Statistics

Northbridge 2015/ 2016 Overview

Peel 2015/ 2016 Overview

• • • •

• • • •

1,292 young people visited the service 4,615 times 362 young people visited for the first time A total of 1,074 successful referrals were made to other support services A total of 18,353 resources were provided Males visiting Passages (Total 2,928)

32 1,040

153 909

32 360

Homelessness state of young people visiting Passages

Males visiting Passages (Total 2,179)

511

19 – 21 years 22 – 25 years

Females visiting Passages (Total 867)

74

95 580

1,372

103

84

Homelessness state of young people visiting Passages

320

629 2,481 1,215

826

12 – 15 years 16 – 18 years Transgender

• • •

Females visiting Passages (Total 1,546)

1,116 young people visited the service 3,028 times 258 young people visited for the first time A total of 951 successful referrals were made to other support services A total of 12,015 resources were provided

285

261

626

Primary Homeless Secondary Homeless Tertiary Homeless

957

395

1,764

12 – 15 years 16 – 18 years Transgender

19 – 21 years 22 – 25 years

Primary Homeless Secondary Homeless Tertiary Homeless

Primary homelessness is experienced by people without conventional accommodation (e.g. sleeping rough or in improvised dwellings); Secondary homelessness is experienced by people who frequently move from one temporary shelter to another (e.g. emergency accommodation, youth refuges, "couch surfing") Tertiary homelessness is experienced by people staying in accommodation that falls below minimum community standards (e.g. boarding housing and caravan parks).

Vinnies Night Market

RUOK? Passages Peel staff were invited to attend RUOK day at Halls Head Senior High, with the school concerned over some tragic events that had impacted the students and school. Passages staff talked with the students about what support Passages can provide, what other mental health support services are available and helped students have a better understanding of mental illness. Conversations remained positive and informal and students were given resources to take away with them. It was an important opportunity to engage with the wider community and ensure we are all looking out for each other. Key Facts: • Suicide is a prominent public health concern with around 2,300 deaths each year in Australia. • Suicide rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are higher (at least 2.5 times) than national averages. • The standardised suicide rate for youth (15 to 24 years) in 2011 was approximately half the rate it was in 1997. However, it remains the leading cause of death for young people. If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Lifeline - 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au Headspace - 1800 650 850 www.headspace.org.au

On Monday 17 October, Vinnies held a Night Market for people experiencing homelessness, forming part of the AntiPoverty Week activities. The young people from Passages Northbridge were encouraged to attend and staff brought a bus of young people up from Passages in Mandurah as well. They all enjoyed a fun and vibrant atmosphere, a friendly chat, and listening to live music. They received free clothing from the Vinnies ‘pop-up shop’, toiletries and accessories and a substantial dinner, with food also available to take away with them thanks to supplies from Foodbank. We are grateful for the support of Dinner Peace food van for coming along and Passages staff were more than happy to help out with the food preparation. Domino’s pizza provided regular drop-offs of pizza and despite the cool evening, Mr Whippy proved popular with kids and adults alike. The event, held at Russell Square Northbridge, achieved its aim to help as many people as possible while providing a warm, friendly and inclusive environment. Volunteers for the evening came from our members, our staff from our homelessness, mental health, retail, and support areas, volunteers linked to the St Vincent de Paul Society and even some friends and family. Everyone did an amazing job of creating a wonderful, helpful atmosphere for the people we serve. It was also great to have Channel 9 conduct its live weather cross from the event and encourage viewers to support the work that we do through our services and programs.

Stitching Hope The heart-breaking stories of Cambodia's homeless inspired Kay Eva, a sewing enthusiast, to use her skills as a way of empowering women struggling to survive. "Stitches of Hope" gave underprivileged women the opportunity to learn sewing skills, which in turn improved their chances of gaining employment at largescale clothing factories. Since its inception 12 years ago, Ms Eva's charity has also raised much-needed funds, which has gone towards a shelter for local underprivileged children and a community centre that doubles as a school. The sewing centre, based just outside Phnom Penh, provides training and employment for local women, who were previously homeless or rescued from abusive situations. Recently the women at the Cambodian sewing centre started a sleeping bag project and have sewn up to 500 sleeping bags which have been shipped to Perth to be distributed amongst those experiencing homelessness. Passages was fortunate enough to receive several boxes of sleeping bags, which were handed out to the young people.

That’s an App! Mobile App Developers Lateral spent a year working with Passages staff to develop an app that can be used by the young people aged between 12 and 25 who engage with the Passages Resource Centres in Northbridge and Mandurah. The app can be downloaded for free and provides our young people with real time information they need about the Service, including location and opening times, what other services will be visiting and when (for example the Street doctor) and a calendar of what programs will be running on any given day. It also has a list of emergency contact details. The app was runner up in the WAITTA Incite Awards for ‘Most Impactful Social Benefit’ app.

Thank you & Acknowledgments Thank you to our Visiting Agencies Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Service, Allambee, Australian Red Cross – Save a Mate, Bridging the Gap, Centrelink Community Team, Mission Australia Youth Beat, DAYS - Mission Australia (Drug & Alcohol Youth Service), 360 Health and Community Street Doctor, Peel Mental Health, Peel Mobile Health Service, Peel Youth Medical Service, Police Liaison Officer, Street Connect – Anglicare WA, Street Law & Allens Linklaters, WA Substance Abusers Association, WASUA (Western Australia Substance Users Association), Youth Futures WA, Youthlink, Mobile Clinical Outreach Team, Palmerston Drug & Alcohol Service, Community Youth Training Service, 360 Community and Health.

Mandurah: Rotary Club of Mandurah City, Mandurah District Rotary Club, ALCOA, PINDAN, Chevron, City of Mandurah, Woodside Energy and Gas Marketing Group, Foodbank WA, Brumby’s Bakery, Downer Mining, Chandler Macleod, Javier Resources, Peel Youth Services, GP Down South - Peel Mobile Health Service, Peel Community Kitchen, Calvary Youth Services, Y-Shac – Anglicare WA, Centrelink Community Team, Peel Mental Health Team, Challenger TAFE, Bridging the Gap, Make a Wish Op shop, the local St Vincent de Paul Society Mandurah Conference and everyone in the Peel community who support the Service.

