Kirsty
Kirsty has just moved out
of a youth refuge into a flat, she has started a
TAFE course in community care and is working
with disabled children and she is working hard
at cutting down on drugs. This is her story.
We are sitting in a bus,
early on a Saturday morning and driving through
suburban Maitland on NSW mid north coast. The
sun had barely shown itself through the pink
grey clouds that sit above. It seems like a
sleepy easy town that is slowly waking up to an
overcast weekend.
As we drive along we pick
up one by one troubled young people, some with
drug problems, all from broken families and
others mixed up in the legal system climb in to
join the closed nervous faces on the bus.
Our destination is the
Barrington Tops in the Upper Hunter. Kirsty is
here to be trained as a Senior Leader in the
Young Adventure Program. Kirsty has been on two
programs already and has been selected to take a
leadership role. She will help the staff instil
self-confidence and the feeling of achievement
in the participants through adventure, personal
and physical challenges and by giving then a
level of responsibility.
A mixture of youth workers,
Kirsty, Senior Leaders and other staff will go
through the weekend alongside the participants,
there to act as mentors and to guide them
through their experience safely.
Right, everyone gather
round over here, the group arrived at campsite
for the weekend and some new faces have
appeared. One of then, with a very loud voice
is Nick Payne, the leader of the Adventure
Program. The twenty open mouthed kids
surrounded him listening as he laid the ground
rules and introduced the staff. Wearing wide
ants, distinctive sneakers and tracksuit tops
these kids would easily be confused by any of us
on the street as mean, unpredictable, perhaps a
gang. But here, in an open paddock with
uncertain looks on their faces, they just look
like scared kids in a situation they don’t know
how to handle yet.
Twenty pairs of knees knock
as they stand looking at the Barrington River,
but not because of the cold. The group is about
to have its first taste of white water. Canoes
are set up along the riverbank as lessons are
given on how to steer, paddle and fall out
correctly. It is a strange domain for these
kids to be in because unlike on the street or at
home, normal survival tactics like harsh words,
violence and lies don’t work. Survival on the
river depends on teamwork, trust and the
willingness to try your hardest even though you
are scared.
Halfway through the days
paddle the rapids are getting serious.
Participants are reacting in different ways to
the challenge; there are a few in tears, one
team who throw themselves out of their canoe
before they come to each rapid and others who
have become angry and violent. William, 17, was
referred to R.U.S.H. by a magistrate as an
alternative to jail is having trouble dealing
with his fear of the situation and he is angry.
The weekend continues with
one situation after another for staff to deal
with.
Out of the fifty
participants who have gone through this program
so far, none have reoffended, three have gone
back to school or further education, one has
gone back to his family for the first time in
five years and is living happily with them and
one has been accepted into the training squad of
the Newcastle Knights.
Weekends like this give you
space, time to look at the big picture. They
let you be, then tell you that the rest is up to
you. Perhaps it is really that simple.
Paul
Paul’s parents were
struggling, hard to make ends meet, working long
hours with the stress of a mortgage and a
potential family breakdown lingering. Paul felt
these pressures and as a young boy fought to
help keep the family together, helping to look
after his three younger siblings. Things were
O.K. for a while then an allegation of sexual
abuse against a younger sister tore the family
apart. With questions arising around the
possibility of Paul also experiencing some
abuse.
He continued to help his
mother survive, missing out on the adventures of
childhood and becoming socially isolated and
depressed.
R.U.S.H. came into Paul’s
life as all these pressures became overwhelming,
opening the doors to understanding, courage and
opportunities.
RUSH strives to give
disadvantaged and marginalised young people
opportunities, which would otherwise be
unavailable to them.
RUSH provides a variety of
individual and group- programs for young people
including life skills programs, art therapy,
employment skills and adventure therapy.
RUSH helps Paul and other
young people like him achieve a sense of self
and find positive directions in life. Through
supporting RUSH, people become a part of the
community and experience the jubilation of
seeing young people change their lives. |
