Young men incarcerated at the Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre in Kariong NSW, are being offered a second chance at life thanks to the ‘Stand as One’ mentoring program, delivered by not for profit organisation, SHINE for Kids.
Through matching adult mentors with young offenders, Stand as One has seen tremendous results in developing trust with young people, providing stability and consistency and reducing re-offending behaviours.
The program was developed with funding support from the Future2 Foundation, the foundation of the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA), which funds community based projects to help young Australians who are socially and financially disadvantaged.
“These young people have all experienced the imprisonment of their own parents and they faced a very real risk of imprisonment in the adult criminal justice system themselves”, said Jackie Carroll, Stand as One Team Leader.
“Studies clearly indicate that reoffending is often dependent on the degree of support received by the young people upon leaving a centre, which makes Stand as One such an important and innovative project”.
Since 2010, the program has matched over 50 young offenders with adult mentors to help them successfully transition from a Juvenile Justice environment back into the community and break the cycle of offending.
“The support of Future2 has provided a very welcome boost for the program, which has been so successful it has recently been introduced into the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre, a youth detention facility located in the ACT”, said Ms Carroll.
