Young Noongar futures

Youth outreach organisations play an essential role in finding kids at risk and working with them to carve out a new future.

In the suburbs of Perth, Halo Leadership Development Agency and the David Wirrpanda Foundation use mentoring to reach out to these troubled youth and help them get back on track.

Young Noongar Benji Ugle joined Halo after a visit from the organisation’s founder at his detention centre.

“She told me that this was a good place for boys who had been down the wrong track,” Benji said. “So I came here, saw all the boys, bonded with them … and it’s kept me out of trouble … I’ll hopefully get a job here as a mentor.”

Before Halo, Benji had lost interest in school but Halo mentors have helped him set goals for himself and meet new friends to work with towards achieving those goals.

Halo is a registered training organisation that focuses on developing leadership, numeracy, literacy, health, fitness, employability skills, and cultural connection; and many of the young men work their way up to employment within the organisation as youth mentors.

A group of local elders are also available to counsel the boys and guide the organisation in cultural development.

“We’ve actually tripped out on what the elders have told us. They’ve told us parts we didn’t know about our cultures,” Benji said.

The David Wirrpanda Foundation is also using mentoring to help Indigenous youth strive for a better future. Established by former AFL star David Wirrpanda in 2005, the foundation recruits Indigenous role models to mentor school students in programs on health, goal setting, employment opportunities and self-esteem.

Former AFL player and current mentor Troy Cook says each of the mentors share their own stories to try and inspire the students to succeed.

“We look at the dreams that they’ve chosen, the goals that they’ve set and we try and encourage them to do it because anyone can, it’s just a matter of putting in the hard work,” he said.

Fellow mentor, West Coast Fever netballer Josie Janz, says participants gain confidence as well as valuable life skills from her Deadly Sista Girlz program.

“At the start the girls will come in really shy but by the end they really open up,” she said.