Thank You to Our Corporate & Community Supporters

Passages Board Northbridge

Passages Board Mandurah

Northbridge: Allens Linklaters, Centrelink Call Centre Osborne Park, Chevron, City of Vincent, Create Foundation, HD Hardrive, Inner City Mental Health Service, Lotterywest, Perth Inner City Youth Service, Perth Rotary Club, Quarry Health Centre, Roteract, Ruah Community Services, Sacred Heart College Sorrento, Shopfront, St Andrew’s Insurance, St Bartholomew’s House, St John of God Health Care, The RISE, Torre Butchers, Tranby – UnitingCare West, Vinnies Retail Shops & Depot, YMCA – StreetsYde, Youth Affairs Council of WA, Youth Focus.

David Reed OAM Maurice Rousset Jeff Leach David Wee Ashley Ladner Mark Fitzpatrick Adele Stewart

David Reed OAM Stewart Forrest Jim Mather Gary Brown Geoff Winton John Perry Pat Shraven Adele Stewart

For Passages Resource Centre contact details, further information or to donate to Passages please visit www.passagesresourcecentre.com

Chairman’s Report As another year comes to an end, this newsletter gives us the opportunity to celebrate our achievements over this past year. Passages is a joint venture between the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Rotary club of Perth and the three Rotary clubs of Mandurah. I’d like to personally and sincerely thank all who continue to donate, sponsor and support our events, including the Passages Race Day. Without your involvement, we would not have the vital funding we need to continue to provide quality services and support to street present youth. In the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) Poverty in Australia Report released during Anti-Poverty Week (16 - 22 October 2016), it identified that 731,300 children or 17.4% of all children in Australia are living in poverty, increasing by 2% in the last decade.

The growing rate of child poverty is of great concern and is reflected in the increasing number of young people accessing our Passages Resource Centres. In establishing a place of trust and belonging, Passages successfully engaged with over 2,400 young people in the past year to address the cause of their homelessness and create a better life. Without the generosity and commitment of all the staff, committee members, donors and supporters of Passages Resource Centre, this vital work would not be possible, so on behalf of all the young people who have been assisted by Passages this year, thank you. And on behalf of the board I thank you all for your ongoing support.

Those most at risk are children in lone parent families, who are more than three times likely to be living in poverty (40.6%) than those from two-parent families (12.5%). Since 2012, the poverty rate for children in lone parent families has gone up from 36.8% to 40.6%. David Reed OAM, Chairman Passages Resource Centres Board

Passages Roast Some of the young people we assist through Passages have received free barista training from our friends at Leaf Bean Machine. This gave them a great opportunity to develop some skills that may enable them to find employment going forward. Brad and Fleur from Leaf Bean Machine have been long time supporters of the St Vincent de Paul Society and Passages, and they are a regular feature at our CEO Sleepout where Brad, as CEO sleeps out, but also provides a welcome coffee for participants on the night. The barista training was a great success and we hope to run similar training in the future.

A newsletter from Passages Resource Centre

Issue 13 | December 2016

Thomas finds his way Thomas presented to Passages Peel at the age of 19 experiencing homelessness and struggling with depression, self-harm and heavy drug and alcohol use. Upon his arrival, he told staff that he had been squatting in an abandoned house and hadn’t had much sleep over the past few days but found it very confronting to say anything else.

Health Education Passages Northbridge took part in World Hepatitis Day (WHD), which this year was the most successful WHD to date. 174 countries took part and 106 national governments commemorated the day. Hepa titis is one of just four disease-specific global awarene ss days officially endorsed by the World Health Orga nization (WHO). The aim is to help raise awarene ss of the global burden of viral hepatitis and help influence real change in disease prevention, and access to testing, treatment and care. This year over 1,100 events were held worl dwide, which included screening and vaccinati on drives, public seminars, press briefings, marches, health fairs as well as more unusual events such as awareness-raising pop songs and the illum ination of well-known landmarks. Passages, along with many other comm unity services, participated in a World Hepatitis Day event held at Russell Square, Northbridge. Pass ages staff took the opportunity to support their youn g people to connect and learn about hepatitis, providing knowledge on how to access services and support.

Team Langer Justin Langer AM, Head Coach of the Western Warriors Cricket team, and former elite cricketer, was recently given a tour of Passages Northbridge. He spent a lot of time sitting and chatting with the young people and had a real, genuine interest in hearing what they had to say. Not only did Justin avail a great deal of his time, but he had a boot load of sportswear and sports bags which he gave out to the young people who were absolutely thrilled to receive new, name branded clothing, sneakers and bags. The young people were so amazed to receive such a generous surprise and left the centre not only wearing new attire, but with big smiles. Justin’s wife Sue and daughter Sophie also volunteered their time to help at the Vinnies Night Market which was held to help people sleeping rough. The family have been great supporters of the St Vincent de Paul Society and its services and programs.

Ella’s mother passed away, and as the house was under her mother’s name she was forced to move out. She spent a year couch surfing before presenting to a woman’s domestic violence refuge. From there, she was referred to Passages.

Ella has issues with her literacy and numeracy which Passages was able to assist with. Through the Open Opportunities Program run every Thursday morning, Ella developed a résumé and was also able to obtain the qualifications she needed to apply for a job in her chosen industry.

Until the age of 10 Thomas was living with his mother and her partner, but was removed and placed into Department for Child Protection (DCP) care after experiencing emotional and physical abuse from his mother’s partner. Unfortunately the DCP care arrangement was unsuccessful and Thomas returned home to his mother at age 13. At this time his mother was struggling with alcohol and drug use and was unable to function on a daily basis nor ensure the security and safety of Thomas. At times Thomas was left alone with strangers which led to him experimenting with drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism.

