Youth Homelessness Matters Day | Youth Insearch

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Wed, 15/04/2020 - 10:38

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Referrers, Supporters, Virtual World

15 April 2020 is Youth Homelessness Matters Day. In the midst of social isolation, and people staying at home, Youth Foyers around Australia are providing housing for young people living without a home.

Education First Youth Foyer (Berry Street, Shepparton), opposite GOTAFE, have been referring young people to Youth Insearch since 2017, and have shared that in response to COVID-19, it is the young people that are adapting and managing best, and are the ones who are championing the distancing and reminding all to sanitise as they arrive home. 

Foyers around the country have expressed that these stressful times will see the emergence of underlying mental health issues, and noted the importance of infrastructure - especially access to the internet for young people at this time. 

While these are difficult times for many people, if you are interested in supporting our work, or the work the Foyer Foundation are doing to advocate for stable housing and education for young people, please consider donating.

 

How Youth Insearch and Foyer work together

Tim from Berry Street is one of our fantastic referrers, and has shared his thoughts about the magic of Youth Insearch and the Foyer students involvement.

Youth Insearch offers students of the Foyer a unique opportunity to recharge their batteries for a weekend. With a chance to escape to the hills, shift mindsets and rediscover themselves in a new setting with the support of their peers. While there, students indulge in delicious meals, which gives them a break from their everyday life responsibilities.

The group activities offer great bonding opportunities and allow for a deep emersion into some of the more challenging topics on offer to explore. The group sharing nomalises what might otherwise be difficult conversations and students are supported during and after sessions.

The support groups who meet afterwards offer students further time to reflect and keep the inspiration of Youth Insearch alive. The only challenge which remains is trying to explain the magic that takes place at a Youth Insearch camp.

"You just have to go to get it."

Byron is a young person who was referred to Youth Insearch by Education First Youth Foyer at GOTAFE (Berry Street, Shepparton), and is one of 49 young people who have been referred to the Youth Insearch program since 2017.

Byron has also recently been supported to move to independent living outside of Foyer, which is the primary goal to end youth homelessness.

Foyer referrers also support young people as Support Adults through the Youth Insearch program, and have been joining the newly introduced Youth Insearch Virtual Support Groups. We asked Byron what these groups mean to him:

"Quite good, the fact that it is continually open - beyond fantastic, and I'm very appreciative. Even though everyone else is closed, Youth Insearch is open for any person who needs support. It's almost like a family, and happy to have a new member of the family!".

Byron has now attended 4 Youth Insearch weekend workshops since July 2019, and has recently applied for the Youth Insearch Leadership Program for the 2020 program. 

Find out more about​ Foyer Foundation...