ICYS Ipswich Community Youth Service, a not-for-profit community-based organisation, has been providing assistance and support to children and young people, their families and their communities across five local government areas since 1983.

As a multi-service organisation, ICYS provides a range of government-funded support programs and activities to assist and empower young people to make positive choices and decisions for their future.

our year in numbers

ipswich youth support service

IYSS

The Ipswich Youth Support Service (IYSS) is funded by the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs and provides support to young people 12-21 years old who live in the Ipswich local government area who are at risk of:

-Disconnection from family, community, prosocial or recreational activities or informal support networks;

-Disengaging from school, training and/or employment;

-Harm, including self-harm or suicide;

-Cultural disconnection;

-Homelessness, or who are already experiencing homelessness;

-Entering, or are already involved in, the Youth Justice system.

IYSS delivers two service types: Access services and Support services.

·Access services provide information, advice and referral to services the young person needs (e.g. drug or alcohol, mental health, housing, legal, education, and domestic and family violence services)

·Support services provide case management and case coordination, one-on-one support and assistance, including referrals for young people who need additional or specialised interventions

IYSS also provides community support programs, in line with community needs and designed for groups of young people. The groups are often targeted at social and practical needs for young people, identified through assessment and intake.

IYSS also share a team leader with the Regional Youth Support Service.

phone and digital contacts

with young people and

their support networks!

our impact, in their words

“Whoever started ICYS had the right idea”

“What you all do for the young people in this community is incredible and inspiring”

“Omg you are AMAZING! Thank you SOOO much for your help. I honestly appreciate it so much and I know [he] does too”

“It’s great to see the fantastic relationships you have and the great work you are already doing with these young people”

regional youth support service

RySS

The Regional Youth Support Service (RYSS) is funded by the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs and provides support to young people 12-21 years old who live in the Somerset and Lockyer Valley local government areas who are at risk of:

• Disconnection from family, community, prosocial or recreational activities or informal support networks;
  
• Disengaging from school, training and/or employment;
  
• Harm, including self-harm or suicide;
  
• Cultural disconnection;
  
• Homelessness, or who are already experiencing homelessness;
  
• Entering, or are already involved in, the Youth Justice system.
  

RYSS delivers two service types: Access services and Support services.

·Access services provide information, advice and referral to services the young person needs (e.g. drug or alcohol, mental health, housing, legal, education, and domestic and family violence services)

·Support services provide case management and case coordination, one-on-one support and assistance, including referrals for young people who need additional or specialised interventions

The RYSS program is also closely linked with IYSS, ensuring consistent support for young people across the Western corridor and shares a team leader.

1. government departments 53%

2. other NGO‘s 28%

3. QPS 20%

homelessness continues to be a growing issue and mental health concerns remain high. There are limited services in the regions able to address these needs.

A young person with Crohn’s Disease accessed the RYSS, having not received medical treatment in a long period. He required medical treatment every 6 weeks, however had been avoiding it due to an unpaid bill with a hospital. The Regional Youth Support worker arranged for a medical appointment for the young person and advocated for his treatment to occur fee-free. Following this support, the young person was engaged in regular health and medical appointments and is living a healthier, less stressful lifestyle

youth housing and support

YHAS

The Youth Housing and Support Program (YHAS) is funded under a joint State and Federal government partnership agreement and provides:

• Support to any young person aged 16 to 25 who is homeless or at risk of homelessness to address barriers to accessing safe, suitable and sustainable housing, through case management.
  
• Immediate temporary supported accommodation in 5 ICYS properties for young people and/or young families (young people aged 16-25 with children in their care) who are homeless. YHAS team members provide intensive case management to address barriers to accessing safe, suitable and sustainable housing.
  
• Where funding allows, provide access to motel accommodation for families in the most complex of housing and homelessness distress, while working closely with the local Housing Service Centre to case manage transition into longer-term accommodation outcomes.
  