A year later, Thomas was again removed from his mother and placed under the care of DCP. Thomas struggled with this arrangement and ran away, starting a cycle of homelessness and sleeping rough. With the assistance of the staff at Passages, Thomas was able to receive the appropriate help to address his alcohol and drug use along with counselling to help with his battle with depression and self-harm. Today, Thomas continues to make positive steps towards his recovery and creating a better life for himself. He is living in secured accommodation and attends regular counselling sessions. He has successfully completed training in hospitality obtaining a White Card certification. *Name has been changed to protect the client’s privacy

Short Back and Sidewalks Short, Back and Sidewalks is a project that offers free haircuts to people in need. The desire to provide a good haircut to a person who can’t afford one is what drove Craig Hollywood to establish the project. The project connects homeless people up with professional barbers and hairdressers from Perth’s Westons Barbershop.

Finding her feet

Passages staff assisted in helping find Ella accommodation and while this was the first time she had lived independently, she flourished, taking great pride in her new home, with it always looking neat and tidy when youth workers called in.

After being given an introduction to the services and support Passages could offer him, Thomas continued to visit over the following days and slowly found the courage to engage in discussions about the trauma he had experienced growing up and how he came to be homeless.

Ella applied for the Indigenous employment program offered by Crown Perth. This program assists indigenous people to obtaining employment with the organisation. She was given the chance to attend a week long food and beverage training course and successfully completed a five day training workshop in food and beverage service, obtaining a certificate in safe food handling. Passages has worked with Ella for over 15 months and have helped her achieve many goals. She is now looking forward to undertaking full time employment with Crown.

Short Back and Sidewalks were kind enough to offer their services to Passages and spent a morning with our young people giving amazing haircuts. Many got creative with their look and style, but regardless of the cut, they all felt refreshed and revitalised and had a renewed confidence.

Nurturing with nourishment Passages provides food and meals for young people on a daily basis. This includes our daily Breakfast Club where young people can access cereals, toast, coffee, tea and twice a week make their own hot breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs and whatever fresh produce is available. Lunch each day is made up from the donations we receive from some of our generous community groups and suppliers. • • • •

Oz Harvest Food Rescue Torres Butchers Karrinyup Farmers Market

Karrinyup farmers market provides us with an incredible array of fruit and vegies enabling us to provide substantial, healthy meals for our young people. Every afternoon young people are able to take with them an overnight meal container filled with an evening meal. This ranges from sausages and vegetables, curries, soups and roasts. Every Tuesday we conduct Tucker Time. This workshop asks participants to choose their favourite recipes and create them. It helps our young people learn and extend their skills in the kitchen whereby, food hygiene, food prep skills and storage, as well as basic cooking knowledge are combined. This is an intimate group of eight people so stories and experiences around food and the kitchen are shared enabling young people to establish friendships. Friday Lunch involves a big cook up where our young people assist and serve up a big Friday lunch. Everybody sits together at 11.30am to enjoy this meal and they are then able to box up what is left to take with them for the weekend. Friday is a great opportunity to check in with everyone and make sure they have what they need to help them get through the weekend.

Mental Health Week YARN group held an event in Hyde Park for National Mental Health Week. The YARN program is a youth-run program which aims to facilitate an understanding of cultural identity, Australia's shared history and reconciliation. As well as Passages, other services that attended the YARN event for Mental Health Week included DAYS, Mission, Perth Inner City Youth Service and Street Connect. The event provided the opportunity to engage in fun activities such as yoga, an obstacle course and a BBQ. The activities were about keeping active and engaging in mentally healthy practices. It was also a great way for staff and clients to meet outside of the service in an informal environment.

Nothing but Net Passages Northbridge has recently begun a weekly basketball session at the basketball court on Beaufort street. The session runs for one and a half hours every Thursday and has so far been very successful. Interest is steadily growing and the feedback from the clients has been very positive. The change of scenery for some clients is proving very therapeutic and most of our young people are enjoying the aerobic exercise that comes with playing sport. The social aspect of sport has also been a refreshing change to the usual social activity our clients are involved in. Over the summer we will look to try different sports, and are actively seeking interest from other services in the Northbridge area to build numbers and interest which will likely increase with the warmer weather.

Thomas finds his way Thomas presented to Passages Peel at the age of 19 experiencing homelessness and struggling with depression, self-harm and heavy drug and alcohol use. Upon his arrival, he told staff that he had been squatting in an abandoned house and hadn’t had much sleep over the past few days but found it very confronting to say anything else.

Health Education Passages Northbridge took part in World Hepatitis Day (WHD), which this year was the most successful WHD to date. 174 countries took part and 106 national governments commemorated the day. Hepa titis is one of just four disease-specific global awarene ss days officially endorsed by the World Health Orga nization (WHO). The aim is to help raise awarene ss of the global burden of viral hepatitis and help influence real change in disease prevention, and access to testing, treatment and care. This year over 1,100 events were held worl dwide, which included screening and vaccinati on drives, public seminars, press briefings, marches, health fairs as well as more unusual events such as awareness-raising pop songs and the illum ination of well-known landmarks. Passages, along with many other comm unity services, participated in a World Hepatitis Day event held at Russell Square, Northbridge. Pass ages staff took the opportunity to support their youn g people to connect and learn about hepatitis, providing knowledge on how to access services and support.

Team Langer Justin Langer AM, Head Coach of the Western Warriors Cricket team, and former elite cricketer, was recently given a tour of Passages Northbridge. He spent a lot of time sitting and chatting with the young people and had a real, genuine interest in hearing what they had to say. Not only did Justin avail a great deal of his time, but he had a boot load of sportswear and sports bags which he gave out to the young people who were absolutely thrilled to receive new, name branded clothing, sneakers and bags. The young people were so amazed to receive such a generous surprise and left the centre not only wearing new attire, but with big smiles. Justin’s wife Sue and daughter Sophie also volunteered their time to help at the Vinnies Night Market which was held to help people sleeping rough. The family have been great supporters of the St Vincent de Paul Society and its services and programs.

Ella’s mother passed away, and as the house was under her mother’s name she was forced to move out. She spent a year couch surfing before presenting to a woman’s domestic violence refuge. From there, she was referred to Passages.

