Love Unlimited, original artwork by Blair MacKenzie, 14
“It takes time but it can be done!”
A conversation with Wally Dethlefs about his experience of doing youth work in Queensland for almost 50 years
An online forum for Queensland youth sector members
27th May 2021 10:30am - 12:00pm
Focused on the theme ‘Building relationships to improve the lives of young people’, this forum will be an opportunity to hear from a youth advocate who has dedicated his life to advocating for marginalised young people.
Rev Wally Dethlefs has worked with homeless and disadvantaged young people since 1973.
He established and lived in Kedron Lodge, one of the first youth refuges for homeless young people in Brisbane. In 1981 he established the Youth Advocacy Centre which combined lawyers and youth workers in an effort to assist young people appearing before the Children’s Court.
A feature of his work has been a strong justice/advocacy approach together with an emphasis on the community prevention of homelessness, juvenile crime and youth suicide.
Wally spear-headed changes in the laws of Queensland preventing State authorities from locking up young people who had not committed a criminal offence. He played a leadership role in having restorative justice practices introduced into legislation and implemented in his home State.
Wally was a commissioner in the Federal Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Inquiry into ‘Homeless Children and Young People’. Twenty years later, he was a commissioner on another national inquiry into homeless youth.
The list of all the initiatives that Wally has been involved is too long but here are some highlights to give you an idea of how influential Wally has been in Queensland youth sector:
- Established a Bail Accommodation Program for
- Member of Development Committee of
- Chair of Advisory Committee of Carina Youth
- Member of the Advisory Committee of Catholic
- Member of the Management Committee of
- Convener and research worker for Church
- Established the Bayside Adolescent Boarding
- Chairperson to Carina Youth Agency
- Founded and co-ordinated the Justice for
- Assisted in founding the Brisbane
- Chaplain to Wilson Youth Hospital - a remand,
people (a juvenile prison, run on a medical
model)
- Assisted in the formation of the Wilson
children incarcerated in Wilson Youth Hospital
- Chaplain – Brisbane Youth Detention Centre
Since retiring Wally has continued his involvement in issues relating to at risk young people including, education, accommodation, child protection and support for workers.
Please register in advance for this forum:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAudeytqj8pGN35eR3kKhXH8nz9kJNZf9ix
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Post COVID-19 Recovery
from service delivery to community economic development
what is the role of the youth sector?
A timely conversation given the employment challenges in a post COVID environment which have disproportionately affected young people and those facing social disadvantage
An online forum for Queensland youth sector members
18th March 2021 10:30am - 12:00pm
Focused on the theme ‘Building relationships to improve the lives of young people’, this forum will be an opportunity to hear from researchers and practitioners in the field and to network with other youth workers and explore collectively how we can support young people during these challenging times.
Guest Speakers
Dr Peter Westoby
Peter is a highly sought-after thought-leader in community and social change work. Combining a long history of domestic and international practice, along with a rich academic life, Peter brings practice wisdom and rigour to organisational efforts and effectiveness. Peter is currently director/consultant at Community Praxis Co-op (22 year-old cooperative business); P/T practitioner at Hummingbird House; Custodian of Camellia Centre for Reflective Practice; Adjunct Associate Professor of Social Science at Queensland University of Technology; and Visiting Professor, University of the Free State, South Africa. Peter has worked in youth, community and organisation development for 30+ years, within places such as South Africa, Uganda, Vanuatu, PNG, Nepal the Philippines and Australia.
Richard Warner
Richard is the coordinator of Nundah Community Enterprises Cooperative & Chair of Queensland Social Enterprise Council (QSEC). Nundah Community Enterprises Co-operative (NCEC) is an award-winning Social Enterprise, started by a group of young people who were long-term unemployed. It's grown from a small jobs-club for disadvantaged workers, to a large worker cooperative, employing many. Richard will share his learning from setting up this cooperative and this way of supporting the employment aspirations of young people. This will be of particular interest to youth workers and community organisations wanting to start their own social enterprise or support disadvantaged young people to do the same.
Dan Allport
Dan is the youth co op worker at Nundah Community Enterprise Co-Op, as a new member of the NCEC team he is working to establish this new project. The project is a participatory approach to creating sustainable employment for a new generation of disadvantaged workers with intellectual disabilities. Prior to this he worked as the community development worker at the Deception Bay Neighbourhood Centre. In his previous life he held senior retail management positions across a number of large retail businesses.
Findings of Online Forums Topics Survey:
This online forum is the third in a series organised by YANQ in response to findings of a survey conducted in 2020 where the respondents prioritised employment and training (see the survey result report here) as a key topic for discussion and exploration by the sector.
