A 10-WEEK program aimed at helping change young people’s lives was completed at Penola High School recently with 17 students taking part.
The Youth Opportunities Personal Leadership program was rolled out in regional schools earlier this year supporting young people facing complex issues in their lives including mental health, family breakdowns and drug and alcohol pressures.
The program also engaged and extended students’ knowledge and skills in areas not typically part of their learning program at school, including self-confidence, self-esteem, goal planning and motivation for school.
The program culminated in a graduation ceremony held at the school, where each student individually addressed the audience and received a certificate.
South East program trainer Sarah Milne said the initiative was driving an upswing in school retention rates and improvements in learning outcomes.
Ms Milne said the program built engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectivity and happiness within the student cohort.
“The 2018 results showed at the beginning of our program in this region, 40.6pc of young people were in a severe psychological distress category,” she revealed.
“At the end of the program, those numbers went down to 15.4pc in the same category.
“This a dramatic drop particularly for these young students, which is fantastic.”
She said the program also improved students’ relationship with parents and ultimately “the community benefits from this change”.
The program aims to address society’s key concerns including unemployment, mental health and offending.
“As a trainer I have the privilege of working with these students everyday – seeing them overcome their obstacles gives me the passion and the drive to get up everyday to make a difference,” Ms Milne said.
“Last year I worked with a student who lost his father and his best friend to suicide within a few weeks of each other.
“He was disengaged, disempowered and had no direction in his life.
“After completing the course, he stood up and stated ‘Youth Opportunities saved my future’ – which is pretty powerful.
“As a local in my community, I am pretty passionate about the program.
“It is empowering young people to take personal responsibility for their own life, no matter what the circumstances are.
“They can decide to be happy and they can decide to have the future they want.”
Youth Opportunities funds the program via fundraising and contributions from schools.
“89pc of (students) contacted after graduation were either employed or in further education,” Ms Milne said.
With every $1 spent on the program, the return back to the community is estimated at $8.
Other participating South East schools included Mount Gambier, Grant and Millicent high schools.
The concept was originally developed for businesses as a management tool to increase employees’ motivation for their work, both individually and as a team.