Ella has issues with her literacy and numeracy which Passages was able to assist with. Through the Open Opportunities Program run every Thursday morning, Ella developed a résumé and was also able to obtain the qualifications she needed to apply for a job in her chosen industry.

Until the age of 10 Thomas was living with his mother and her partner, but was removed and placed into Department for Child Protection (DCP) care after experiencing emotional and physical abuse from his mother’s partner. Unfortunately the DCP care arrangement was unsuccessful and Thomas returned home to his mother at age 13. At this time his mother was struggling with alcohol and drug use and was unable to function on a daily basis nor ensure the security and safety of Thomas. At times Thomas was left alone with strangers which led to him experimenting with drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism.

A year later, Thomas was again removed from his mother and placed under the care of DCP. Thomas struggled with this arrangement and ran away, starting a cycle of homelessness and sleeping rough. With the assistance of the staff at Passages, Thomas was able to receive the appropriate help to address his alcohol and drug use along with counselling to help with his battle with depression and self-harm. Today, Thomas continues to make positive steps towards his recovery and creating a better life for himself. He is living in secured accommodation and attends regular counselling sessions. He has successfully completed training in hospitality obtaining a White Card certification. *Name has been changed to protect the client’s privacy

Short Back and Sidewalks Short, Back and Sidewalks is a project that offers free haircuts to people in need. The desire to provide a good haircut to a person who can’t afford one is what drove Craig Hollywood to establish the project. The project connects homeless people up with professional barbers and hairdressers from Perth’s Westons Barbershop.

Finding her feet

Passages staff assisted in helping find Ella accommodation and while this was the first time she had lived independently, she flourished, taking great pride in her new home, with it always looking neat and tidy when youth workers called in.

After being given an introduction to the services and support Passages could offer him, Thomas continued to visit over the following days and slowly found the courage to engage in discussions about the trauma he had experienced growing up and how he came to be homeless.

Ella applied for the Indigenous employment program offered by Crown Perth. This program assists indigenous people to obtaining employment with the organisation. She was given the chance to attend a week long food and beverage training course and successfully completed a five day training workshop in food and beverage service, obtaining a certificate in safe food handling. Passages has worked with Ella for over 15 months and have helped her achieve many goals. She is now looking forward to undertaking full time employment with Crown.

Short Back and Sidewalks were kind enough to offer their services to Passages and spent a morning with our young people giving amazing haircuts. Many got creative with their look and style, but regardless of the cut, they all felt refreshed and revitalised and had a renewed confidence.

Nurturing with nourishment Passages provides food and meals for young people on a daily basis. This includes our daily Breakfast Club where young people can access cereals, toast, coffee, tea and twice a week make their own hot breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs and whatever fresh produce is available. Lunch each day is made up from the donations we receive from some of our generous community groups and suppliers. • • • •

Oz Harvest Food Rescue Torres Butchers Karrinyup Farmers Market

Karrinyup farmers market provides us with an incredible array of fruit and vegies enabling us to provide substantial, healthy meals for our young people. Every afternoon young people are able to take with them an overnight meal container filled with an evening meal. This ranges from sausages and vegetables, curries, soups and roasts. Every Tuesday we conduct Tucker Time. This workshop asks participants to choose their favourite recipes and create them. It helps our young people learn and extend their skills in the kitchen whereby, food hygiene, food prep skills and storage, as well as basic cooking knowledge are combined. This is an intimate group of eight people so stories and experiences around food and the kitchen are shared enabling young people to establish friendships. Friday Lunch involves a big cook up where our young people assist and serve up a big Friday lunch. Everybody sits together at 11.30am to enjoy this meal and they are then able to box up what is left to take with them for the weekend. Friday is a great opportunity to check in with everyone and make sure they have what they need to help them get through the weekend.

Mental Health Week YARN group held an event in Hyde Park for National Mental Health Week. The YARN program is a youth-run program which aims to facilitate an understanding of cultural identity, Australia's shared history and reconciliation. As well as Passages, other services that attended the YARN event for Mental Health Week included DAYS, Mission, Perth Inner City Youth Service and Street Connect. The event provided the opportunity to engage in fun activities such as yoga, an obstacle course and a BBQ. The activities were about keeping active and engaging in mentally healthy practices. It was also a great way for staff and clients to meet outside of the service in an informal environment.

Nothing but Net Passages Northbridge has recently begun a weekly basketball session at the basketball court on Beaufort street. The session runs for one and a half hours every Thursday and has so far been very successful. Interest is steadily growing and the feedback from the clients has been very positive. The change of scenery for some clients is proving very therapeutic and most of our young people are enjoying the aerobic exercise that comes with playing sport. The social aspect of sport has also been a refreshing change to the usual social activity our clients are involved in. Over the summer we will look to try different sports, and are actively seeking interest from other services in the Northbridge area to build numbers and interest which will likely increase with the warmer weather.

Thomas finds his way Thomas presented to Passages Peel at the age of 19 experiencing homelessness and struggling with depression, self-harm and heavy drug and alcohol use. Upon his arrival, he told staff that he had been squatting in an abandoned house and hadn’t had much sleep over the past few days but found it very confronting to say anything else.

Health Education Passages Northbridge took part in World Hepatitis Day (WHD), which this year was the most successful WHD to date. 174 countries took part and 106 national governments commemorated the day. Hepa titis is one of just four disease-specific global awarene ss days officially endorsed by the World Health Orga nization (WHO). The aim is to help raise awarene ss of the global burden of viral hepatitis and help influence real change in disease prevention, and access to testing, treatment and care. This year over 1,100 events were held worl dwide, which included screening and vaccinati on drives, public seminars, press briefings, marches, health fairs as well as more unusual events such as awareness-raising pop songs and the illum ination of well-known landmarks. Passages, along with many other comm unity services, participated in a World Hepatitis Day event held at Russell Square, Northbridge. Pass ages staff took the opportunity to support their youn g people to connect and learn about hepatitis, providing knowledge on how to access services and support.