46% of young people were couch surfing the week prior to presenting for support

In July 2022, the YHAS team received a referral for a 24-year-old woman and her nine-year-old daughter. At her initial intake appointment, the YHAS team learnt that this young woman and her daughter arrived in Australia in 2018 as refugees.

She advised that she had rented twice in the Redbank Plains area, however, ended the last tenancy early following a relationship breakdown with the property manager. As the matter was before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, the YHAS team did a referral to IRASI for more specialised support.

The young woman disclosed that she was couch surfing with acquaintances and experiencing ongoing verbal abuse and harassment in these arrangements. The YHAS team advocated strongly to the Department of Housing for processing and approval of her social housing application, however, were informed that due to her wage she was ineligible for social housing.

Throughout her support period, the young woman’s housing circumstances declined rapidly and she began rough sleeping in her vehicle. The YHAS team completed four separate QHIP referrals for immediate supported accommodation, however, struggled to obtain an outcome in the current housing climate.

When a vacancy became available in the Housing and Tenancy Sustainment program at Brisbane Youth Service, the YHAS team completed another QHIP assessment communicating the urgency of her housing situation. This referral was accepted and the young woman and her daughter moved into the two-bedroom unit in Brisbane the following week. The YHAS team received the following feedback from this young person, “God bless you guys times 100 thousand percent. Thank you very much.”

community youth response and diversion

CYRD

The Community Youth Response and Diversion (CYRD) program is funded by the Department of Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs and aims to provide a culturally appropriate, alternative intervention to police charging and/or remanding young people in custody. CYRD is targeted at young people aged 10 to 15 (up to 17) who are at high risk of offending or re-offending and who present with multiple complex issues that increase the likelihood of offending. CYRD programs focus on those that are disproportionately represented in the Youth Justice system, in particular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. The program consists of 4 elements, of which ICYS provides 3, including:

• Intensive case management support to address multiple barriers in their lives impacting on their engagement with the youth justice system. This support is goal driven and often family focused, aiming to reduce structural drivers of offending behaviour.
  
• Bridging to Education recognises that young people in contact with the youth justice system have often had limited engagement with the education system and aims to assess their educational barriers, before linking them into appropriate education, training and employment outcomes.
  
• Diversion services aim to move young people from “hot spots” and environments where they are at higher risk of coming into contact with Youth Justice and QPS. Diversion seeks to maintain a safety focused approach to ensuring that young people are making safe decisions in their communities.
  

at the time of referral:

20% of young people were on bail

15% were on a supervised order

14% were in remand

11% had other YJ involvement such as restorative justice processes uderway

17% were on conditional bail programs

16% had no YJ involvement at all

62% of young people showed improvements in their ability to make pro-social choices and self-control, as well as an ability to accept accountability for their actions.

of young people who accessed Briding to Education, outcomes include:

2 young people who went into full-time and part-time work

1 young person re-engaged into mainstream education

8 connected with flexible learning centres

3 continued to engage with B2E

3 connected to youth justice’s transitions 2 success

(3 pending and 9 remained disengaged)

A 13 year old Aboriginal young person was enrolled in a local high school in year 7 however was disengaged following multiple suspensions. The young person did not spend a lot of time at home and was engaging in regular experimentation with substances and criminal behaviour with his peers. This resulted in a number of matters being before the court and at times being held in custody in the watch house. This noted an increase in behaviours and there were worries that this could result in ongoing contact with the youth justice system.

The young person was linked in with all three pillars of ICYS’ CYRD, including intensive case management, bridging to education (B2E) and diversion. Wherever the young person was encountered out on the street and with other young people, the outreach team worked on transporting him home and reconnecting him with his mother. They also worked on providing consistent messaging around positive choices.

B2E’s teacher set about assessing the reasons that the young person found school challenging and noted that his reading and spelling age was the equivalent of an 8 year old. The teacher in B2E also began work on supporting the young person to determine strategies to manage behaviours and triggers. B2E also worked on improving literacy and numeracy to assist the transition back into school.

