By Belinda Nolan
The Preventing Alcohol Related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) program was introduced in Brimbank last year and is already having a major impact on young offenders.
Developed in collaboration with Youth Junction – Visy Cares Hub, the Sunshine Magistrate’s Court, police and the Alfred and Royal Melbourne Hospitals, the initiative aims to reduce trauma by providing participants with a glimpse of into the consequences of risky behaviour.
The program targets young people who have been charged with a criminal offence involving risky behaviour such as hoon driving, or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Young criminal offenders are referred to the program by the Magistrates’ Court and spend time in the hospitals’ emergency or trauma units, witnessing first-hand the devastating impact of dangerous behaviour on the lives of young people and their families.
It’s a confronting experience but one that is making a difference, according to Visy Cares Hub General Manager Karen Hart.
Although the pilot program is still in its infancy, it’s already making a positive impact on troubled youth.
Since its establishment, a total of 52 young people between the ages of 18-25 have completed the program, with not one re-offending to date.
“We’re still working on doing a follow-up survey to look more closely at success rates, but it’s clear that the program is having a huge impact,” Ms Hart said.
“The young people can get very emotional when speaking to victims and their families because they realise that this could easily be one of their family members or mates.
“It’s a confronting situation.
“The last thing this program intends to do is traumatise young people, but at the same time this is real life and they need to understand the potential consequences of risk-related behaviour.”
In some cases, the program is all that is standing in the way of a prison sentence.
“Many of the young people we work with have previous convictions for dangerous driving offences and the next stop is prison.
“The program is about preventing that and targeting long-term the reasons that young people engage in risk related behaviour in the first place.”
So far, Visy Cares Hub has conducted four workshops, with 10 more planned for 2011.
The organisation will continue to seek funding to keep the program afloat.
If successful, it could be rolled out in other municipalities.