Team Langer Justin Langer AM, Head Coach of the Western Warriors Cricket team, and former elite cricketer, was recently given a tour of Passages Northbridge. He spent a lot of time sitting and chatting with the young people and had a real, genuine interest in hearing what they had to say. Not only did Justin avail a great deal of his time, but he had a boot load of sportswear and sports bags which he gave out to the young people who were absolutely thrilled to receive new, name branded clothing, sneakers and bags. The young people were so amazed to receive such a generous surprise and left the centre not only wearing new attire, but with big smiles. Justin’s wife Sue and daughter Sophie also volunteered their time to help at the Vinnies Night Market which was held to help people sleeping rough. The family have been great supporters of the St Vincent de Paul Society and its services and programs.

Ella’s mother passed away, and as the house was under her mother’s name she was forced to move out. She spent a year couch surfing before presenting to a woman’s domestic violence refuge. From there, she was referred to Passages.

Ella has issues with her literacy and numeracy which Passages was able to assist with. Through the Open Opportunities Program run every Thursday morning, Ella developed a résumé and was also able to obtain the qualifications she needed to apply for a job in her chosen industry.

Until the age of 10 Thomas was living with his mother and her partner, but was removed and placed into Department for Child Protection (DCP) care after experiencing emotional and physical abuse from his mother’s partner. Unfortunately the DCP care arrangement was unsuccessful and Thomas returned home to his mother at age 13. At this time his mother was struggling with alcohol and drug use and was unable to function on a daily basis nor ensure the security and safety of Thomas. At times Thomas was left alone with strangers which led to him experimenting with drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism.

A year later, Thomas was again removed from his mother and placed under the care of DCP. Thomas struggled with this arrangement and ran away, starting a cycle of homelessness and sleeping rough. With the assistance of the staff at Passages, Thomas was able to receive the appropriate help to address his alcohol and drug use along with counselling to help with his battle with depression and self-harm. Today, Thomas continues to make positive steps towards his recovery and creating a better life for himself. He is living in secured accommodation and attends regular counselling sessions. He has successfully completed training in hospitality obtaining a White Card certification. *Name has been changed to protect the client’s privacy

Short Back and Sidewalks Short, Back and Sidewalks is a project that offers free haircuts to people in need. The desire to provide a good haircut to a person who can’t afford one is what drove Craig Hollywood to establish the project. The project connects homeless people up with professional barbers and hairdressers from Perth’s Westons Barbershop.

Finding her feet

Passages staff assisted in helping find Ella accommodation and while this was the first time she had lived independently, she flourished, taking great pride in her new home, with it always looking neat and tidy when youth workers called in.

After being given an introduction to the services and support Passages could offer him, Thomas continued to visit over the following days and slowly found the courage to engage in discussions about the trauma he had experienced growing up and how he came to be homeless.

Ella applied for the Indigenous employment program offered by Crown Perth. This program assists indigenous people to obtaining employment with the organisation. She was given the chance to attend a week long food and beverage training course and successfully completed a five day training workshop in food and beverage service, obtaining a certificate in safe food handling. Passages has worked with Ella for over 15 months and have helped her achieve many goals. She is now looking forward to undertaking full time employment with Crown.

Short Back and Sidewalks were kind enough to offer their services to Passages and spent a morning with our young people giving amazing haircuts. Many got creative with their look and style, but regardless of the cut, they all felt refreshed and revitalised and had a renewed confidence.

Nurturing with nourishment Passages provides food and meals for young people on a daily basis. This includes our daily Breakfast Club where young people can access cereals, toast, coffee, tea and twice a week make their own hot breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs and whatever fresh produce is available. Lunch each day is made up from the donations we receive from some of our generous community groups and suppliers. • • • •

Oz Harvest Food Rescue Torres Butchers Karrinyup Farmers Market

Karrinyup farmers market provides us with an incredible array of fruit and vegies enabling us to provide substantial, healthy meals for our young people. Every afternoon young people are able to take with them an overnight meal container filled with an evening meal. This ranges from sausages and vegetables, curries, soups and roasts. Every Tuesday we conduct Tucker Time. This workshop asks participants to choose their favourite recipes and create them. It helps our young people learn and extend their skills in the kitchen whereby, food hygiene, food prep skills and storage, as well as basic cooking knowledge are combined. This is an intimate group of eight people so stories and experiences around food and the kitchen are shared enabling young people to establish friendships. Friday Lunch involves a big cook up where our young people assist and serve up a big Friday lunch. Everybody sits together at 11.30am to enjoy this meal and they are then able to box up what is left to take with them for the weekend. Friday is a great opportunity to check in with everyone and make sure they have what they need to help them get through the weekend.

Mental Health Week YARN group held an event in Hyde Park for National Mental Health Week. The YARN program is a youth-run program which aims to facilitate an understanding of cultural identity, Australia's shared history and reconciliation. As well as Passages, other services that attended the YARN event for Mental Health Week included DAYS, Mission, Perth Inner City Youth Service and Street Connect. The event provided the opportunity to engage in fun activities such as yoga, an obstacle course and a BBQ. The activities were about keeping active and engaging in mentally healthy practices. It was also a great way for staff and clients to meet outside of the service in an informal environment.

Nothing but Net Passages Northbridge has recently begun a weekly basketball session at the basketball court on Beaufort street. The session runs for one and a half hours every Thursday and has so far been very successful. Interest is steadily growing and the feedback from the clients has been very positive. The change of scenery for some clients is proving very therapeutic and most of our young people are enjoying the aerobic exercise that comes with playing sport. The social aspect of sport has also been a refreshing change to the usual social activity our clients are involved in. Over the summer we will look to try different sports, and are actively seeking interest from other services in the Northbridge area to build numbers and interest which will likely increase with the warmer weather.