Whilst this was occurring, the intensive case support worker was working on ensuring that the young person adhered to their criminal justice obligations and having consistent conversations around the positive impact that education and school could have on his life. They worked around enrolling him into a local flexible learning centre and all elements of the team continued speaking to the young person wherever possible, making sure that he made positive choices and spent time with pro-social peers. The young person was successful in his enrolment and was able to commence attending 5 days a week.

The intensive case support worker ensured that he was ready and prepared for school and supported with transport in the initial stages of reengagement. To date, the young person remains engaged with schooling and reports that he now speaks to the school youth worker about the challenges he faces in his life. He has been able to work out how to sort out school-based problems and he has received no new charges in over 11 months.

student wellbeing worker

SWW

The role of the Student Wellbeing Worker (SWW) is funded by the Department of Education via our SWW partner schools to provide social, emotional, practical support and linkages to the broader community. The roles are based within a variety of school settings, including primary, high and special school campuses across Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Somerset and the western suburbs of Brisbane. The roles are broad and varied, offering diverse supports in response to school identified needs.

YOUTH SUPPORT COORDINATOR

ysc

The Youth Support Coordinator (YSC) Program is funded by the Department of Education via our YSC partner schools and assists education & training providers, communities and families to create an effective framework to support young people to remain engaged in education.

The program supports retention and attainment of young people in grades 10 to 12 (and grades 7 to 9 where required) who are at risk of disengaging or who are newly disengaged from learning, through case management and referral to relevant services. The role can involve support through individual case management, group work and community project work.

transport difficulties have entered the top 10 of presenting issues as a barrier to education for the first time. This is not clear at this stage however anecdotally, young people have reported having to travel further to school, anxiety with public transport, and rising transport costs as barriers.

The YSC initiated and facilitated a group work program at BSSC called the Your Success Counts (YSC) Attendance Rewards Program in the month of May 2023. The aim of the program was to support the attendance and attendance behaviours of 5 students in years 7-9 at risk of disengaging from education. The program included a weekly session with the group, attendance and behaviour goal setting for the following week as well as a food and/or activity reward for meeting the previous weeks goal. A year 8 young person in the program started the program with an attendance average less than 40% (2 days present at school) and a significant record of unexplained absences. At the beginning of the program the young person set a realistic attendance goal of 60% with a behaviour goal of no unexplained absences (including parental explanation of days-off). By the end of the month the young person had met their goals across multiple weeks of the program. The young person’s attendance increased from less than 40% to 60% to 80% with no unexplained absences. At the conclusion of the term the young person had achieved a week of 100% attendance.

get set for work

GSFW

The Get Set for Work (GSFW) is funded by the Department of Small Business and Training under the Skilling Queenslanders for Work initiative and is designed for young people aged 15 to 19 years old. GSFW offers intensive support over 12 months for participants to engage in further education and training, or gain employment.

The program is run in partnership with TAFE QLD with young people supported to learn necessary skills and knowledge for the workplace, whilst gaining a certificate II in Kitchen Operations. The program also offers support following the completion of TAFE to link into further education and training and address any barriers the young person may present with.

participants

71% gained employment outcome or went into further training (either tafe or other education).

1 of these young people gained a fulltime apprenticeship

GSFW Impact

Thanks GSFW. I appreciate and thank you for being there for our Jarjums in the community. Bless you guys.

Thank you, GSFW, for all your help and support with [young person] throughout the past 10 weeks she has made some friends and has come out of her shell

As highly as the support in TAFE was needed, if it wasn’t for the emotional support my child needed, the physical support at TAFE wouldn’t have had the benefits it did.

Awesome individuals who clearly have my child’s best interests at heart

Activities

ICYS Activities worker provides a range of activities for young people and the community, year round. The activities seek to provide a diverse range of opportunities for young people to engage with others in the community in a safe, fun and supportive environment. Activities can also focus on larger events such as Youth Week and Child Protection Week and often attends community events as a linkage for the community to connect with ICYS as an organisation.