Youth Services

CASSA Youth Services provided a wide range of integrated services on prevention,
early intervention and intervention to young people from CALD backgrounds.

Philosophy

CASSA acknowledges that some young people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds often face particular needs that contribute to their sense of marginalisation and vulnerability. Our Youth Service aims to contribute to a smoother integration of marginalised young people into Australian society, by ensuring that young people are informed about their rights and are empowered to make their own decisions.

We are committed to offering young people a friendly, efficient, sympathetic, non-discriminatory and respectful service. Our Youth Service values fair, diverse, democratic, confidential and accountable work practices that ensure young people’s voices are heard and respected. It aims to contribute towards young people’s sense of belonging, enhance their independent living skills and their community participation

Who Are Our Services For?

The Youth Service is available to any young people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds, between the ages of 12 to 25.

How Can The Service Be Accessed?

The service accepts direct client referrals as well as referrals from family/friends and/or service providers. Potential clients can drop by and visit the service if they desire, although we strongly recommend calling first to avoid disappointment.

Upcoming Events

Cost - FREE

The Youth Service is a free service for young people.

Involvement in some projects may incur a small fee* for more information or queries about any potential costs to services you require please contact the Youth Workers.

*An example of this is the Annual Youth Camp which incurs a minimal cost for participants to attend

sessions

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young people were engaged

different cultural backgrounds

SERVICES

Youth Outreach Program

The purpose of this program is to provide support services to CALD youth, aged 12-25 years. The program aims to promote personal development
and enhance health and emotional wellbeing through outreach.
During this financial year, regular school outreach sessions were conducted at Woodville High School, Underdale High School, Roma Mitchell Secondary College, and Craigmore High School. Through this service young people were provided with information on education and training pathways, health, social skills, job seeking, and accommodation.
Through our connection with young people via outreach, workers were able to identify emerging needs of the students they made contact with, thereby advocating on their behalf to the school.
CASSA Youth workers also developed invaluable connections with school staff as part of this process, providing teachers and counsellors with an established point of contact for referrals to one-onone support services.
A goal-oriented case management service is offered to young people who may benefit from one-on-one support. The Youth Worker is responsible for conducting intake and more comprehensive holistic assessments and can provide brief interventions where the young person is not willing to commit to a longer term support intervention.
Case management can be provided from 3 to 12 months, with one year being the maximum duration of service. This service is offered to youth who are experiencing persistent issues requiring more intensive support to help them to make long-lasting positive changes. During this financial year most meetings occurred off-site; in school or home environments.

Vietnamese Reconnect Program

This Program is part of the South East Asian Reconnect Program, an initiative and partnership between the MCCSA, Cambodian Community, Chinese Community and the Vietnamese Community.

The Reconnect Program aims to improve the level of engagement of young people aged 12-18 or 12-21 if they are newly arrived in Australia and are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Reconnect helps young people build positive relationships with their family, build connections with work, education, training and the community. It is a unique program as it operates predominantly from a culturally sensitive perspective in order to provide effective and efficient services to its target group.

For young people who need one-on-one support, the program is able to provide case management through intake, psycho-social assessments, brief intervention, ongoing practical and social support, goal setting, referrals to specialist services, extracurricular programs and many more. Case management is offered to young people who are experiencing long term issues that require ongoing support from our services to meet set goals.

Connected Youth Program

The Stay Connected Youth (SCY) Program is a tutoring and mentoring program for young people from CALD backgrounds who are at-risk of becoming disengaged from school. This early intervention program provided a safe space for young people to hang out, receive academic tutoring, mentoring, and engage in various youth activities.

Many of the youth who attended the program had a refugee background and presented language and cultural identity issues. These factors can deleteriously impact young people’s ability to remain connected with school/study.

While funding for the program ceased at the end of the 2014-2015 financial year, CASSA continued to run the program until the end of the 2015 school year through alternative resources and volunteers.

During school terms 3 and 4, program sessions continued to be held every Monday afternoon 4- 6pm in the west and every Thursday afternoon 4- 6pm in the north.

At the conclusion of the program, all participants were offered the opportunity to see one of CASSA’s youth workers for ongoing support and CASSA has remained engaged with participants through other youth activities such as CASSA’s Annual Youth Camp.

CASSA would like to acknowledge the commitment and hard work of all the volunteers, tutors and mentors and anyone else who has supported the SCY program. The program would not have been possible without their support.

