CTC Youth Services Kingaroy | Youth Insearch

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Fri, 13/10/2017 - 15:58

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CTC Youth Services (formerly known as the Community Training Centre) is based in Kingaroy, Queensland and was established in September of 1983. CTC began as a grass-roots community response to addressing the high levels of unemployment in youth and is now a multi-faceted, community owned, not-for-profit organization. They continue to address the needs of disadvantaged people throughout the South Burnett area in Queensland and neighboring communities across a wide range of programs.

CTC first heard about Youth Insearch from Heather Cummings who is one of the Community Coordinators in Queensland when she attended the same Interagency meeting. Soon after hearing about the weekend workshops, CTC agreed to send Gemma Sanford as their first representative on a program to see if it was something they would be interested in joining as a partner. After just one program Gemma saw the great results that came about because of the workshop and CTC decided to incorporate Youth Insearch into their case plans with the young people they work with.

Although the process was slow to get started while everyone was working out all the arrangements, months down the track it is obvious that the results gained are positive and that the partnership benefits both CTC and Youth Insearch. The partnership that now exists is evidence that persistence pays off and that when working with young people the more relationships between community services who have the same goal in mind; the better, especially in rural areas.

While working with young people and their families, CTC case workers have found that the families usually refuse counselling in small communities because it they have found it to be unreliable or they simply dont trust a local counsellor with their personal issues. Youth Insearch helps the work that CTC does by starting to break down these barriers with the young people that attend weekend workshops by starting to trust other people which then transfers to their families when they return home. The trust that is learnt at Youth Insearch helps brings families together by enabling them to communicate effectively and start working through their problems together.

CTC now has several employees involved with Youth Insearch; Amal Suleman, Nick Krauksts and Toni Cauley as well as Dan Mills who use to work with CTC, has since moved on but is still involved with Youth Insearch. All three current case workers attend weekend workshops as Support Adults bringing young people to each program and Amal also has completed training to become a Leader within the program.

 

The partnership that has been built between the two community services has been established as both organizations are passionate about ensuring the youth get the best chance for their life despite the start they get. This collaboration of resources and supporters enables the young people to rise above their differences and focus on moving on from the past and looking towards the future to what they are capable of and achieving their goals. Looking forward to the continued involvement with both organizations and the strengthening of young people in their communities.