Statistics

Northbridge 2015/ 2016 Overview

Peel 2015/ 2016 Overview

• • • •

• • • •

1,292 young people visited the service 4,615 times 362 young people visited for the first time A total of 1,074 successful referrals were made to other support services A total of 18,353 resources were provided Males visiting Passages (Total 2,928)

32 1,040

153 909

32 360

Homelessness state of young people visiting Passages

Males visiting Passages (Total 2,179)

511

19 – 21 years 22 – 25 years

Females visiting Passages (Total 867)

74

95 580

1,372

103

84

Homelessness state of young people visiting Passages

320

629 2,481 1,215

826

12 – 15 years 16 – 18 years Transgender

• • •

Females visiting Passages (Total 1,546)

1,116 young people visited the service 3,028 times 258 young people visited for the first time A total of 951 successful referrals were made to other support services A total of 12,015 resources were provided

285

261

626

Primary Homeless Secondary Homeless Tertiary Homeless

957

395

1,764

12 – 15 years 16 – 18 years Transgender

19 – 21 years 22 – 25 years

Primary Homeless Secondary Homeless Tertiary Homeless

Primary homelessness is experienced by people without conventional accommodation (e.g. sleeping rough or in improvised dwellings); Secondary homelessness is experienced by people who frequently move from one temporary shelter to another (e.g. emergency accommodation, youth refuges, "couch surfing") Tertiary homelessness is experienced by people staying in accommodation that falls below minimum community standards (e.g. boarding housing and caravan parks).

Vinnies Night Market

RUOK? Passages Peel staff were invited to attend RUOK day at Halls Head Senior High, with the school concerned over some tragic events that had impacted the students and school. Passages staff talked with the students about what support Passages can provide, what other mental health support services are available and helped students have a better understanding of mental illness. Conversations remained positive and informal and students were given resources to take away with them. It was an important opportunity to engage with the wider community and ensure we are all looking out for each other. Key Facts: • Suicide is a prominent public health concern with around 2,300 deaths each year in Australia. • Suicide rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are higher (at least 2.5 times) than national averages. • The standardised suicide rate for youth (15 to 24 years) in 2011 was approximately half the rate it was in 1997. However, it remains the leading cause of death for young people. If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Lifeline - 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au Headspace - 1800 650 850 www.headspace.org.au

On Monday 17 October, Vinnies held a Night Market for people experiencing homelessness, forming part of the AntiPoverty Week activities. The young people from Passages Northbridge were encouraged to attend and staff brought a bus of young people up from Passages in Mandurah as well. They all enjoyed a fun and vibrant atmosphere, a friendly chat, and listening to live music. They received free clothing from the Vinnies ‘pop-up shop’, toiletries and accessories and a substantial dinner, with food also available to take away with them thanks to supplies from Foodbank. We are grateful for the support of Dinner Peace food van for coming along and Passages staff were more than happy to help out with the food preparation. Domino’s pizza provided regular drop-offs of pizza and despite the cool evening, Mr Whippy proved popular with kids and adults alike. The event, held at Russell Square Northbridge, achieved its aim to help as many people as possible while providing a warm, friendly and inclusive environment. Volunteers for the evening came from our members, our staff from our homelessness, mental health, retail, and support areas, volunteers linked to the St Vincent de Paul Society and even some friends and family. Everyone did an amazing job of creating a wonderful, helpful atmosphere for the people we serve. It was also great to have Channel 9 conduct its live weather cross from the event and encourage viewers to support the work that we do through our services and programs.

Stitching Hope The heart-breaking stories of Cambodia's homeless inspired Kay Eva, a sewing enthusiast, to use her skills as a way of empowering women struggling to survive. "Stitches of Hope" gave underprivileged women the opportunity to learn sewing skills, which in turn improved their chances of gaining employment at largescale clothing factories. Since its inception 12 years ago, Ms Eva's charity has also raised much-needed funds, which has gone towards a shelter for local underprivileged children and a community centre that doubles as a school. The sewing centre, based just outside Phnom Penh, provides training and employment for local women, who were previously homeless or rescued from abusive situations. Recently the women at the Cambodian sewing centre started a sleeping bag project and have sewn up to 500 sleeping bags which have been shipped to Perth to be distributed amongst those experiencing homelessness. Passages was fortunate enough to receive several boxes of sleeping bags, which were handed out to the young people.

That’s an App! Mobile App Developers Lateral spent a year working with Passages staff to develop an app that can be used by the young people aged between 12 and 25 who engage with the Passages Resource Centres in Northbridge and Mandurah. The app can be downloaded for free and provides our young people with real time information they need about the Service, including location and opening times, what other services will be visiting and when (for example the Street doctor) and a calendar of what programs will be running on any given day. It also has a list of emergency contact details. The app was runner up in the WAITTA Incite Awards for ‘Most Impactful Social Benefit’ app.

Thank you & Acknowledgments Thank you to our Visiting Agencies Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Service, Allambee, Australian Red Cross – Save a Mate, Bridging the Gap, Centrelink Community Team, Mission Australia Youth Beat, DAYS - Mission Australia (Drug & Alcohol Youth Service), 360 Health and Community Street Doctor, Peel Mental Health, Peel Mobile Health Service, Peel Youth Medical Service, Police Liaison Officer, Street Connect – Anglicare WA, Street Law & Allens Linklaters, WA Substance Abusers Association, WASUA (Western Australia Substance Users Association), Youth Futures WA, Youthlink, Mobile Clinical Outreach Team, Palmerston Drug & Alcohol Service, Community Youth Training Service, 360 Community and Health.

Mandurah: Rotary Club of Mandurah City, Mandurah District Rotary Club, ALCOA, PINDAN, Chevron, City of Mandurah, Woodside Energy and Gas Marketing Group, Foodbank WA, Brumby’s Bakery, Downer Mining, Chandler Macleod, Javier Resources, Peel Youth Services, GP Down South - Peel Mobile Health Service, Peel Community Kitchen, Calvary Youth Services, Y-Shac – Anglicare WA, Centrelink Community Team, Peel Mental Health Team, Challenger TAFE, Bridging the Gap, Make a Wish Op shop, the local St Vincent de Paul Society Mandurah Conference and everyone in the Peel community who support the Service.

