assist the Residential Support Worker during evenings and weekends;
• Provide specialist trade, sport, social, academic, life skills training.

Consultation with young people:

Consultation with young people in relation to the development of the LET facility revealed the following insights:

• Young people believe that if LET is to be a training facility that focuses on the development of independence skills and an enhanced sense of personal responsibility, then the residential areas should be conducive to development of such. Therefore, as individuals they would prefer to be able to live in and be responsible for their own accommodation. This would allow them to be solely responsible and accountable for ensuring that their living space is maintained, kept clean and tidy and that the failure to do so cannot be blamed on anyone else.
• Young people in care acknowledged that they have rarely ‘owned’ their own space, sometimes spending much of their life in other people’s homes, refuges or group facilities. Within such environments they believe they have already learnt to keep a bedroom or bed space clean and tidy but have never been solely responsible for maintaining and operating their own living environment.
• That individual accommodation should be separated from others with nature strips separating each cottage. They should not be ‘on top of each other’ like in blocks of units, townhouses, etc. Young people believe that living in cottages divided by nature strips and gardens would facilitate a sense of personal space, encourage a greater individual awareness of personal responsibility and create a better ‘time out zone’ from the intensity of dealing with issues raised within their programs and learning plans.
• Young people have spent many years of their lives living in communal arrangements through their foster care placements, shelters and group homes and believe that LET should be an environment that better encourages self reflection, interdependence and independence.

LET Management:

As with Clyde House, LET will be a partnership between LYEAC and the Integrated Family and Youth Service   LYEAC / IFYS Partnership

Our partnership with Integrated Family and Youth Service:

We have strategically engaged with Integrated Family and Youth Service (IFYS) to ensure our vision for the delivery of such a program becomes a reality.

IFYS is strongly committed to working in partnership with community and government organisations so that deliveries of quality programs take place. IFYS is currently involved in a number of regional partnerships to assist young people remain connected to support, education and training services.