Please register in advance for this forum:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcud-2trTsiHdwHMerrGSByat3Cgl1s2FEw
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The online workshop series ‘Building relationships to improve the lives of young people’ is an initiative of YANQ and supported by Office for Youth, Queensland Government.
What would it take to re-engage young people with education/learning?
An online forum for Queensland youth sector members
12th November 2020 10:30am - 12:00pm
Guest Speakers:
Dr Marnee Shay - The University of Queensland
Dr Marnee Shay is a former youth worker and teacher in flexi school settings. Marnee completed her PhD on the roles of Indigenous educators in flexi school settings. As an Aboriginal educator, Marnee has been interested in the growth of Indigenous engagement in flexi schools, which led to work a funded research project on identity, wellbeing and schooling of Indigenous young people. Marnee will share key findings from her studies and also outline existing research on flexi schools and school engagement for young people.
Michelle Kinnane – Deception Bay Flexible Learning Centre
Michelle has worked with young people for over 20 years within the Edmund Rice Education Australia. Her current role is working with 6 Principals and 22 schools across Australia called EREAFSN. Edmund Rice flexi schools work with disenfranchised youth to re-engage them in education using Operation by Principle and Trauma Informed Practice which empowers young people’s voice and agency.
Lisa Love – Director of Youth Engagement/Department of Education
In Lisa Love’s 20 years of education and training policy, implementation and stakeholder engagement experience, she has led senior national negotiations around school funding and other complex education and training matters, implemented the National Quality Framework for early childhood education and care, managed legislative changes and played an instrumental role in leading strategic state education and training policy platforms such as the Queensland Skills Plan, Masters Review and early childhood workforce action plan. Her current passion, as Director of the Youth Engagement project in the Queensland Department of Education since 2017, is preventing and supporting young people disengaging from education and ensuring that every young person has equal opportunity for success.
This online forum is the second in a series organised by YANQ in response to findings of a recent survey where the respondents prioritised Re-engagement with Education (see the survey result report here) as the key topic for discussion and exploration by the sector.
Focused on the theme ‘Building relationships to improve the lives of young people’, this forum will be an opportunity to hear from researchers and practitioners in the field and to network with other youth workers and explore collectively how we can support young people during these challenging times.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUlfuqsrTkoEtEniQJDvzG7HQaRkT7ZsS4j
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The online workshop series ‘Building relationships to improve the lives of young people’ is an initiative of YANQ and supported by Office for Youth, Queensland Government.
Here are the powerpoints used by the presenters at the forum 'What would it take to re-engage young people with education/learning?'
| dr_marnee_shay_powerpaint_final.pdf |
| michelle_kinnane_powerpoint.pptx |
| lisa_love_powerpoint.pptx |
| human-capability-standards_mb-hd-rtprintv3_copy.pdf |
Here is the final report on the Forum which includes key messages by speakers and post Forum feedback gathered from the sector via online survey.
| report_re-engagement_with_education_forum_final.pdf |
Medicalising distress and ignoring social ills - who benefits and how should we respond?
An online forum for Queensland youth sector members
13th October 2020
11:00am - 12:00pm
Guest Speaker: Professor Jon Jureidini
Jon Jureidini is a child psychiatrist who heads Adelaide University’s Critical and Ethical Mental Health research group (CEMH), which promotes safer, more effective and more ethical research and practice in mental health; and the Paediatric Mental Health Training Unit (PMHTU), which provides training in non-pathologising approaches to primary care mental health. Jureidini learnt most of what he knows about psychiatry growing up in a pub, from being a father, and from reading novels. He is chair of Australian-Palestinian Partnerships in Education and Health.
This online forum is the first in a series organised by YANQ in response to findings of a recent survey where the respondents prioritised mental health (see the survey result report here) as the key topic for discussion and exploration by the sector.
Focused on the theme ‘Building relationships to improve the lives of young people’, this forum will be an opportunity to hear from one of the most highly regarded researchers in the field of mental health and to network with other youth workers and explore collectively how we can support young people during these challenging times.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkf-Ggpj4tH9Mj0uChVbhoEAO6PXj4aXXV
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The online workshop series ‘Building relationships to improve the lives of young people’ is an initiative of YANQ and supported by Office for Youth, Queensland Government.
Queensland Mental Health Week 10-18 October 2020
Here is the final report on the Forum which includes key messages by speakers and post Forum feedback gathered from the sector via online survey.
| report_mental_health_forum_final.pdf |