Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation Workers from collaborating agencies reinforced this position. They identified several other services, some of which they described as good and helpful, but were clear that Panyappi offered a unique approach. For some of the young people they were not convinced a viable alternative existed, for example: ”There is nothing else for these kids. We can’t get them into CAMHS. They don’t fit that as its voluntary and they are not going to go or CAMHS come to them. This is the only thing that I have seen that has been able to engage these children. They are still too young for other mentoring programs” (Program collaborator). More than provide intensive support, program collaborators said that Panyappi assisted young people and families to take steps toward and make connections with schooling and other services that had previously broken down or they had not accessed. For example, an education department worker commented: I have to be really honest. I think if they weren’t involved [with Panyappi] this young person wouldn’t be linked in any way to some form of educational program. I think in terms of even mainstream schooling he just doesn’t fit in where he is at the moment in terms of the outcomes for him. Without them being involved he would be invol ved in a lot more stuff that woul d have negative outcomes for him. (Program collaborator) One school identified that Panyappi had played a strong role in supporting a young person’s transition to them as a new school, having had a rocky road with the previous school after some time away from schooling altogether. They reported that: He has settled into the school really well, especially in terms of his classroom behaviour and he’s really starting to move on with his academics which is really fantastic….I suppose he has fitted in and adapted to the class environment very we ll. I think he is more willi ng to come and seek some help before he engages in trying to sort it out himself. (Program collaborator) Panyappi facilitates a turning point for these young people where changes become evident in their behaviour, personal choices, emotions, self-belief and relationships. Young people could identify these changes. One young person explained that: I would never be abl e to do the things I’ve done if it wasn’tfor Panyapp i. We wouldn’t have the money and my mum doesn’t have a car. My mentor comes and picks me up. I wouldn’t be goi ng to school much if it wasn’t for him….I read a bit better. I’m starting to go back to school and that’s been a hard thing to do. I still fight but my attitude has changed and I’ve calmed down. I used to be a lot angrier. I still get angry but I’m not as violent as I used to be. (Young person) Family members reinforced young people’s opinions, saying things like: He used to be a one shot boy – now he wi ll have another go at thi ngs . (Family member) - 40 -
Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation He hasn’t been in trouble since he’s been involved. (Family member) He is wanting to get out and do it, not wanting to sit at home. (Family member) For other young people, family members indicated a change from being “very distant and cold” to the young person now having conversations with people he knows, showing emotions and being affectionate with people he cares about. It was as if young people had started to come alive and engage with their community again in more positive ways: “Many kids have done a u-turn and have been re-engaged back into education. Quality of life and well-being has improved, [there are] better relationships with the schools and even the Police” (Program funder). A program collaborator reported that, “this young boy had not been to the office for supervision and would not come. The workers didn’t like going out to the family as there was often other people there who would abuse them.” With the support of the Panyappi mentor he regularly attended supervision for the first time. Although it was clear that gaining positive outcomes in the situation would not be straightforward, and hiccoughs have and continue to occur over the year of involvement, this worker said, “it enables my work and enables the young person to meet the conditions of their offender orders. With my workload I can’t run around after these kids. If they don’t come in they get letter, letter, letter. So what’s the use of that if the kid can’t read, which is the case here. So it’s enabled my work and better outcomes for the kid. In a sense the mentor is doing the supervision of this order.” Generating positivity and hope In a regular supervision session with the Panyappi Coordinator, Mary says that Susie’s outlook is starting to change – it has now been 3 months since the mentoring started. For the first few weeks she was quiet and shy, waiting for Mary to start conversations or suggest things to do. More often now she is smiling and excited when Mary picks her up and has ideas about what she would like to do – she will spontaneously start talking about things at school, home or when she goes out at night. The Coordinator and Mary reviewed the case plan that was developed two months previously. One goal was to encourage Susie to talk to a counsellor – her Mum agreed for this to happen but Susie wasn’t keen at first. Mary raises this issue with Susie again and she agrees, but only if Mary will go with her and as long as it is not the place the school sent her a year ago because they wanted her behaviour to improve. The young people in Panyappi have usually felt that no one and nothing is on their side. Reviewing their personal histories this is a fair summation of their life. When human service workers intervened it was often because of concern about the problems the young person was causing for others, or how they were not meeting required behavioural or developmental expectations. This strong negative focus individualised the problems and supported a view that maybe the situation was hopeless. Showing concern for the - 41 -
Page 1 and 2: Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring
Page 3 and 4: © Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentor
Page 5 and 6: Beginning the Story… Panyappi Ind
Page 7 and 8: Executive Summary What is Panyappi?
Page 17 and 18: Program funding Panyappi Indigenous
Page 21 and 22: JUSTICE Strong support from the Cri
Page 29 and 30: ATSIC recently reported: Panyappi I
Page 37 and 38: Evaluation questions Panyappi Indig
Page 43: Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring
Page 71 and 72: Support for mentors Panyappi Indige
Page 75 and 76: Weaving the Threads Together Achiev
Page 77 and 78: ω ω ω Panyappi Indigenous Youth
Page 83 and 84: Recommendations Panyappi Indigenous
Page 85 and 86: Outcome Formative or process Append

Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?