Thank You to Our Corporate & Community Supporters

Passages Board Northbridge

Passages Board Mandurah

Northbridge: Allens Linklaters, Centrelink Call Centre Osborne Park, Chevron, City of Vincent, Create Foundation, HD Hardrive, Inner City Mental Health Service, Lotterywest, Perth Inner City Youth Service, Perth Rotary Club, Quarry Health Centre, Roteract, Ruah Community Services, Sacred Heart College Sorrento, Shopfront, St Andrew’s Insurance, St Bartholomew’s House, St John of God Health Care, The RISE, Torre Butchers, Tranby – UnitingCare West, Vinnies Retail Shops & Depot, YMCA – StreetsYde, Youth Affairs Council of WA, Youth Focus.

David Reed OAM Maurice Rousset Jeff Leach David Wee Ashley Ladner Mark Fitzpatrick Adele Stewart

David Reed OAM Stewart Forrest Jim Mather Gary Brown Geoff Winton John Perry Pat Shraven Adele Stewart

For Passages Resource Centre contact details, further information or to donate to Passages please visit www.passagesresourcecentre.com

Chairman’s Report As another year comes to an end, this newsletter gives us the opportunity to celebrate our achievements over this past year. Passages is a joint venture between the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Rotary club of Perth and the three Rotary clubs of Mandurah. I’d like to personally and sincerely thank all who continue to donate, sponsor and support our events, including the Passages Race Day. Without your involvement, we would not have the vital funding we need to continue to provide quality services and support to street present youth. In the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) Poverty in Australia Report released during Anti-Poverty Week (16 - 22 October 2016), it identified that 731,300 children or 17.4% of all children in Australia are living in poverty, increasing by 2% in the last decade.

The growing rate of child poverty is of great concern and is reflected in the increasing number of young people accessing our Passages Resource Centres. In establishing a place of trust and belonging, Passages successfully engaged with over 2,400 young people in the past year to address the cause of their homelessness and create a better life. Without the generosity and commitment of all the staff, committee members, donors and supporters of Passages Resource Centre, this vital work would not be possible, so on behalf of all the young people who have been assisted by Passages this year, thank you. And on behalf of the board I thank you all for your ongoing support.

Those most at risk are children in lone parent families, who are more than three times likely to be living in poverty (40.6%) than those from two-parent families (12.5%). Since 2012, the poverty rate for children in lone parent families has gone up from 36.8% to 40.6%. David Reed OAM, Chairman Passages Resource Centres Board

Passages Roast Some of the young people we assist through Passages have received free barista training from our friends at Leaf Bean Machine. This gave them a great opportunity to develop some skills that may enable them to find employment going forward. Brad and Fleur from Leaf Bean Machine have been long time supporters of the St Vincent de Paul Society and Passages, and they are a regular feature at our CEO Sleepout where Brad, as CEO sleeps out, but also provides a welcome coffee for participants on the night. The barista training was a great success and we hope to run similar training in the future.

A newsletter from Passages Resource Centre

Issue 13 | December 2016

Statistics

Northbridge 2015/ 2016 Overview

Peel 2015/ 2016 Overview

• • • •

• • • •

1,292 young people visited the service 4,615 times 362 young people visited for the first time A total of 1,074 successful referrals were made to other support services A total of 18,353 resources were provided Males visiting Passages (Total 2,928)

32 1,040

153 909

32 360

Homelessness state of young people visiting Passages

Males visiting Passages (Total 2,179)

511

19 – 21 years 22 – 25 years

Females visiting Passages (Total 867)

74

95 580

1,372

103

84

Homelessness state of young people visiting Passages

320

629 2,481 1,215

826

12 – 15 years 16 – 18 years Transgender

• • •

Females visiting Passages (Total 1,546)

1,116 young people visited the service 3,028 times 258 young people visited for the first time A total of 951 successful referrals were made to other support services A total of 12,015 resources were provided

285

261

626

Primary Homeless Secondary Homeless Tertiary Homeless

957

395

1,764

12 – 15 years 16 – 18 years Transgender

19 – 21 years 22 – 25 years

Primary Homeless Secondary Homeless Tertiary Homeless

Primary homelessness is experienced by people without conventional accommodation (e.g. sleeping rough or in improvised dwellings); Secondary homelessness is experienced by people who frequently move from one temporary shelter to another (e.g. emergency accommodation, youth refuges, "couch surfing") Tertiary homelessness is experienced by people staying in accommodation that falls below minimum community standards (e.g. boarding housing and caravan parks).

Vinnies Night Market

RUOK? Passages Peel staff were invited to attend RUOK day at Halls Head Senior High, with the school concerned over some tragic events that had impacted the students and school. Passages staff talked with the students about what support Passages can provide, what other mental health support services are available and helped students have a better understanding of mental illness. Conversations remained positive and informal and students were given resources to take away with them. It was an important opportunity to engage with the wider community and ensure we are all looking out for each other. Key Facts: • Suicide is a prominent public health concern with around 2,300 deaths each year in Australia. • Suicide rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are higher (at least 2.5 times) than national averages. • The standardised suicide rate for youth (15 to 24 years) in 2011 was approximately half the rate it was in 1997. However, it remains the leading cause of death for young people. If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Lifeline - 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au Headspace - 1800 650 850 www.headspace.org.au

On Monday 17 October, Vinnies held a Night Market for people experiencing homelessness, forming part of the AntiPoverty Week activities. The young people from Passages Northbridge were encouraged to attend and staff brought a bus of young people up from Passages in Mandurah as well. They all enjoyed a fun and vibrant atmosphere, a friendly chat, and listening to live music. They received free clothing from the Vinnies ‘pop-up shop’, toiletries and accessories and a substantial dinner, with food also available to take away with them thanks to supplies from Foodbank. We are grateful for the support of Dinner Peace food van for coming along and Passages staff were more than happy to help out with the food preparation. Domino’s pizza provided regular drop-offs of pizza and despite the cool evening, Mr Whippy proved popular with kids and adults alike. The event, held at Russell Square Northbridge, achieved its aim to help as many people as possible while providing a warm, friendly and inclusive environment. Volunteers for the evening came from our members, our staff from our homelessness, mental health, retail, and support areas, volunteers linked to the St Vincent de Paul Society and even some friends and family. Everyone did an amazing job of creating a wonderful, helpful atmosphere for the people we serve. It was also great to have Channel 9 conduct its live weather cross from the event and encourage viewers to support the work that we do through our services and programs.

