Smithfield State High School

Youth Support Coordinator

Martin Commensoli

My day at school is Friday.
Phone: 4058 4345

The Youth Support Co-ordinator (YSC) provides information, support and referral services to young people who are at risk of disengaging from the senior phases of learning. This disengagement can be due to many issues including, but not limited to, self esteem, family conflict, financial difficulty, low literacy/numeracy skills, history of behavioural problems or problems with the police.

Support can be provided through:

Individual assistance; one on one sessions with the young person
Group work; a group of young people facing the same barriers to education participating in a program together to overcome these obstacles
Community project; community members/organisations working alongside young people to promote participation in education

The YSC can work with young people, their families (this can include home visits) and their community.

The Smithfield High School YSC is employed by Centacare Cairns and provides an outreach service for the school. Centacare Cairns has four YSCs in total who work in a variety of secondary schools. Currently the YSC is available at Smithfield State High School on Friday between 9.15 am and 2.30 pm.

The YSC accepts referrals from any source including; family members, community members/agencies, school staff; Department of Child Safety; Youth Justice etc. Young people can also refer themselves. Participation by the young person is completely voluntary.

The YSC Program includes funds to support individual clients, group work and community projects. A program submission (including funding requirements, needs analysis, projected outcomes and evaluation processes) must be completed in conjunction with the YSC and then approved by the YSC Program manager.

The principles of the Youth Support Co-ordination Program are as follows:

1. Self Determination by Young People: YSCs work with young people to make their own decisions in accordance with their age and maturity and advocate for young people’s rights to participate in decisions that affect them.

2. Young people’s information is their own: Recognise’s young people’s right to privacy and confidentiality.

3. Holistic response to Young People: View young people within the context of their families, the school and their communities, rather than as isolated individuals.

4. Respect for the various people involved in young people’s lives: Respect the view, experiences and perspectives of members of other professions.

5. Well-being and safety of Young People: YSCs recognize both young people’s rights to self determination, confidentiality and privacy, alongside a need for the professional assessment and reporting of the suspicion of risk of harm.

6. Young people’s engagement with YSC service is voluntary: Regardless of referral source, it must be the young person’s informed choice to access the YSC. This is so the professional relationship between the young person and the YSC forms an important basis for successful service outcome.

The operational objectives of the initiative as outlined by the Department of communities are as follows:

To develop linkages between schools, TAFEs, community organisations and the broader community to enhance access by young people and their families to support and assist.
To assist young people and their families to resolve issues contributing to not transiting into and completing the senior phases of learning.
To contribute to the development of supportive school/TAFE environments that are responsive to the needs of young people at risk of not transiting into and completing the senior phases of learning.
To assist young people to develop social and personal skills for independent and successful community living.
To encourage and support community service to respond to the needs of students and their families.

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