Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation

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Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation provided a detailed picture of the journey of Panyappi and the progress it has made toward achieving its aims. Panyappi’s model of practice It became apparent that there were a number of important features in Panyappi’s model of practice that supported it to achieve its aims. They included: ω ω ω ω ω ω ω Having a formal rather than naturalistic mentoring process using a case management approach, where young people participate voluntarily in the program Focusing on the individual needs of young people Providing support beyond the “while the young person is in trouble” period and extending into the “consolidating new connections and commitments” period where young people are doing well and keeping their lives on a positive track - mentoring beyond the trouble zone Employing paid mentors who have quality training, professional development opportunities, and regular supervision and support Working from a developmental perspective by focusing on a lower age group, i.e. 10- 14 years, who are already involved in offending behaviours and have disconnected from education Rebuilding and strengthening family connections as an important aspect of culturally appropriate practice in mentoring – this contrasts with mainstream mentoring programs that do not engage with families as standard practice Focusing on target geographical areas and developing collaborations with local key stakeholders to collectively address the problems Indigenous young people are experiencing and the issues this raises for the local community Progress toward desired program outcomes Panyappi has made substantial progress toward the desired program outcomes, despite the disruptions it experienced through the program establishment period, the loss of two coordinators and subsequent breaks in service. The collective opinion of evaluation participants was that Panyappi became a mentoring service in early 2003, so has only had just over 12 months to directly address the program aims. There was confidence that further outcomes could be achieved with more consistent support and committed funding, which could be tracked if this included resources for ongoing evaluation. Managing the program Advisory group members, program funders and collaborators reported the program was currently managed well and gained strong support from its auspicing agency. Most criticism related to issues known to be beyond the current program’s control. This includes the difficulty in ensuring program sustainability and continuity of service for young people, some ongoing effects from previous disruptions in staff, and limitations on how many young people they can work with due to the time needed to train staff. Panyappi’s experience mirrors the evidence on program targeting young offenders, where - 4 -
Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation it is common for there to be a longer than expected period of time required to establish the program and develop effective partnerships, as well as to work with young people who are often uncertain about engaging and face multiple and complex issues. Reaching the target group The young people assessed and considered by Panyappi for mentoring support fit the profile originally identified for the program – described above. Most have multiple and serious problems to deal with, individually and within their families, which have often been longstanding issues. Therefore, Panyappi has addressed the intended target group, while also expanding the inner city focus in response to the location shifts of this group of young people. Supporting the mentors Mentors highly valued training and supervision support, seeing it as crucial to performing their roles. Some were keen to do further work placements and work in buddy systems with youth workers as part of their on-the-job training to deepen their knowledge of the services and systems in which their clients are involved. Some mentors wanted more supervision and support, which the Coordinator was keen to provide but was compromised by the multiple pressures of the role including efforts to obtain ongoing program funding. Mentors indicated an interest in continuing their mentoring work, but also doing further study, and progressing toward different jobs or more senior positions in the human services sector. This demonstrated the value of Panyappi’s two-level system of mentoring where their efforts to recruit and train Indigenous workers meant that they would be retained in the human services sector. It also highlighted the potential for Panyappi to nurture and encourage Indigenous workers who may taken on leadership positions in the human services sector and/or their communities. All mentors were linked with young people, with caseloads varying from 1 to 4 clients depending on confidence, experience, initiative and capacity. Their work was guided by a case plan developed by Panyappi in partnership with the young person, family, and, where relevant, other program collaborators. Occasionally some program collaborators felt uncomfortable that Panyappi was stepping into their territory with case planning, a situation that was or could be resolved through agreement to do mutual case planning. The value of mentoring relationships There was strong evidence from a range of evaluation participants that young people valued their relationships with mentors and grew to trust them, often in ways their family members or program collaborators had not previously witnessed. This was not always straightforward to achieve, particularly when there was a history of rejection, poor treatment or losses for young people, and it was important to allow time for this trust to develop. - 5 -
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: 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
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Support for mentors Panyappi Indige
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Weaving the Threads Together Achiev
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ω ω ω Panyappi Indigenous Youth
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Recommendations Panyappi Indigenous
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Outcome Formative or process Append
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Panyappi Indigenous Youth Mentoring Program Evaluation

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