Youth Forum

A youth forum was held on Sunday 29th May 2016 at CASSA’s Community Centre. Topics discussed during the forum included healthy relationships, cultural issues, family, and setting goals. It aimed to inspire young people to follow their dreams despite adversity.

Vinh Giang a well-known entrepreneur, motivational Speaker and magician, was invited as guest speaker. His speech aimed to empower young people to work hard and achieve their goals and life ambitions through interactively using magic to portray his messages.

In addition, age-appropriate games and activities were conducted and information on health issues was also provided. The photo booth appeared to be one of the highlights of the event, with many young people taking the opportunity to snap a picture with their new friends.

The young people who attended the forum were from non-English speaking and refugee backgrounds. We also had a few young people attend who were experiencing homelessness and were accompanied by a worker from another agency.

Workshops

CASSA Youth Service delivered a number of community education programs and activities to young people during the 2015-16 financial year. As funding was limited, most programs were either once-off or delivered in partnership with staff members from other teams within CASSA.

Personal And Social Development Workshop:

CASSA developed 4 workshops for young people at Craigmore High school and delivered them over thecourse of 4 weeks. Youth workers from CASSA facilitated the workshops. Topics discussed included dealing with anger, respectful relationships, mental health, and communication and assertiveness. Discussions around alcohol and other drugs was interlinked with each topic as a holistic way of approaching the subject with young people.

Personal & Social Development Program:

CASSA delivered a 2-Day Program filled with activities and workshops for young people from CALD backgrounds during the 2016 Summer Holidays. The workshops were delivered at Multicultural Communities Council SA (MCCSA). Topics were facilitated by CASSA youth workers and included anger management, respectful relationships, and assertive communication skills. Activities during the course of the program included team building activities, learning how to catch public transport, watching a cultural and inspirational movie, team building treasure hunt in the city and 2 hours of fun at the beach house at Glenelg.

Community Consultation:

CASSA’s youth team conducted a consultation session on youth needs with 60 young people in year 8 from CALD backgrounds at Underdale High School. The main issue young people identified as wanting to know more about, was alcohol and other drugs.

Drugs and Alcohol:

A workshop on drugs and alcohol was presented to 16 young people from a Vietnamese background.

Youth Camp

Annually, CASSA facilitates a 3-Day Youth Camp which is organised in collaboration with the AOD, Gambling Help Services and youth team. Students were recruited from five high schools in the northern and western suburbs of Adelaide.
During the camp, 3 Educational workshops were delivered on Drugs and Alcohol, youth gaming and sexual health. The workshops included games and activities designed to encourage youth participation. The camp also promoted team building activities, and on-site activities such as laser skirmish, 9 Iron Golf, and the Koala Creek Course, encouraging youth to challenge themselves and step outside of their comfort zone.

Community Youth Events

Youth Week:

A Youth Expo was organised by the City of Adelaide Enfield, City of Charles Sturt, City of West Torrens, Multicultural Communities Council of SA and Uniting Care Wesley Port Adelaide during National Youth Week. This financial year the Youth Expo was held at the Adelaide Arena in Findon, attracting thousands of Year 8-12 students from local schools. The CASSA Youth team distributed more than 200 information packs during the event with more than 900 young people visiting our information stall. The youth team facilitated a fun fruit quiz raffle and an interactive banner as a way of engaging with young people.

Harmony Day Event:

The CASSA Youth team contributed towards a Harmony Day Event held at Parafield Gardens High School. The team delivered a lantern making workshop to promote cultural diversity, with 25 students participating in the workshop. In addition, Vietnamese cultural decorations, materials and costumes were lent to Parafield Gardens High School to be displayed in their Library. During the event, the CASSA Youth team also held an information stall to promote CASSA’s Youth Services, and upcoming events. Fruit platters were provided as a mechanism for engaging young people.

CASSA Youth Services provided a wide range of integrated services on prevention, early intervention and intervention to young people from CALD backgrounds. Young people sought help for:

Family conflict
Disengagement with education
Difficulty obtaining employment
Relationship breakdowns
Friendship issues
Conflict with teachers
Truancy
Child abuse and neglect
Issues with anger
Social isolation
Mental health issues (depression and anxiety)
Suicide
Self-harm
Eating disorders
Sleeping issues
Sexual orientation issues
Newly arrival/migration
Homelessness