Stitching Hope The heart-breaking stories of Cambodia's homeless inspired Kay Eva, a sewing enthusiast, to use her skills as a way of empowering women struggling to survive. "Stitches of Hope" gave underprivileged women the opportunity to learn sewing skills, which in turn improved their chances of gaining employment at largescale clothing factories. Since its inception 12 years ago, Ms Eva's charity has also raised much-needed funds, which has gone towards a shelter for local underprivileged children and a community centre that doubles as a school. The sewing centre, based just outside Phnom Penh, provides training and employment for local women, who were previously homeless or rescued from abusive situations. Recently the women at the Cambodian sewing centre started a sleeping bag project and have sewn up to 500 sleeping bags which have been shipped to Perth to be distributed amongst those experiencing homelessness. Passages was fortunate enough to receive several boxes of sleeping bags, which were handed out to the young people.

That’s an App! Mobile App Developers Lateral spent a year working with Passages staff to develop an app that can be used by the young people aged between 12 and 25 who engage with the Passages Resource Centres in Northbridge and Mandurah. The app can be downloaded for free and provides our young people with real time information they need about the Service, including location and opening times, what other services will be visiting and when (for example the Street doctor) and a calendar of what programs will be running on any given day. It also has a list of emergency contact details. The app was runner up in the WAITTA Incite Awards for ‘Most Impactful Social Benefit’ app.

Thank you & Acknowledgments Thank you to our Visiting Agencies Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Service, Allambee, Australian Red Cross – Save a Mate, Bridging the Gap, Centrelink Community Team, Mission Australia Youth Beat, DAYS - Mission Australia (Drug & Alcohol Youth Service), 360 Health and Community Street Doctor, Peel Mental Health, Peel Mobile Health Service, Peel Youth Medical Service, Police Liaison Officer, Street Connect – Anglicare WA, Street Law & Allens Linklaters, WA Substance Abusers Association, WASUA (Western Australia Substance Users Association), Youth Futures WA, Youthlink, Mobile Clinical Outreach Team, Palmerston Drug & Alcohol Service, Community Youth Training Service, 360 Community and Health.

Mandurah: Rotary Club of Mandurah City, Mandurah District Rotary Club, ALCOA, PINDAN, Chevron, City of Mandurah, Woodside Energy and Gas Marketing Group, Foodbank WA, Brumby’s Bakery, Downer Mining, Chandler Macleod, Javier Resources, Peel Youth Services, GP Down South - Peel Mobile Health Service, Peel Community Kitchen, Calvary Youth Services, Y-Shac – Anglicare WA, Centrelink Community Team, Peel Mental Health Team, Challenger TAFE, Bridging the Gap, Make a Wish Op shop, the local St Vincent de Paul Society Mandurah Conference and everyone in the Peel community who support the Service.

Thank You to Our Corporate & Community Supporters

Passages Board Northbridge

Passages Board Mandurah

Northbridge: Allens Linklaters, Centrelink Call Centre Osborne Park, Chevron, City of Vincent, Create Foundation, HD Hardrive, Inner City Mental Health Service, Lotterywest, Perth Inner City Youth Service, Perth Rotary Club, Quarry Health Centre, Roteract, Ruah Community Services, Sacred Heart College Sorrento, Shopfront, St Andrew’s Insurance, St Bartholomew’s House, St John of God Health Care, The RISE, Torre Butchers, Tranby – UnitingCare West, Vinnies Retail Shops & Depot, YMCA – StreetsYde, Youth Affairs Council of WA, Youth Focus.

David Reed OAM Maurice Rousset Jeff Leach David Wee Ashley Ladner Mark Fitzpatrick Adele Stewart

David Reed OAM Stewart Forrest Jim Mather Gary Brown Geoff Winton John Perry Pat Shraven Adele Stewart

For Passages Resource Centre contact details, further information or to donate to Passages please visit www.passagesresourcecentre.com

Chairman’s Report As another year comes to an end, this newsletter gives us the opportunity to celebrate our achievements over this past year. Passages is a joint venture between the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Rotary club of Perth and the three Rotary clubs of Mandurah. I’d like to personally and sincerely thank all who continue to donate, sponsor and support our events, including the Passages Race Day. Without your involvement, we would not have the vital funding we need to continue to provide quality services and support to street present youth. In the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) Poverty in Australia Report released during Anti-Poverty Week (16 - 22 October 2016), it identified that 731,300 children or 17.4% of all children in Australia are living in poverty, increasing by 2% in the last decade.

The growing rate of child poverty is of great concern and is reflected in the increasing number of young people accessing our Passages Resource Centres. In establishing a place of trust and belonging, Passages successfully engaged with over 2,400 young people in the past year to address the cause of their homelessness and create a better life. Without the generosity and commitment of all the staff, committee members, donors and supporters of Passages Resource Centre, this vital work would not be possible, so on behalf of all the young people who have been assisted by Passages this year, thank you. And on behalf of the board I thank you all for your ongoing support.

Those most at risk are children in lone parent families, who are more than three times likely to be living in poverty (40.6%) than those from two-parent families (12.5%). Since 2012, the poverty rate for children in lone parent families has gone up from 36.8% to 40.6%. David Reed OAM, Chairman Passages Resource Centres Board

Passages Roast Some of the young people we assist through Passages have received free barista training from our friends at Leaf Bean Machine. This gave them a great opportunity to develop some skills that may enable them to find employment going forward. Brad and Fleur from Leaf Bean Machine have been long time supporters of the St Vincent de Paul Society and Passages, and they are a regular feature at our CEO Sleepout where Brad, as CEO sleeps out, but also provides a welcome coffee for participants on the night. The barista training was a great success and we hope to run similar training in the future.

A newsletter from Passages Resource Centre

Issue 13 | December 2016